Graphic Card

Question 2: I read in "Photoshop System Requirements" that 256 megs of memory in the card is recommended. Is that important?

Where exactly did you read that. I’m still using a 32 meg dual head card with no problems. PS will NEVER use 256 megs of video RAM.

BTW, nice system. What case are you planning on using?

Bob

Which version of Photoshop?

At that spec I’d be tempted for some of the matching hi-range spec cards.

For some stuff that is in the Windows pipeline I seem to recall reading somewhere that an ATI X800 is minimum level (GPU rendering as opposed to CPU based)

Have a look at ATI website and see?

Nice to hear from you again;-)

Robert; Danged if I know where I got that 256megs idea!
Here’s where I thought I got it…
System requirements
Windows

* Intel® Xeon™, Xeon Dual, Intel Centrino™, or Pentium® III or 4 processor * Microsoft® Windows® 2000 with Service Pack 4, or Windows XP with Service Pack 1 or 2 * 320MB of RAM (384MB recommended)
* 650MB of available hard-disk space
* 1,024×768 monitor resolution with 16-bit video card
* CD-ROM drive
* Internet or phone connection required for product activation (NOT THERE!) Oops, my bad!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
deebs; CS (for now). Thanks, I’ll check-out that card.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here’s more specs on the system if anyone cares to critique?

Case: Cooler Master Praetorian Aluminum Mid-Tower Case w/No PS (4 Fans) Power Supply: PS 550W – Enermax
Motherboard: BFG BFGRNF4U NForce4 Ultra Audio/GB-LAN/USB/PCI-E/SATA/DDR/ATX 64 939 Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual-Core 1MB Per Core 90nm (939) Heat Sink Fan: Thermaltake A1770 AMD Opteron/64 Heatsink Memory: DDR (400) 3200 – 2 GB (2 pcs 1GB) Corsair
Hard Drive: Maxtor (6B250S0) DiamondMax Plus 10 250GB SATA 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2nd Hard Drive: Maxtor (6B250S0) DiamondMax Plus 10 250GB SATA 7200 RPM 16MB Cache CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/CD-RW: DVD-RW – Asus DRW-1608PBLK 6x-DVD+R DL 16x8x16-DVD±RW Drive (Black) 2nd CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/CD-RW: Asus DRW-1608PBLK 6x-DVD+R DL 16x8x16-DVD±RW Drive (Black) Modem: QuickConnect 56K V.92 PCI Modem
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional w/Service Pack 2 Video Card:???

Firebird

EDIT: I see my tags from notepad don’t work here. oh well..anyway.

EDIT: I see my tags from notepad don’t work here. oh well..anyway.

standard html tags work. <U></U> or <B></b> for bold

Out of curiousity and if it’s not too rude to ask…what’s final total for this going to be?

Bob

Hi Dave,

Yeh, I thought the tags changed when I pasted them from notepad, but I just opened Notepad and they are bracketed there. Just another "goof of the day"! 😮

Thanks,
Firebird

I just found this; <http://www.matrox.com/mga/theguide/contents/home.cfm> in case somebody else has questions about Graphic Cards (beside me);-)

Firebird

I don’t think it lists PCI-X?

Robert,
Hey, not rude~ information like the rest of it…;-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monarch Furia Custom Desktop (PCI-E)
$59.00 $59.00 (build charge)

Case: 100154 – No PS – Cooler Master Praetorian Aluminum $108.00 $108.00 Power Supply: 100120 – PS 550W – Enermax EG651P-VE-24P ATX-EPS/S $102.00 $102.00 Case Fan: None
Motherboard: 110366 – BFG BFGRNVF4U NForce4 Ultra Audio/GB-LAN/ $117.00 $117.00 Processor: 120234 – AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual-Core 1MB Per $527.00 $527.00 Thermal Grease: None
Heat Sink Fan: 130956 – Thermaltake A1770 AMD Opteron/64 Heatsink $27.00 $27.00 Memory: 140328 – DDR (400) 3200 – 2 GB (2 pcs 1GB) Corsair $299.00 $299.00 2nd Memory: None
Hard Drive: 150417 – SATA – Maxtor (6B250S0) DiamondMax 10 250 $99.00 $99.00 2nd Hard Drive: 150417 – SATA – Maxtor (6B250S0) DiamondMax 10 250 $99.00 $99.00 RAID Setup: None
RAID Controller: None
CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/CD-RW: 160620 – DVD-RW – Asus DRW-1608PBLK 6x-DVD+R DL/16 $84.00 $84.00 CD-RW/DVD-RW: 160620 – DVD-RW – Asus DRW-1608PBLK 6x-DVD+R DL/16 $84.00 $84.00 CD-RW Software: 210613 – Ahead Nero 6.3 Suite DVD+-RW Software (OE $6.99 $6.99 DVD-ROM Software: 210601 – Cyberlink PowerDVD 6.0 (OEM) $6.99 $6.99 Floppy Drive: 170110 – Mitsumi 1.44 MB 3.5" Floppy Drive (Black) $20.00 $20.00 More Storage: None
Sound Card: 180411 – Creative Labs Sound Blaster Internal 16 P $19.00 $19.00 Video Card: None
Modem: 200102 – QuickConnect 56K V.92 PCI Modem $19.00 $19.00 Network Card: None
Wireless Network Card: None
Add-On Card: None
Case Function Add-On: None
Round Cables: None
Operating System: 210111 – Microsoft Windows XP Professional w/Servi $150.00 $150.00 Additional Software: None
Antivirus: None
Warranty: 800099 – 6 months – Parts & Labor – No Software Su Hot Rush: None – Standard Order ( ships within 10-15 busines Half Life 2 Promotion: 27F854 – FREE Half Life 2 Full Version Coupon with Molex Connector: None
Video Capture: None
TV Tuner: None
Lance Armstrong: 270447 – Lance Armstrong LIVE STRONG wristband Free Giveaway: 270251 – Patriot Pen Blue and Grey – Free! FREE Patriot SD USB Flash Kit: 14A502 – 128 MB Patriot SD Fla Subtotal for 80311 with your selected options: $1,826.98 Order Total: $1,826.98 (W/O Graphic Card)

+ $45 Shipping – FedEx Ground. (to AZ)

Firebird

Robert,
Hey, not rude~ information like the rest of it…;-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ignore the double prices?

Monarch Furia Custom Desktop (PCI-E)
$59.00 $59.00 (build charge)

Case: 100154 – No PS – Cooler Master Praetorian Aluminum $108.00 $108.00 Power Supply: 100120 – PS 550W – Enermax EG651P-VE-24P ATX-EPS/S $102.00 $102.00 Case Fan: None
Motherboard: 110366 – BFG BFGRNVF4U NForce4 Ultra Audio/GB-LAN/ $117.00 $117.00 Processor: 120234 – AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual-Core 1MB Per $527.00 $527.00 Thermal Grease: None
Heat Sink Fan: 130956 – Thermaltake A1770 AMD Opteron/64 Heatsink $27.00 $27.00 Memory: 140328 – DDR (400) 3200 – 2 GB (2 pcs 1GB) Corsair $299.00 $299.00 2nd Memory: None
Hard Drive: 150417 – SATA – Maxtor (6B250S0) DiamondMax 10 250 $99.00 $99.00 2nd Hard Drive: 150417 – SATA – Maxtor (6B250S0) DiamondMax 10 250 $99.00 $99.00 RAID Setup: None
RAID Controller: None
CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/CD-RW: 160620 – DVD-RW – Asus DRW-1608PBLK 6x-DVD+R DL/16 $84.00 $84.00 CD-RW/DVD-RW: 160620 – DVD-RW – Asus DRW-1608PBLK 6x-DVD+R DL/16 $84.00 $84.00 CD-RW Software: 210613 – Ahead Nero 6.3 Suite DVD+-RW Software (OE $6.99 $6.99 DVD-ROM Software: 210601 – Cyberlink PowerDVD 6.0 (OEM) $6.99 $6.99 Floppy Drive: 170110 – Mitsumi 1.44 MB 3.5" Floppy Drive (Black) $20.00 $20.00 More Storage: None
Sound Card: 180411 – Creative Labs Sound Blaster Internal 16 P $19.00 $19.00 Video Card: None
Modem: 200102 – QuickConnect 56K V.92 PCI Modem $19.00 $19.00 Network Card: None
Wireless Network Card: None
Add-On Card: None
Case Function Add-On: None
Round Cables: None
Operating System: 210111 – Microsoft Windows XP Professional w/Servi $150.00 $150.00 Additional Software: None
Antivirus: None
Warranty: 800099 – 6 months – Parts & Labor – No Software Su Hot Rush: None – Standard Order ( ships within 10-15 busines Half Life 2 Promotion: 27F854 – FREE Half Life 2 Full Version Coupon with Molex Connector: None
Video Capture: None
TV Tuner: None
Lance Armstrong: 270447 – Lance Armstrong LIVE STRONG wristband Free Giveaway: 270251 – Patriot Pen Blue and Grey – Free! FREE Patriot SD USB Flash Kit: 14A502 – 128 MB Patriot SD Fla Subtotal for 80311 with your selected options: $1,826.98 Order Total: $1,826.98 (W/O Graphic Card)

+ $45 Shipping – FedEx Ground. (to AZ)

Firebird

Summary,

I just noticed a component that I’ll eliminate. The sound card. The Mobo has sound on board so I would just be overriding it. (I’ll never use the sound anyway.)

What’s PCI-X deebs? If they don’t mention it they don’t got it…right.? (heheh)

I’m about ready to order now. It’s hard to be patient but it’s been fun learning and a lot of credit to you all.

Thanks,
Firebird 😉

What’s PCI-X deebs?

up and coming replacement for agp (graphics bus). might be worth looking for a board that supports it. your call based on what you do though.

<http://www.pctechguide.com/26interfaces_PCI-X.htm>

Help me here…looks like PCI-E to me?

Firebird

Well we might have a bit of terminological ambiguity here.

I simply did an Internet search for PCI-X.

My new computer has a 128MB PCI-E ATI FIREGL V3100.

Its performance is well up to the demands of CS2.

Have a look at ATI, nVidia and what’s that other one? Matrox?

Have a look at their spec n stuff.

<drool>

With the kit you have specced up I guess it could possibly run a couple of graphics cards?

Be aware that that there are indicators that Windows will soon send rendering options direct to the graphics processor (GPU) as opposed to the CPU or CPUs

</drool>

In the wee hours of morning I did a switch on my Mobo & Gfx crd. (Hey, I can’t help it!)

ATI (Connect3D) Radeon X700 PRO 256MB DDR3/PCI-E/TV-Out/DVI (Retail Box)

Asus A8N-E nForce4 Audio/GB-LAN/USB/PCI-E/SATAII/DDR/ATX 64 939

I hope that’s it! I really need a faster computer so I want to get this order in…soon. I use a LOT of plugin filters and some crawl on my present system.

Firebird :-O

I’m trying the WinFX beta and I’ve noticed performance increases in PSCS1

I don’t want to fully believe it until it can be confirmed by others – note that it is a public beta

Firebird, not to throw a wrench into the works, but here’s a recent experience of mine:

I have the Asus A8V Deluxe (not the "E" model). It’s my second Asus mobo and, overall, I’ve been very happy with them. I’ve used Matrox G450 and G550 graphics cards in both of them, and up until a couple of weeks ago, never had a problem of any kind.

For reasons unknown to me, the box with the A8V Deluxe suddenly started randomly booting up without recognizing the Matrox G550 drivers (it would just boot to the standard Windows VGA drivers). I went to the Matrox Support Forums, and the tech there told me that there was an "issue" with the A8V mobo and the Matrox drivers. He emailed me a patch, which didn’t help the problem. I don’t know if the fault was with Matrox or Asus (Asus had no comment on the situation), but after struggling with it for many days, I picked up a Matrox P650 on ebay. Problem solved. I will say that the tech at Matrox was very prompt and tried to be helpful; kudos to him for that. That, and the fact that I’ve never had a problem with Matrox before, is why I chose to stick with Matrox. (The P650 is working beautifully.)

I only bring this up to alert you to a problem that may lie with Asus and the G550 graphics card. If the fault does lie with Asus, I don’t know if, or how many, other cards may be involved.

Nick

That’s coming w/ Vista I see. My computer "guru" told me I should never buy the first offering of anything, but to wait for the bugs to be worked-out of it.

But in this day & age by the time the bugs are worked-out (some anyway) another offering is on the table.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WinFX>

Firebird

Nick,
Thanks and feel free to throw whatever you feel is pertinent. (that’s why I’m here).

I will check-it-out…I appreciate the information!

Firebird

"WinFX is intended to give programmers easier access to the functionality present in the Windows API."

Sounds like it is cutting through some of the operating system bloat. If so, it isn’t unreasonable to see software speed up.

Looks like time to try some before tests, make a system back-up, install the WinFX add in, and retest.

Bill

Yes, I wondered if it was software lead or maybe even hardware direct?

I’ll keep an eye on it to see how things go but initially it looks like the UI is speedier too.

PCI-X is a wide PCI bus (66, 133 and higher) on server motherboards, typically used to support SCSI arrays. Electrically and physically compatible with standard PCI (33).

PCIe is the new bus architecture for graphics cards and, eventually, everything that runs on the old PCI bus now. Not backward compatible. Supported speeds are 1X, 2X, 4X, 8X and 16X (32X is on the drawing board). Most motherboards now have only 20 PCIe lanes, so after the graphics card gobbles up 16 of them, you get a couple of 1x slots and maybe a 4X that runs at 2X.

<http://www.directron.com/expressguide.html>

Nice link Ho

Hey Ho,
Wondered where you were…:-)

I just found this program (I was curious about what was in this computer I use for Internet) and this tells me everything.
You probably have something like it but here it is anyway.

< http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?pid=1&lang= en>

No install required (ZIP) and no virus or spyware.
Tip: Don’t click the icons in the display window. (just images) Use the menu on left side.
Nice looking interface too.

Firebird

Hi Firebird, (are you named after the car or the guitar?) 🙂

Everest is a good little app. I ran across it when I was lurking on one of the Opteron boards, trying to decide whether to go dual CPU or dual core.

Ho,

Actually I live in Ahwatukee, AZ. A suburb of Phoenix.
Phoenix = Firebird. I sign my works ‘Az’. We have a Company (my wife and me) ‘Firebird Graphics’. Ahwatukee is Casa de Suenos in Spanish (House of My Dreams). Crow Indian has it ‘Magic Place of My Dreams’.
If you want to see a picture of The Ahwatukee Ranch that stood where the City of Ahwatukee now stands, go here:

<http://ahwatukee.com/archives/history/history.html>

I might live on the very spot the Ranch house occupied in that the view of the South Mtns is my exact same view.(from my back yard).

(more than you wanted to know) heheh 🙂

Firebird

Not at all. Thanks for the historical/geographical/archaeological/cultural info.