Which Graphics Card?

Moderator: jsachs

Post Reply
MikeWest
Posts: 1
Joined: September 28th, 2011, 10:25 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Samsung NX100

Which Graphics Card?

Post by MikeWest »

Hi All,

I would appreciate any advice or pointers to a good resource for info on choosing a new graphics card to use with pwp6. I want to get a new computer and so can choose any graphics card, but obviously don't want to waste money if more a more expensive/powerful card isn't utilised by pwp6. I tried searching the board but most of the posts are fairly out of date now. Does pwp6 use hardware acceleration on the graphics card to do any of the transformations?

Also I don't really have a good handle on the whole dual display/color management/LUT discussion, there seems to be a lot of confusion. Is it useful to have two displays, one for the image and the other for the program control? How do you set that up in pwp6?

Thanks for your help, Mike.
alain
Posts: 95
Joined: September 27th, 2010, 7:18 am
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: A850

Re: Which Graphics Card?

Post by alain »

MikeWest wrote:Hi All,

I would appreciate any advice or pointers to a good resource for info on choosing a new graphics card to use with pwp6. I want to get a new computer and so can choose any graphics card, but obviously don't want to waste money if more a more expensive/powerful card isn't utilised by pwp6. I tried searching the board but most of the posts are fairly out of date now. Does pwp6 use hardware acceleration on the graphics card to do any of the transformations?

Also I don't really have a good handle on the whole dual display/color management/LUT discussion, there seems to be a lot of confusion. Is it useful to have two displays, one for the image and the other for the program control? How do you set that up in pwp6?

Thanks for your help, Mike.
PWP doesn't use the graphics card. Quite some parts still use just one core.

I would look at 64-bit (a real bonus) and a SSD (for example the crucial m4 128Gb) as boot, before spending money on a GPU. I use the internal GPU of the intel 2500K.
Rawcoll
Posts: 55
Joined: May 18th, 2009, 9:06 am
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: GH2, G80, (Fuji XT-1)
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Which Graphics Card?

Post by Rawcoll »

I don't think that the display of still images makes great demands on the graphics abilities of the pc, unlike that demanded for gaming, for example. So you should consider other uses to which your pc is to be put. But I'd certainly go for a separate graphics card rather than use onboard graphics to maximise the ram available (though see below re. noise). You should also check that the card can provide the refresh rates that your monitor will demand at the resolution you'll be using, though I suspect that even very cheap cards will cope.

Having just built a pc primarily for still image processing (Lightroom and PWPro 64 bit), I went for a fairly cheap and basic card, an Asus Radeon HD6450 1GB, which can be had for about £35 in the UK. I suspect that even that is overkill, but I'm happy with the output and it leaves something in reserve for other applications should the need arise. Also it uses passive cooling, therebye avoiding yet another source of noise.

Ian
alain
Posts: 95
Joined: September 27th, 2010, 7:18 am
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: A850

Re: Which Graphics Card?

Post by alain »

Rawcoll wrote:I don't think that the display of still images makes great demands on the graphics abilities of the pc, unlike that demanded for gaming, for example. So you should consider other uses to which your pc is to be put. But I'd certainly go for a separate graphics card rather than use onboard graphics to maximise the ram available (though see below re. noise). You should also check that the card can provide the refresh rates that your monitor will demand at the resolution you'll be using, though I suspect that even very cheap cards will cope.

Having just built a pc primarily for still image processing (Lightroom and PWPro 64 bit), I went for a fairly cheap and basic card, an Asus Radeon HD6450 1GB, which can be had for about £35 in the UK. I suspect that even that is overkill, but I'm happy with the output and it leaves something in reserve for other applications should the need arise. Also it uses passive cooling, therebye avoiding yet another source of noise.

Ian
Hi

The RAM usage of the onboard controller isn't that important and completely not with an 64-bit OS. You get about 8GB ram for the price of the separate card. Most recent onboard controllers are quite good for still images.
Rawcoll
Posts: 55
Joined: May 18th, 2009, 9:06 am
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: GH2, G80, (Fuji XT-1)
Location: Oxfordshire, UK

Re: Which Graphics Card?

Post by Rawcoll »

alain wrote:
The RAM usage of the onboard controller isn't that important and completely not with an 64-bit OS. You get about 8GB ram for the price of the separate card. Most recent onboard controllers are quite good for still images.
Hi
Well, I can't really argue with that logic! If I remember correctly though, the motherboard version I am using does not support on-board video.

Ian
kkopchynski
Posts: 16
Joined: April 26th, 2009, 2:46 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Canon 40D
Contact:

Re: Which Graphics Card?

Post by kkopchynski »

Hi,

The OP also asked about dual monitors. I use 2 monitors and it is very useful. As far as I have seen, you can't set it up as asked with the picture on a screen and the controls on another. You just stretch the program window across both monitors and slide around the images and controls as needed - but I am hoping someone will show me to be wrong on this. Adding 2 monitors adds the complication of keeping them calibrated and agreeing reasonably with each other. But it is worth it.

IF the OP decides he wants 2 monitors, won't he have to get a card in order to plug them both in? Or are there motherboards with 2 monitor slots?

Thanks
Kevin
alain
Posts: 95
Joined: September 27th, 2010, 7:18 am
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: A850

Re: Which Graphics Card?

Post by alain »

kkopchynski wrote:Hi,

The OP also asked about dual monitors. I use 2 monitors and it is very useful. As far as I have seen, you can't set it up as asked with the picture on a screen and the controls on another. You just stretch the program window across both monitors and slide around the images and controls as needed - but I am hoping someone will show me to be wrong on this. Adding 2 monitors adds the complication of keeping them calibrated and agreeing reasonably with each other. But it is worth it.

IF the OP decides he wants 2 monitors, won't he have to get a card in order to plug them both in? Or are there motherboards with 2 monitor slots?

Thanks
Kevin
I have displayport,DVI,hdmi,analog d-sub on my MB. I do use DVI and analog d-sub at the same time, but it's always needed to check which interfaces can be used at the same time :-(

I use PWP on one monitor. I do have a good and good calibrated one and a cheap second monitor that I also calibrate. I do use the two monitors while working in capture one pro, image one the first monitor and all the rest on the second one. Capture one has a specific seperate viewer added to the application.
Post Reply