photom Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Planning now for a new computer and I want to spend my money where it gets the most bang for digital image processing. I assume I should get the best board and processor I can afford and plenty of RAM (3 gigs?). I do 4000 dpi film scans so the files start out large. I am certainly not a gamer, however, I was wondering if a higher grade video card speeds up PS calculations? A good card is around $100, but they go up fast from there to over $300. I do not want to spend money on power I will not use much. Thanks for any ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeremy Stein Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 In general, a faster or more capable video card will not help in photoshop work at all. The delays in running photoshop are not in getting the video out but rather in getting the processing done. On the other hand, I would suggest that you get a relatively "plain vanilla" card which is capable of driving two monitors at once. The one I have is the Matrox G450, an older card by now, for which I paid about $160 or so a couple of years ago. IIRC, it has 64 MB of RAM per screen, which is more than enough, and it runs two monitors very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photom Posted October 18, 2004 Author Share Posted October 18, 2004 Jeremy, how would I use two simultaneous monitors to my benefit? Is it possible to have one program showing on one and a second program on another? This is new to me so I would have to learn about the setup - my current board only has one monitor out slot. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_schmidt Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 The benefit would be to have the photo on one (bigger) monitor and the palettes on another (smaller). I just built up a computer to do only PS and once you go to a two-monitor setup you'll never look back. Also, a second vote for the Matrox. Also get a real fast drive to use as a scratch disk only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiswick_john Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 A very high end pro grade graphics card will make a significant difference on PS speed with very large files - but it will likely cost more than your PC! I'm not talking gaming cards here but ones designed for 3D rendering workstations. Your best bang for the buck/pound will be RAM but be aware PS can only use 2gig - anything above this is not going to make it faster but may alow you to run more apps at once. Next is scratch disk speed - a fast small SCSI disk running from a PCI controller or better still off an integrated motherboard will keep delays to a minimum. You can't go wrong with Matrox for 2D work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mag_miksch Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 A 3D workstation card will not bring a lot for PS, I have such a 3D workstation with a 1500.- US$ Wildcat, in 2D there is no big difference to other cards. But I agree to the advantage of a 2monitor setup, all Matrox from G400 handle this in a good way, very good quality at good price brings the current P650. If you are on PC 3gigs of RAM will not be that good, I think only Win2k server supports this on a single CPU computer, ordinary 2gigs are supported. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott_eaton Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 <I>A very high end pro grade graphics card will make a significant difference on PS speed with very large files</i><P>I bet faster RAM helps Photoshop too because the CPU is really being slowed down by CAS latency {smirk}. <P>2-D graphics cards do not make a difference in terms of Photoshop performance - period. The cheap, integrated video solutions that share memeory on your motherboard might slow performance a bit because the compete for some system resources, but that's it. Dedicated graphics cards won't influence Photoshop performance because Photoshop does NOT use your GPU for processing.<P>Also, there's no difference in display quality nor an advantage to using Matrox over any other card unless you like to read 5yr old PC magazine reviews that have no credit in the DTP field anyways. It's more nonsensical brand hype because most us are using NVidia and ATI, so the Matrox geeks feel they are doing something special by being different, when in fact the main outboard circuitry on the cards that dictates analog quality comes from the same plants in Taiwan. <P>You can get a generic ATI 9000x series or NVidia Gforce4MX from NewEgg for less than $50, and either of these are overkill for Photoshop and work with about any computer. My CAD guys use them, and I can't see any difference with my high end game cards at home. <P>Best Buy, Jerk-It City, or any Electronics super store is the *worst place* to buy video cards from. <a href="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=14-127-128&DEPA=1">Here's a link </a> to a good card at NewEgg I've been deploying on new workstations. The MSI or Aopen version of the card all work exellent, and have passive heat sinks so you don't have fans to worry about. Not a good game card, but total overkill for 2-D work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sushrut_patel Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 I agree with scott. I did some research and finally settled for the chaintech volari v3 video card (128 ram) from Newegg.com ($44)- Further reviews can be found under the product at the newegg site, including a link to a detailed review. This card and others like it from ATI(5200 series) or Nvidia (more expensive) will support dual monitor setup, one vga, and other dvi. I am happy with how fast the windows load with paint shop pro. It also makes internet pages , especially photo and video load on to the screen faster. I am not into gaming, but DVD movies are a pleasure to watch as well. I must agree with people who recommended increasing RAM, as image editing with large files does become faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sushrut_patel Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Here is the link to the Chanitech volari V3: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-145-092&depa=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiswick_john Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 I can only speak from my own experience - maybe I should stick to repeating what others say and what experts write in reviews and tests? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mag_miksch Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 Scott, keep cool, in a 2 monitor setup Matrox is better, eg video overlay and no problems with cutted RMB menues.^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_steeper Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 <p>Hi Tom,</p> <p>I spent my money on a very fast processor, fast and large hard drives and backup, a very good monitor, wimpy audio and a decent ATI card with DVI. The high end 3D video cards are for gamers. I went to a local shop that was able to custom build to my specs. The big box stores are a waste of time and money.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_steeper Posted October 18, 2004 Share Posted October 18, 2004 BTW, buy a case that will hold a lot of hard drives. You will probably need to add more in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill_schmidt Posted October 19, 2004 Share Posted October 19, 2004 And it's AMAZING what $50-75 will get you in a case (including power supply!) nowadays. Newegg is the best vendor for cases, MB's, drives, etc. Have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_rten_svensson1 Posted October 26, 2004 Share Posted October 26, 2004 About using more then one monitor: Windows 2000 (and XP i think) can handle up to 10 monitors. Some videocards can handle two displays, like matrox dualhead and some cards from nVidia and ATI. Now the cool thing is that you can use TWO videocards in windows. So if you got an old PCI card that you like, use that AND your AGP card, or just use two PCI-cards. I have a computer with a matrox dualhead and an old PCI card, so I use three displays. Nice. But I have not been able to use more then two videocards. You may have to change som settings in BIOS, like use PCI as primary videocard, but the rest is easy. You can change the settings for each monitor, and you can drag them around to place them as you like. Just thought you wanted to know. M岴en Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly_flanigan1 Posted October 26, 2004 Share Posted October 26, 2004 Even old Win98 can control 9 monitors! But Win2000 is alot less memory/buggy than win98 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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