video card and Photoshop 7.0/CS

KY
Posted By
Ken Yuzik
Aug 20, 2004
Views
396
Replies
10
Status
Closed
Hi All.
Any thoughts or recomendations on a good video card for a new PC that I’m buying. I’m going to be using PS ver 7.0 (I may upgrade to CS), and designing billboards, so the files are upwards of 100-130 meg.

I am working on a AMD 2300+ laptop now, but the video card uses shared RAM from the mainboard, so I think this is a good excuse as any to buy a new desktop.

Any recomendations as to the type/size/model of video card would be welcomed and appreciated.

thanks in advance
Ken
Sleek Signs of Saskatoon

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

N
noone
Aug 20, 2004
In article , says…
Hi All.
Any thoughts or recomendations on a good video card for a new PC that I’m buying. I’m going to be using PS ver 7.0 (I may upgrade to CS), and designing billboards, so the files are upwards of 100-130 meg.
I am working on a AMD 2300+ laptop now, but the video card uses shared RAM from the mainboard, so I think this is a good excuse as any to buy a new desktop.

Any recomendations as to the type/size/model of video card would be welcomed and appreciated.

thanks in advance
Ken
Sleek Signs of Saskatoon

I’ve had very good luck with the Matrox cards for years with 80% of my work on PS, but some 3-D in creation and rendering/painting. Early on, their support and drivers were a weak point, but my experiences have been very pleasent over the last few years. I’ll probably be adding their Parhalia [SP?] 256MB to my workstation in the next few months and I’ll still keep my 64MB dual-head card in case I build an intermediate system. I’d put them on your list of vid-card mfgrs.

Hunt
T
tacitr
Aug 20, 2004
Any thoughts or recomendations on a good video card for a new PC that I’m buying. I’m going to be using PS ver 7.0 (I may upgrade to CS), and designing billboards, so the files are upwards of 100-130 meg.

It’s not necessary to use a high-end accelerated video card with Photoshop; in fact, such cards are wasted on Photoshop, because Photoshop does not do any 3D rendering on the card, which is what they’re optimized for.

Any of the current crop of midrange video cards is more than Photoshop needs. Matrox makes an excellent line of 2D cards that work well with Photoshop; any 3D card, like those by Nvidia or ATI, works fine but is overkill. Photoshop doesn’t need or use the accelerated rendering functions of these cards.


Art, literature, shareware, polyamory, kink, and more:
http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
H
Hecate
Aug 21, 2004
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:20:12 -0600, "Ken Yuzik" wrote:

Hi All.
Any thoughts or recomendations on a good video card for a new PC that I’m buying. I’m going to be using PS ver 7.0 (I may upgrade to CS), and designing billboards, so the files are upwards of 100-130 meg.
I am working on a AMD 2300+ laptop now, but the video card uses shared RAM from the mainboard, so I think this is a good excuse as any to buy a new desktop.

Any recomendations as to the type/size/model of video card would be welcomed and appreciated.

thanks in advance
Ken
Sleek Signs of Saskatoon
Depends on what else you do. If it’s just PS, then all you need is a card that does good 2D and the Matrox 550 does that and can be picked up cheaply. Any of the current 3D cards is overkill for PS, but you may want to purchase one if you do any 3D work or play games. In that case, look at the Radeons as they are better 2D cards than nVidia cards. 3D, there isn’t much difference.



Hecate – The Real One

veni, vidi, reliqui
R
Rick
Aug 21, 2004
"Ken Yuzik" wrote in message
Hi All.
Any thoughts or recomendations on a good video card for a new PC that I’m buying. I’m going to be using PS ver 7.0 (I may upgrade to CS), and designing billboards, so the files are upwards of 100-130 meg.
I am working on a AMD 2300+ laptop now, but the video card uses shared RAM from the mainboard, so I think this is a good excuse as any to buy a new desktop.

Any recomendations as to the type/size/model of video card would be
welcomed
and appreciated.

thanks in advance
Ken
Sleek Signs of Saskatoon
All I’ve heard is that you need RAM to make PS run better. The video card is the least of your worries.
N
noone
Aug 21, 2004
In article ,
says…
"Ken Yuzik" wrote in message
Hi All.
Any thoughts or recomendations on a good video card for a new PC that I’m buying. I’m going to be using PS ver 7.0 (I may upgrade to CS), and designing billboards, so the files are upwards of 100-130 meg.
I am working on a AMD 2300+ laptop now, but the video card uses shared RAM from the mainboard, so I think this is a good excuse as any to buy a new desktop.

Any recomendations as to the type/size/model of video card would be
welcomed
and appreciated.

thanks in advance
Ken
Sleek Signs of Saskatoon
All I’ve heard is that you need RAM to make PS run better. The video card is the least of your worries.

Yes, RAM and a large, fast additional physical drive for Scratch Disk space. Hunt
X
Xalinai
Aug 21, 2004
Ken Yuzik wrote:

Hi All.
Any thoughts or recomendations on a good video card for a new PC that I’m buying. I’m going to be using PS ver 7.0 (I may upgrade to CS), and designing billboards, so the files are upwards of 100-130 meg.
I am working on a AMD 2300+ laptop now, but the video card uses shared RAM from the mainboard, so I think this is a good excuse as any to buy a new desktop.

Any recomendations as to the type/size/model of video card would be welcomed and appreciated.

For 2D work and CRT connection you need a card with a spotless analog signal. Among the best in hat category is and has always been Matrox.

For using multiple monitors, even using different screen resolutions (like image on a huge CRT and tools, palettes, etc. on a LCD nearby), Matrox is again the company of choice. Up to three monitors on one card.

For 3D rendering in the multimedia and construction sector the Parhelia cards are quick enough.

If you want to play super high speed action games and are impressed by the latest frame-per-second measurement, you may needs some other products but for daily long hours work – Matrox.

Michael
KY
Ken Yuzik
Aug 24, 2004
Thanks everyone, so that brings up another question. I have a Athlton2300+ laptop with a video card (that uses 64mb of shared ram) and 512meg of RAM. I only have one hard drive (obviously). If I partition my drive, and increas my RAM to 1 gig, will that be adeguate…because it is quite slow now, or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new desktop, and do it right? ken

"Hunt" wrote in message
In article ,

says…
"Ken Yuzik" wrote in message
Hi All.
Any thoughts or recomendations on a good video card for a new PC that
I’m
buying. I’m going to be using PS ver 7.0 (I may upgrade to CS), and designing billboards, so the files are upwards of 100-130 meg.
I am working on a AMD 2300+ laptop now, but the video card uses shared
RAM
from the mainboard, so I think this is a good excuse as any to buy a
new
desktop.

Any recomendations as to the type/size/model of video card would be
welcomed
and appreciated.

thanks in advance
Ken
Sleek Signs of Saskatoon
All I’ve heard is that you need RAM to make PS run better. The video card
is
the least of your worries.

Yes, RAM and a large, fast additional physical drive for Scratch Disk
space.
Hunt
T
tacitr
Aug 24, 2004
Thanks everyone, so that brings up another question. I have a Athlton2300+ laptop with a video card (that uses 64mb of shared ram) and 512meg of RAM. I only have one hard drive (obviously). If I partition my drive, and increas my RAM to 1 gig, will that be adeguate…

Partitioning your hard drive will not give you much of an improvement; you are better off buying another hard drive and using it for Photoshop scratch.

Increasing RAM is always a good investment with Photoshop.


Art, literature, shareware, polyamory, kink, and more:
http://www.xeromag.com/franklin.html
N
noone
Aug 24, 2004
In article , says…
Thanks everyone, so that brings up another question. I have a Athlton2300+ laptop with a video card (that uses 64mb of shared ram) and 512meg of RAM. I only have one hard drive (obviously). If I partition my drive, and increas my RAM to 1 gig, will that be adeguate…because it is quite slow now, or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new desktop, and do it right? ken

Ken,

Right now, I’m usuing a 3.2GHz laptop with 512MB (2GB on order), 128MB shared vid card, single 80GB HDD. While this is NOT my PS machine (for obvious reasons), it does a nice job with CS and has handled some surprisingly large files well. I’m in process of trying to add another 80GB HDD, about the time that the new RAM gets here, but am hitting a slight snag. Also looking into 250+GB Firewire/USB HDD (discussed in much earlier thread).

As Tacit points out, the partitioning of your HDD will gain you very little, if any increase in speed, or reliability in PS. The vid card probably can’t be replaced, but is more than adequate for PS. The RAM will help the most, as would another physical HDD.

And to think I used to work on a 486-66 (overclocked) with a 1GB vid card and 2-1GB HDDs with only 64MB RAM. Admittedly, that was about PS 2.0, and I had to clean off the HDD’s to do much, but it actually worked. Saving was tough, as I had to do that with a DAT backup, and it took forever. Glad THOSE days are gone.

Hunt
KY
Ken Yuzik
Aug 26, 2004
Thanks a million (or a meg 😉

I appreciate the feed back.
ken

"Hunt" wrote in message
In article ,
says…
Thanks everyone, so that brings up another question. I have a
Athlton2300+
laptop with a video card (that uses 64mb of shared ram) and 512meg of
RAM. I
only have one hard drive (obviously). If I partition my drive, and
increas
my RAM to 1 gig, will that be adeguate…because it is quite slow now, or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new desktop, and do it right? ken

Ken,

Right now, I’m usuing a 3.2GHz laptop with 512MB (2GB on order), 128MB
shared
vid card, single 80GB HDD. While this is NOT my PS machine (for obvious reasons), it does a nice job with CS and has handled some surprisingly
large
files well. I’m in process of trying to add another 80GB HDD, about the
time
that the new RAM gets here, but am hitting a slight snag. Also looking
into
250+GB Firewire/USB HDD (discussed in much earlier thread).
As Tacit points out, the partitioning of your HDD will gain you very
little,
if any increase in speed, or reliability in PS. The vid card probably
can’t be
replaced, but is more than adequate for PS. The RAM will help the most, as would another physical HDD.

And to think I used to work on a 486-66 (overclocked) with a 1GB vid card
and
2-1GB HDDs with only 64MB RAM. Admittedly, that was about PS 2.0, and I
had to
clean off the HDD’s to do much, but it actually worked. Saving was tough,
as I
had to do that with a DAT backup, and it took forever. Glad THOSE days are gone.

Hunt

How to Master Sharpening in Photoshop

Give your photos a professional finish with sharpening in Photoshop. Learn to enhance details, create contrast, and prepare your images for print, web, and social media.

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