2D vs 3D graphics card and Photoshop use

HG
Posted By
Howard_Grill
Oct 9, 2003
Views
950
Replies
14
Status
Closed
I am looking for a video card mainly to work with large Photoshop files, though I would like to have the opportunity to do some gaming as well, but the system is geared primarily for 2D image editing with large 500-600 MB image files. I want to use dual monitors. Is there a real ‘optimized for 2D’ type of card…like Matrox sells itself as, or would any modern 3D gaming card like the ATI Radion 9800 be just as good for 2D image editing and still maintain the gaming option without giving anything up in terms of Photoshop usage?

Howard

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H
Ho
Oct 9, 2003
Matrox maintains the edge in 2D image quality. Any gaming card you choose will suffer some display degredation when compared with the Matrox line, although *some* ATI cards have been said to be pretty good. No need to worry about PS requirements. Any modern card has everything it needs to handle Photoshop.
HG
Howard_Grill
Oct 9, 2003
I was thinking of the Matrox Parhelia..the problem is the drivers seem to be quirky with new Intel 875 chipset boards and since I am building the system from scratch that is a problem I don’t need, if I can avoid it. Do you have any knowledge/experience with the new ATI 9800 board?

Howard
RB
Robert_Blackwell
Oct 9, 2003
I’ve had problems with ATI cards in three new PC’s (not the same card, this was a couple years apart each time) so I don’t have trust in them.
H
Ho
Oct 9, 2003
No experience with any new cards from anyone, sorry. I think you really need to decide where your priorities lie, imaging or gaming. The Matrox Parhelia is usually panned by gamers as delivering abysmal performance (compared with the newest, most powerful cards), and it certainly is overkill for Photoshop. However, if you have the money to spend and you can settle for mid to lower level gaming performance, it will undoubtedly give you the best image quality obtainable.

Having said all that, I don’t do games on my image machine. I don’t do sound either… that’s right, no sound card. When it’s time to play, I go fire up my wife’s computer and kill a few things. I think when it comes to computers, especially if we’re talking about generating revenue, business and pleasure do not mix.
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 9, 2003
howard, i’ve got the 8x agp ati AIW 9700 pro running on the 865 chipset. very nice. stable drivers.
JD
James_Dodge
Oct 9, 2003
"Fact of the matter is that no videocard really holds an edge in Photoshop. All the memory is so fast these days, no single card has memory that would be "slow" in 2D. Visual quality is another matter of course, and it is highly subjective. Some would say Matrox is a hair better than ATI, and ATI is a hair better than nVidia."

Above quote from a PC Magazine.

James
HG
Howard_Grill
Oct 9, 2003
Very helpful, and that is the sense I got from researching info on the internet. Now what about dual monitor support. I know Matrox supposedly reins supreme here, but what about ATI. Is their dual support stable, intuative, easy to use, do what a photoshop dual monitor system need to?

Thanks.

Howard
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 10, 2003
I actually have a dual system set up using a second nvida el cheapo card. works like a charm. supposedly the 9700 pro has a way (i think) to get dual output, but I don’t have the digital cable… it looks like one analog (crt) and one digital (lcd). as i have the lcd, i really need to look into getting a cable and testing that out. in the meantime, i’m happy.
A
angelars
Oct 11, 2003
Just so that you know, ATI is supposed to be coming out with a brand new card in a couple of months (geared for Christmas), and it’s supposed to be nothing short of incredible. Let’s hope they’re right (and it’s priced reasonably). Also, you are concerned about the video card, but no mention of the monitor. What good is the best video card going to do you if you are using a cheap LCD display. That’s the equivalent of buying the best tube preamps and amps and then going to Radio Shack for the speakers. I’m sure you know all of this. Just a reminder 🙂

Matrox has very good dual monitor support. The new ATI is "supposed" to be very good also. If you’re not in a rush you might want to just wait a few months to see how this newest of ATI’s compares with all of the others. I’m sure it will be good, but will it be worth whatever they ask for it? Time will tell.
DM
dave_milbut
Oct 11, 2003
Let’s hope they’re right

they probably are!

(and it’s priced reasonably).

it’s probably not. 🙂 iirc, my 9700 pro was about 400 beans. that’s a lot of bread (imo) for a graphics card. don’t get me wrong, it’s the best card i’ve ever had, but it wasn’t "reasonably priced".
A
angelars
Oct 11, 2003
I think it bears mentioning that humans do not see video the same as test equipment does. With this latest crop of video cards being released we are seeing results that no human could distinguish between. So then it comes down to features and price (and of course which monitor you’re going to use). If playing kiddie games is not an issue, then you might want to look into the new ATI AIW 9600 Pro. I’ve never seen a video card with as many features and it truly is a wonder how they fit them all into a small PCB like that. The big question is does it support dual monitors, and the big answer is… yes 🙂

It not only supports dual monitors but it also allows you to do it with independent resolutions and refresh rates, and it has a YPrPb output for direct drive of HDTV monitors! With a core clock speed of 400MHz and a filtered display of images up to 1920 pixels wide, I’d say it’s begging to be used with Photoshop 7.0. The drivers are very stable, and I doubt if you can find a video card with more bang for the buck than this one. You can read some initial reviews of the card by going here:

< http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/S&V/aiw_9600_pro_par t2.shtml>

Hope that helps 🙂
HD
hot_denim
Oct 11, 2003
I HAVE been using a card (s3 Chipset) that was manufactured 6 years ago. It worked Perfect (apart from it did not support Adobe Gamma’s adjustment features). Then I switched to a Voodoo3 few years newer. I did test in photoshop to detect any display update/redraw speed increases. I found absolutly no diffrence. (1st card was 64-bit 2nd was 128-bit).

I conclude that Photoshop will not benefit from a better/newer card generally (apart from display compatibility, driver problems etc). E.g. A card that is 1000 times fastest than the fastest today, will not help photoshop in its work. I believe this to be because it access things via window’s API (a standard method of doing things). It does not use lower lever API’s like directX.

If window runs fine. Photoshop runs fine. Then card is fine.

One thing to do is try to get the highest refresh rate Match between the monitor and the card (at the resolution you use it at).

I believe CPU power when Combined with a fast enough card will make photoshop display operations (once finished calculating and sent for display) faster. I.e. Card must be fast enough and so must CPU to be any benefit. Just one of them is not enough.
EB
eddie_booth
Jan 30, 2004
I have Photoshop 4.0.1 on XP with 2 monitors (matrox550 card, 1g ram, 2.6 p4)

My question is I can move the photoshop window and working picture onto screen 2 but none of the pallets. (Painter 5.5 has similar prob) The only advice I can get is that if its a MS DOS prog then it cannot utilise the two screens.

Because PS4 is a Win 95 program and the fact half of it does display over two screens I’m trying to confirm that this is a problem only corrected by an upgrade to XP compatable software?

please tell me there is a patch or something!
Cheers, Ed.
JS
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Jan 30, 2004
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