U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | Re: off topic--advice on pc graphics card

Re: off topic--advice on pc graphics card


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  • Subject: Re: off topic--advice on pc graphics card
  • From: Iain <iain.coghill@eiflex.com>
  • Date: Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:10:12 +0100
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What with all but the crappiest Windows Vista versions requiring a reasonable GPU (graphics processing unit) to perform it's oh-so-useful (not) graphics interface enhancements, just about any consumer level system sold today will be reasonably capable. Whilst it is good to see Photoshop making use of the GPU, I doubt it will stress it very much compared to most games.

High end GPUs use a lot more power (= bigger carbon footprint) and can run very hot even when not being utilized fully. This means you may need a bigger (= expensive) power supply fitted and need more/bigger (= noisy) fans to cool them.

Why not go for a system with an up-to-date on-board graphics system rather than a separate card? If that should prove inadequate you can always add a budget graphics card later for ~ $50 or so.

Dan Burkholder wrote:
Though I'm not qualified to give specific card recommendations, I can tell you that, with CS4, Photoshop hands off some of the graphics processing to the video card. In fact, when running the beta version on my Macs, only the newest intel computer would dance to some of CS4's new tricks like "flick panning" and "animated zoom" among others. The names make them sound superficial but once you use them, it's hard to go back. My "old" (5 years) G5 and G4 Powerbook couldn't do the fun stuff. Of course, a card upgrade in the G5 (to one that supports OpenGL Drawing) would help that dated processors perform a bit better. On the laptop...well, it's time for an upgrade.

Oh, the new "show me the brush shape like it really is" feature only works with good video cards too. It's much nicer than the old dotted circle that leaves us in the dark as to what the brush is really like.

Hope this helps a bit until someone more knowledgeable steps in.

Dan

info@DanBurkholder.com
www.DanBurkholder.com

On Sep 30, 2008, at 1:32 PM, ryberg wrote:

Folks:
I know that a fast graphics card is necessary for gaming images, but is it necessary for Photoshop? I'm trying to find the sweet spot pricewise amoung processor, ram and graphic card. Thanks. Charles Portland OR.

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