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Photoshop video card help

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Ive tried to research this before I came to you guys, but all i found were ignorant (some what stupid) yahoo answers. Last time i ever do that.

So heres my predicament: I have a work station that will be running DarkRoom, Adobe photoshop cs5 and Lightroom (and some other software). So my issue is, I don't want to spend a TON of cash, but im willing to depending on your guy's answer.

First, This system will NOT play games. its a fully functional business machine. So do i go cheep and buy a new Gforce 210, or do i need to get something heavier like a 5770/6770/ gtx 450/460? I have a GTS 250 but i want to use that as a temp card for my gaming machine (i know it sucks, but its all i can afford at the moment). Running a photography business, so my photos run quite large. High ISO images from my nikon D800.

Motherboard = Extreme3 Gen3 /w core i5 2300

Thanks :rockout:
 
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My wife uses Photoshop Elements 10 for her photo work. All I put in the system she uses is a Hd3650 1gb card. Where it is still photos I don't think you need a high end card for that. She has had no problem. I think more system memory is better for photoshop then a high end gpu.
 

temp02

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I may be wrong but, aren't recent version of Adobes image/video editing suites CUDA accelerated? If so you can probably use that GTS 250, and like ThE_MaD_ShOt said, just make sure you have as much RAM as you can get (I would say 16GB on a 64-bit OS should be enough, but then again I don't use these types of applications that much).
 
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The recent version of Adobe editing suites are CUDA accelerated. You're going to want between 8-16GB of RAM (speed does not matter as much as capacity), and an nVidia GPU with CUDA support. Why not put in your system specs under UserCP (and check the box to display them)?
 
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The more memory the better. I have 16 gb in the cruncher my wife uses.
 
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Thanks for the feedback so fast! I forgot to mention, i got a asrock h61iCafe for a motherboard with 16gb of corsair veng. 1600mhz. The ram didnt work in the motherboard so i extracted my gen3 out for this project. Ram is set. I don't want to give up the 250, but if its a good gpu, then ill look for a gaming gpu later. (BTW that h61i is for sale :p i have no use for it :( ) I got the hint online that photoshop is cpu intense. which is why im upgrading this c2d (nvidia 680i)[for sale on my fs thread] to sandy. I also have a Quadro 1400 fx, but it has i think 128 meg of ram. And since i thought about it, i probably shouldn't have sold that 460 i had either.


Only problem is this week the machine has been giving an error about opengl acting up. I think the video card driver was crashing (the GTS 250) but restarting photoshop fixed it. Any clue why? and should i turn a leaf and get a radeon for this project?
 
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My wife has no problems with the low end hd card I put in her's. I don't use the program so I don't know from actual experince.
 

JrRacinFan

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Even a gt430 is enough for cuda accelerated cs5
 
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Now op listen to what others are saying as I have no ideal what you may need for the other programs you are running.
 
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I work and live from photoshop, I use latest suite , CS5.5, I advise you if you won't work with Premiere, to go with a AMD card(a good card in photoshop it is a must after cpu and ram, I find panning function very usefull) the colors are much better than nvidia/intel, I used a amd hd4850, but after I switch from cs4 to cs5.5, I see that the video card was struggle with my work, now I have a amd hd6850 256b with 1gb vram, my advise for video card will be go on amd side, with at least 1gb vram and 256b, and form hd7xxx series(maybe a hd7850)...
 
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the i5 2300 is plenty for PS. i use an I5 2500K myself.

8Gb or ram speeds things up. 16Gb is only an option if you run win 7 ultimate.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/max-memory-limits-for-64-bit-windows-7/4254

as for GPU. Cuda is fine if you use plugins that support it. Note not all plugins and vanilla cs5 do not use cuda.

As for what GPU to pick up. PS isn't a gpu heavy program. Provided you have something that can AA your images, and runs open CL then it'll be as good as the next one. barring some very specific examples. Like plugins using Cuda, or a plugin that draws heavy on a rendered effect. For the most part this is not the case. And the situational times when these bonuses come into play mean that having a top end gpu is not a cost effective option.

I would go with either a 5770, 6770, or a 6870. the 57 and 67 are identical in all but name and can be had for under ÂŁ70. They will give you a decent AA performance, and allow you to work with hardware acceleration on.

If you going higher than that or running CS5.5 the 6870 sits in a nice price point atm of about ÂŁ130. It's a stronger GPU but you'll never see the benefit unless your on 5.5. I would avoid the very bottom of the gpu line as if adobe start adding in more Gpu elements then the extra power may prove useful.


You get a lot more from your CPU from PS. here's a nice example of PS scaling with cpu.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...age-Processing-Adobe-Photoshop-CS-5,2426.html

Also you could add in an SSD if your working with huge files. Expanded tiffs ect. The extra speed of the ssd working as a swap file will speed a lot of things up.
 
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The answer that worked for me on most adobe software is more system RAM and/or more gpu vram(open gl) works. I got that from a tutorial in Photoshop, and directing my upgrades that way has worked for me.
I'd recommend at least 8gb RAM as priority then a gpu(at most previous Gen) with as high vram as possible/affordable.though I can't say NV or AMD as I rarely use gpu for my final renders.(AE/Photoshop/C4D/3dsMax)
 
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agreed with nvidia card have some cuda core, photoshop using those core and really u notice a different specially with high resolution images when u zooming.
 
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I haven't been a huge fan of nvidia lately. I might be able to get my hands on a 5670 for dirt cheep. I know the guy selling it, so he wouldn't screw me too bad. So if all else works, should i stick with the GTS 250 (i think 1gb) or the 5670 (which i have no idea on the vram but im guessing it would be a 512?)
 
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I haven't been a huge fan of nvidia lately. I might be able to get my hands on a 5670 for dirt cheep. I know the guy selling it, so he wouldn't screw me too bad. So if all else works, should i stick with the GTS 250 (i think 1gb) or the 5670 (which i have no idea on the vram but im guessing it would be a 512?)

5670 usually has 1 gb. Nice little card.
 

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Stick to the GTS250.
 
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i run cs3 with gtx 460
i use gtx 460 coz i do game sometimes
so far it runs fine but i think if you wanna take card, take the card that come with 1 gig memory at least.
cs need extra memory so adding more ram would be better
 
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buy GTX 550 Ti with CUDA for photoshop;)

CUDA is no use in photoshop.
photoshop CS4 & CS5 uses openGL for drawing. IMHO you won't notice any difference except working on a very large image.
 
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