Will a good graphics card take a load off of the CPU and/or Ram?

[primal_groove]

hello everyone,
new poster here..

Sorry if this was posted before.. but my question is:

will adding a good graphics card with good size memory like 512mb, 768mb or 1GB take a load off of the CPU and/or ram when doing graphics?

I am running WinXP Pro with 3GB ram and currently i have a Pentium D 3.4Ghz processor but upgrading to a Core2Duo 2.66Ghz soon (my motherboard only supports up Intel E6700 as the fastest CPU).

Of course when I am working on something on my computer, i close any un-needed stuff.

any info would help.


Thanks

 

[jerrardo]

It won't take any load off of your CPU or RAM, unless you are going from onboard graphics to a graphics card. Most games are video card dependent, but some do benefit from a solid CPU and good amount of RAM. It depends on what games you play.

 

[flyin15sec]

What type of "graphics" are you talking about? Gaming, 3D rendering CAD, 3D animation, etc

 

[primal_groove]

It won't take any load off of your CPU or RAM, unless you are going from onboard graphics to a graphics card. Most games are video card dependent, but some do benefit from a solid CPU and good amount of RAM. It depends on what games you play.

I'd be going from onboard Graphics Card to a graphics card. PCI-E type card most likely as i have the 1 slot and its empty at the moment

 

[primal_groove]

What type of "graphics" are you talking about? Gaming, 3D rendering CAD, 3D animation, etc

Mostly graphics for CDs and flyers type stuff.

I play with a bandand we do most of that stuff our selves of course. Most of the stuff I create has high resolution since thats what the printer shop asks for... and when I do create that stuff, it definitly slows things down a bit. infact, 2 or 3 times i was working on a flyer and it didnt allow me to save the changes to the file and it said "out of memory".

I use Photoshop.


Thanks

 

[IH8U]

Another with that new CPU, and GFX. ADD MORE RAM! (or just better quality RAM, 4GB of it)
And make sure your PSU can handle the added power draw.

 

[jerrardo]

Something doesn't sound right, and no a video card will not fix your problem. Adding extra memory will not help unless you switch to a 64bit operating system and 64bit version of Photoshop. Try increasing your Virtual Memory, which is in the Control Panel, System Properties, Advanced Tab, Performance Settings, Advanced Tab, Virtual Memory Change. I would try a size like 5GB to 6GB.

How big are these files you are saving? Is there a chance you've gone way overboard on resoultion, like 6,000 dpi instead of 600 dpi, or whatever the norm is.

 

[flyin15sec]

What motherboard do you have? Is it possible to allocate more memory for video memory in the BIOS?

 

[primal_groove]

Another with that new CPU, and GFX. ADD MORE RAM! (or just better quality RAM, 4GB of it)
And make sure your PSU can handle the added power draw.

I do have 4GB in there. But WinXP only utilizies 3GB of it. Well, mine seen 3.11GB.

I have Kingston 677Mhz 1GB sticks in there. 677Mhz is the max my MB will handle.

For Power supply, I am looking to upgrade my case to something nicer and more sturdy. was looking at the Antec Sonata III cases. They come with a 500watts power supply. I dont recall what I have in there now.

 

[primal_groove]

Something doesn't sound right, and no a video card will not fix your problem. Adding extra memory will not help unless you switch to a 64bit operating system and 64bit version of Photoshop. Try increasing your Virtual Memory, which is in the Control Panel, System Properties, Advanced Tab, Performance Settings, Advanced Tab, Virtual Memory Change. I would try a size like 5GB to 6GB.

How big are these files you are saving? Is there a chance you've gone way overboard on resoultion, like 6,000 dpi instead of 600 dpi, or whatever the norm is.

ok! I was thinking of 64Bit XP but if the programs arent 64Bit, then they'll just run as 32Bit and it'll be pretty much back to square one. no?

I currently have my Virtual Memory set to System Managed. Should I change that to a set size and set it to 5GB?

 

[primal_groove]

What motherboard do you have? Is it possible to allocate more memory for video memory in the BIOS?

The motherboard i have is an Asus P5LD-VM. I dont recall being able to allocate more memory for Video, but I'll double check next time.

 

[jerrardo]

ok! I was thinking of 64Bit XP but if the programs arent 64Bit, then they'll just run as 32Bit and it'll be pretty much back to square one. no?

I currently have my Virtual Memory set to System Managed. Should I change that to a set size and set it to 5GB?

Most people who are looking to get a little more performance out of their computer set the minimum and maximum page file size to the same value. This is to ensure that one big chunk of your harddrive is set aside as the virtual memory, and you don't get little pieces here and there as windows increases or decreases the pagefile size.

If I have followed this post correctly you asked your original question because you were running out of memory when working with, and saving, large photoshop files. You should try eliminate that problem first, and I would either do a google search using the name of the program followed by the error message (eg. photoshop out of memory error), or go to the support forums for the software that is giving you problems.

Good luck!

 

[flyin15sec]

The motherboard i have is an Asus P5LD-VM. I dont recall being able to allocate more memory for Video, but I'll double check next time.

I just checked on that motherboard. The maximum amount of memory you can allocate is only 64mb. There is a good chance that the 64mb of video memory is causing your error. To troubleshoot you should definitely try a discrete video card with more than 256mb to see if it helps.

What some people do is buy a video card, from like BestBuy, Circuit City, etc. Test it out, if it doesn't help, then return it. Just say that you have an AGP system and it won't work, they'll accept the return.

 

[primal_groove]

Most people who are looking to get a little more performance out of their computer set the minimum and maximum page file size to the same value. This is to ensure that one big chunk of your harddrive is set aside as the virtual memory, and you don't get little pieces here and there as windows increases or decreases the pagefile size.

If I have followed this post correctly you asked your original question because you were running out of memory when working with, and saving, large photoshop files. You should try eliminate that problem first, and I would either do a google search using the name of the program followed by the error message (eg. photoshop out of memory error), or go to the support forums for the software that is giving you problems.

Good luck!

Thanks! I'll definitly try to set it to a higher amount by default and see if that helps.

 

[primal_groove]

I just checked on that motherboard. The maximum amount of memory you can allocate is only 64mb. There is a good chance that the 64mb of video memory is causing your error. To troubleshoot you should definitely try a discrete video card with more than 256mb to see if it helps.

What some people do is buy a video card, from like BestBuy, Circuit City, etc. Test it out, if it doesn't help, then return it. Just say that you have an AGP system and it won't work, they'll accept the return.

Well.. I am sure adding a graphics card will have its benefits. I might as well buy one and keep it.

EDIT: Would this be a good one?
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3738465&CatId=2306

 

[flyin15sec]

This is the lowest level video card I'd get: XFX 9600GSO 768MB
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4128445&CatId=28

 

[primal_groove]

This is the lowest level video card I'd get: XFX 9600GSO 768MB
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4128445&CatId=28

I think the PCI express on my Motherboard is 1.0. That card is 2.0.

Will that still work on my motherboard?

 

[flyin15sec]

PCIe is backwards and forward compatible. It will work fine, only thing it can't do is run at PCIe 2.0 bandwidth.

 

[primal_groove]

PCIe is backwards and forward compatible. It will work fine, only thing it can't do is run at PCIe 2.0 bandwidth.

ok Thanks! I guess buying that one too will be useful when I upgrade to a newer machine and has PCI-E 2.0.


Thanks again!