14 replies to this topic

[zoom4267]

Hello all,

i am looking for a new graphics card for my 'puter. I do a lot with Photoshop. illustrator, corel, DW, flash.,

now i have an nvidea and am happy with it. but when i looked on thier website i was a bit overwhelmed.

can someone reccomend one or a few good ones?

thanks alot

[damir_zg]

nvidia geforce 8800 GTX they say its fast, dont know about that but i know it's expensive

[beaverpoutine]

ATI X1950

[Griffin]

It depends on what your motherboard is compatible with.

You should probably find out whether its using an AGP or PCI-express slot and what kind of budget you have since prices vary widly.

- Griffin

[Bug]

nvidia geforce 8800 GTX they say its fast, dont know about that but i know it's expensive

One of the only cards that supports DirectX 10 at the moment Well... at least I think so.

Edit: w00t! 500th post

Edited by Bug, 17 January 2007 - 01:38 AM.

[squr3l]

it depends on your price range, for example you can get a 512mb geforce 7600 gs for $125 online
thats a great deal, the card is lightening fast and that should cost $200+ in stores
if you have more money to spend the new 8 series cards are what youre looking for, the top of the line, 8800 gtx, costs $550-750, but its the fastest card on the market
it all depends on your price range, but if you arent gaming and only need it for 2d graphics apps then a geforce 7 series is plenty, get as much video ram as you can afford too

[Scythar]

Besides, it all depends on what you are planning to do, if f.ex you are doing a lot of 3D renders, you wont notice a very big increase in render times, but what you'll notice is that the onscreen, realtime previewing is a lot (and i mean a lot) smoother.
Same with Photoshop, the processor intensive operations (blurring a 4000x4000 resolution pictire r something), depend more on processor speed and off course RAM RAM RAM...

Online gaming benefits a lot with those high end graphics cards.

So all depends on your intensions and budget

[Dance]

If you need it for gaming you should get one or wait untill a cheaper card compatible with directX 10 is avaidable for you.

[Jeepinator]

Since you seem to just be doing graphics apps which are more processor intensive and RAM intensive than video card intensive you should think about getting a 256mb card at least for Vista if you plan on upgrading, and at least a ATI Radeon X1600 Pro (X1300XT is the same thing) or better, for nVidia I believe the equivalent for this card is a 7600 GS or so. The 7600 is actually a bit slower than a 6800GT. Try not to go any lower than that and invest at least 100 bucks. Companies I like are PowerColor, Sapphire, HIS, BFG, ASUS, XFX, and eVGA. You can't go wrong with either an ATI or nVidia GPU.

I really need to know if you have PCI Express or not, or if you just have AGP.

[zoom4267]

Since you seem to just be doing graphics apps which are more processor intensive and RAM intensive than video card intensive you should think about getting a 256mb card at least for Vista if you plan on upgrading, and at least a ATI Radeon X1600 Pro (X1300XT is the same thing) or better, for nVidia I believe the equivalent for this card is a 7600 GS or so. The 7600 is actually a bit slower than a 6800GT. Try not to go any lower than that and invest at least 100 bucks. Companies I like are PowerColor, Sapphire, HIS, BFG, ASUS, XFX, and eVGA. You can't go wrong with either an ATI or nVidia GPU.

I really need to know if you have PCI Express or not, or if you just have AGP.

i currently have Nvidea pci. i will probably upgrade to vista at a later date.

[Jeepinator]

Well, I need to know if that is PCI EXPRESS or just regular PCI. If it is express then you have MANY options open to you. If it's PCI Express then a 1600PRO would be good for you, or the 7600GS.

[zoom4267]

Well, I need to know if that is PCI EXPRESS or just regular PCI. If it is express then you have MANY options open to you. If it's PCI Express then a 1600PRO would be good for you, or the 7600GS.

oh, okay. i looked in my hardware profile and just saw pci. ill check to see if it is express or not

[Av-]

Me, myself i'm currently leaning towards a ATI x1950. Or i might just wait for a lil longer and wait for the next-gen DX10 cards.

If you only use it for the programs you summed up, rather then gaming, you don't really need a high end videocard.
If those programs are running slow for you, you should upgrade your memory or CPU instead.

[awesomebill61]

i have a nvidia 7300 GS and it runs photoshop pretty smoothly. its only like a $60-$75 card and it does a good job for a lot of windows-based stuff, but its not very good at gaming.

i got mine for pci-x but i think they make it for agp too and maybe pci.

if you're looking for something a little nicer, i would probably also steer you in the 7600 GS or GT route.

i also had an ATI x600 xt for a long time but it quit working right and the replacement did the same thing, so i wouldn't recommend ATI but that is all personal.

[Jeepinator]

I would obviously recommend ATI. I have never had a problem with them and I have gone through over 6 of their cards. All of the performed flawlessly. But seriously just get what is in your price range and is compatible with your PC, you'll be fine.