Need card for Photoshop.

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Pumpkin Ghost
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Apr 24, 2005
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I was wondering what would be a decent card for Photoshop? I was thinking a low to mid range Quatro. Or would a decent gaming card do? This isn't for me, I am building a workstation for a friend who builds websites, and does a lot of graphics in photoshop.
 
I don't think you need anything special. A decent $100 desktop card should work ok. A lot of people run photoshop on laptops with cheap IGP's.
 
XFX/HIS/SAPPHIRE 4830 under $100
Nice colors also ^-^ if its just something cheap you want

If you have workstation specific programs.
the Workstation cards are fairly expensive due to their soft/hardware support

There are some consumer cards that can be turned into a workstation card, w/o the added costs.
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=539&pgno=1

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS can be turned into a NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600
HD 2900XT can be turned into FireGL V8600
etc

I have a 3870 turned into a Firestream
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATI_FireGL.
 
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No, you don't need a Quadro, save your money. This is coming from a guy who has used a FX540, FX550, NVS285, and FX3450. Quadros are ONLY designed for CAD/Maya/3D apps and so is the BIOS/driver set. Don't waste your/his money on a Quadro unless you are doing the above.

For Photoshop CS3 on down to 6.0, literally any 64MB video card will work.

However, for Photoshop CS4, get a card that has 512MB or 1GB+ because it actually uses the GPU now. If your friend is working with low-end photos (1600x1200 or below), he can get away with a 256MB or a 512MB card, but if he's working on multiple HD+ resolution images at once, your going to want to get him a 1GB card.

Now, the card does not have to be a GTX260 or 280, it's photoshop. The primary thing for this is the amount of memory. The memory bandwidth, memory type (GDDR2 vs GDDR3), and even the GPU power do not matter that much.

Take my cards for example, I tested out a 9600GT with 512MB GDDR3 (57.1GB/s memory bandwidth) vs my current card(s), a 9500GT w/ 1GB GDDR2 (12.8GB/s) in photoshop. Please note I did this w/ SLI disabled.

When rendering big images, it took the exact same amount of time for the rendering and when using brushes. This leads me to believe that the video card doesn't need huge specs to run, but simply more memory for multiple HD images.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshop/systemreqs/

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb404898

Good luck!
 
I didn't post the original question but I was wondering about this too. Thanks for answering my question.:D
 
I built two systems for some customers and for the very same purpose. Not much humanly noticeable difference between the 9500GT 1GB and a 9600GT 1GB (cant remember which brand I got them anymore), but they where all satisfied either ways. I even got contracted for 5 more systems from one of them. But they where all for heavy duty use of Adobe CS4 suites.

Built once a system for CADs, and tested with a 9600GT and Quadro FX 3700 and there was noticeable differences...well...according to the customer.
 
Hey thanks for all of the replies. I think I am gonna just find a 4850 for a good price and toss it in there.
 
CS4 will take advantage of a discreet graphics solution for operations involving the canvas. So, stretching or rotating the canvas = graphics card will help.

As far as I understand, that's it. No filters, no memory, *just* canvas stretching and rotating.

I could be wrong, but when I looked into it for my gf's computer, that's what I was able to find out.
 
Spewn said:
CS4 will take advantage of a discreet graphics solution for operations involving the canvas. So, stretching or rotating the canvas = graphics card will help.

As far as I understand, that's it. No filters, no memory, *just* canvas stretching and rotating.
Click to expand...

This is true. While CS4 can use the GPU, its only for those simple tasks. Nothing more.
 
leSLIe said:
you´ll do fine with the 4850 :)
is that really possible or just a myth?
Click to expand...

Its working for me, some programs need to be verified with workstation cards and wont run on other cards. The mod allows the card to been seen as a workstation card and there for the usage of some different drivers.
 
What do you guys think about After Effects, though? Quadro's CUDA help out enough to warrant it there?
 
Attean said:
What do you guys think about After Effects, though? Quadro's CUDA help out enough to warrant it there?
Click to expand...

Nope, a simple 64/128MB card is all it takes to do the OpenGL graphics efficiently in After Effects. Oh, and CUDA only works with Premiere and ONLY if it is coupled with the Quadro CX video card.
 
Red Falcon said:
Nope, a simple 64/128MB card is all it takes to do the OpenGL graphics efficiently in After Effects. Oh, and CUDA only works with Premiere and ONLY if it is coupled with the Quadro CX video card.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure CS4 added CUDA support throughout the creative suite.
 
Attean said:
Pretty sure CS4 added CUDA support throughout the creative suite.
Click to expand...

lol, I'll say it again. ONLY Premiere CS4 uses CUDA, none of the other Adobe CS4 programs use it. Also, it only works when coupled with a Quadro CX.
 
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