I am in the process of ordering a pc for my web design business. I am looking at a Dell Studio XPS 9000 Desktop computer.
I have a question on the graphics card. I use Dreamweaver and Photoshop. I’m not sure which video card offered would be sufficient for my needs. They offer the following video cards to choose from:
ATI Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR3 [Included in Price]
nVidia GeForce GTS 240 1024MB [add $80]
ATI Radeon™ HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 [add $130]
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5 [add $280]
Which would you suggest, and if I select one of these, will that mean I still have on-board graphics in the computer? I was told that with photoshop I don’t want on-board graphics, that I need a decent built in GPU. I am not sure what that means exactly. If I order one of these cards, will the on-board graphics be left out? Sorry, but my knowledge of computer hardware is almost nill so thrown off easily by some of these terms.
in CS4 Photoshop, Premiere and After Effects do use modern GPUs to improve performance.
In PS the benefit will be more noticeable the larger the image.
on board graphics means that the graphics processing is done by an integrated chip on the motherboard. The opposite is to have a dedicated graphics card. It connects to the motherboard, but is a physically separate device. You’ll get better performance with the latter.
Personally I’d upgrade to the HD 5770 based on your options there, but if you don’t want to spend another $130 getting a lesser dedicated graphics card would be fine IMO.
I just bought MSI N220 512MB DDR2 which is much for my gaming needs also plays high quality videos smoothly but sorry i don’t have an idea about your graphical needs but one thing i can say for sure that you don’t need to spend $280 for your needs, just go for good one.
I have a Geforce GT 220 and honestly I don’t see that much difference for what I do in my work. I don’t play games or edit videos. If I had it to do over again, I probably would not have selected a high performance card. The only small benefit I may have is the on board memory which may better conserve memory for applications.
I bought a Dell Studio Desktop XPS 8000 4 months ago, and I choose the ATI Radeon™ HD 5770 video card. No need to overkill man, this card can handle it all. I always have Photoshop CS4, Visual Studio 2008, and SQL Management Studio open at the same time, and almost never have a hiccup. Unless your a gamer, then you should choose a more dedicated card. But, for a web/graphic developer, that card is the ****.
As of right now, ATI is the way to go. I have been an nVidia fan for a long time, but they have nothing on the market that can compete.
As for onboard graphics compared to a card… All onboard means is that the graphics processor is integrated into your motherboard. Once you purchase a separate card the onboard graphics will be turned off and the PC would use the card only. Purchasing a separate card for PS is an excellent idea and if you are NOT going to be gaming the 5450 should be good enough. If you want to spend the extra money go with the 5770.
I agree here. If you can afford it - buy the ATI Radeon 5870. If not, would go for the Nvidia. Either way, I don’t think that you will see a huge difference between the two now. maybe in the future. Buying a good video card delays the upgrading process and it’s important because you can buy a HDD or RAM later but a video card costs a lot if you want to change it.
ATI Radeon™ HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 [add $130]
ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB GDDR5 [add $280]
One of those two. If you play games, like hardcore games like Crysis, and stuff that requires more than 40+ frames a second I would go with the 5870. If you play WoW, the sims, flash games on shockwave, the first two would be good enough. Wow on low settings will work on many graphic cards. The 5870 is overkill for like 95% of all games out right now.
I think bottom line is that it might affect the speed but I think it won’t affect the speed in a way that you will see. The difference will be very small between those video cards at this time.
You can use both Dreamweaver and Photoshop without problems.
