Upgrading...best graphics card for photos/video...mostly DSLR photos. Also upgrading mother board and processor. Probably AMD3000+.Not sure what motherboard...any suggestions.??Thanks a bunch!I already have over 1000G DDR and 3 hard drives LOL...need for speed and better quality display.
cleeve
Illustrious
- Mar 7, 2003
- 12,012
- 0
- 40,790
(Insert GreatGrapeApe's comment touting matrox HERE)
All I will add is, if color is important to you, use DVI. The color you see is only as accurate as your monitor.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
All I will add is, if color is important to you, use DVI. The color you see is only as accurate as your monitor.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
Matrox P-Series should be good for you, if you have the cash, a Parhelia would be better, but it's seldom worth the extra money. Don't know what Cleeve was talking about for the DVI usage--a high quality CRT monitor will beat out an equally priced (or even double priced generally) LCD monitor. Sometimes the analog coloring of LCD monitors is better than that of their digital color quality.
A great display is needed, however. My favorite display for digital photography is the NEC/Mitsubishi DP2070SB, but it has a hefty price tag of about $700USD at most places.
Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.
A great display is needed, however. My favorite display for digital photography is the NEC/Mitsubishi DP2070SB, but it has a hefty price tag of about $700USD at most places.
Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.
cleeve
Illustrious
- Mar 7, 2003
- 12,012
- 0
- 40,790
I thought DVI's had more precise color.
My apologies if I was mistaken. Vapor knows what he's talking about, so I digress.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
My apologies if I was mistaken. Vapor knows what he's talking about, so I digress.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>
They definitely do on some LCDs (usually the more expensive ones), but CRTs (analog only) are still better on the whole...even if the top-of-the-line 22" ones take up a desk and break your back trying to lift them up.
Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.
Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.
TheGreatGrapeApe
Champion
- Feb 18, 2003
- 20,043
- 0
- 50,960
I am SOOooooo Pi$$ed off right now. I just spent about 20 mins writing a long post with a bunch of good links, and somehow while I was typing away furiously @ 120 wpm (while watching Dennis Miller) I pressed a 2 key combination near the SHIFT key (ctrl, alt or windows key) and something on the right hand side off the keyboard (I can't even remember what I was writing I'm so furious!) which caused windows to progressively shut down all my open windows and reboot! FAQING FVK!
Man I'm SO MAD Right now! OIE! I'm staying in tonight cause I might go skiing tomorrow morning so I need my sleep
.
ARGHHH! M$ $CREW U!
- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK
Man I'm SO MAD Right now! OIE! I'm staying in tonight cause I might go skiing tomorrow morning so I need my sleep
.ARGHHH! M$ $CREW U!
- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK
TheGreatGrapeApe
Champion
- Feb 18, 2003
- 20,043
- 0
- 50,960
Ok sorry I'm going to be brief, read the post above to find out why. I wish I had what I wrote before I spent SOOoo much effort on it with a bunch of links! So I'll be a bit briefer and therefore it won't be very verbose.
First like Cleeve suggested I would, I have to recommend MATROX, nothing and I mean NOTHING comes close to the same level of quality. I would recommend the P650 if you're only using 2 monitors or less, and the P750 if you are using 3 monitors. If you are willing to pay extra the Parhelia will give you a slight bit more performance gain than the P750. <A HREF="http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/comp_chart/gseries_pseries_parhelia.cfm" target="_new">HERE</A>'s Matrox's comparisson list which should help you see which features appeal to you. I would not suggest anything less than the P650. The G550 and 450 are last generation products with lesser features, and quality that would only be equal to the ATIs and nVidias.
Second, BOTH Cleeve and Vapor are correct, strange as that may sound (unless you know them, and then you'd say, well they usually know what they're talking about [well rest assured they do])
Quickly DVI is a better Connector (no digital to analogue conversion errors, just straight digital) but CRT is a better monitor technology (better contrast, truer colours). For the enthusiast a DVI LCD/CARD combination is best, quick and easy to use it keeps the colours consistent and relatively true (compared to a regular crt, especially cheap ones).
For the Pro-sumer a CRT with a color management system (<A HREF="http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?Line=16" target="_new">X-rite</A> makes most of the ones for Sony and Iiyama IIRC) is best. But it requires alot of work to calibrate and must be done with each restart. Also the monitors are expensive.
There are CRTs with DVI inputs (DVI-A) like the P260 I have at work, but they still do the digital to analogue conversion within the monitor (so if there is a better one on the market it can't be upgraded throught the connector and then you're back to the VGA DB-15 analogue connector.
Barco is among the very best CRTs in the world, but they are expensive, expect to pay around $3000+ for a GOOD calibrated CRT from people like Sony, IIyama or Mitsubishi.
What kind of camera are you using? What files types are you working with? RAW, TIFF, ERI-JPEG, regular JPEG?
Here is the most recent good 2 part review by FiringSquad <A HREF="http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/building_gaming_opteron_2003_Part1/" target="_new">Part 1</A> & <A HREF="http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/building_gaming_opteron_2003_Part2/default.asp" target="_new">Part 2</A> that is a good enthusiast workstation build for general use, and not a dedicated system with proprietary components. I can't remember if I posted this here before or in another forum, for those of you whom it's new to, enjoy.
The crux of the digital imaging benchmarks is in Part 2 starting <A HREF="http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/building_gaming_opteron_2003_Part2/page10.asp" target="_new">HERE</A>.
When readin the article though remember that some of their concern is gaming performance, and just plain raw performance over quality thus they didn't inclue the Matrox cards. Really nothing beats the MAtrox cards, the ATIs and nVidia cards are OK, but just not up to the same level of image quality for 2D. Raw speed means very little if the quality is off. Even some of the issues they encountered 3 months ago are gone (ATI added rotational support to their drivers since then).
From their results, I'd say that the opterons (or AMD64 FX) would be a good choice. I run dual XP1800+ in my editing rig, and I love it.
If you are really serious though you can get a TYAN board with up to Quad Xeons, and you can get very large cache Xeons too. But that's if money is truely NO object.
The other thing is as the software and OSes get optimized 64bit will be perfect for serious editing. Adobe does have optimized versions of most of their software packages, but even those aren't running anywhere near their full potential.
I would suggest if you are looking for mid-priced then go with a VIA based (the nForce3 solution right now is slow and buggy) AMDFX solution (similar to the Opteron in the review), but the biggest problem is they are only socket 940, and therefore have a very short life span for replacement CPUs, you will have to replace the motherboard to get a faster CPU beyond the one that will replace the FX53 socket 940 CPU. The replacement socket 939 will start at FX53 and go for a few more generations from there. The single channel AMD64 3200+ using the socket 754 solution may have longer legs but will have the drawback of single channel only, althought the socket 940 solution does require registered memory. So your current memory may decide your rig. What type of memory and what speed.
BTW how much money are you talking about? Probably should have found that out first.
Well that should be a good start for now.
Man this whole thing took almost an hour including the first lost draft.
- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK
First like Cleeve suggested I would, I have to recommend MATROX, nothing and I mean NOTHING comes close to the same level of quality. I would recommend the P650 if you're only using 2 monitors or less, and the P750 if you are using 3 monitors. If you are willing to pay extra the Parhelia will give you a slight bit more performance gain than the P750. <A HREF="http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/comp_chart/gseries_pseries_parhelia.cfm" target="_new">HERE</A>'s Matrox's comparisson list which should help you see which features appeal to you. I would not suggest anything less than the P650. The G550 and 450 are last generation products with lesser features, and quality that would only be equal to the ATIs and nVidias.
Second, BOTH Cleeve and Vapor are correct, strange as that may sound (unless you know them, and then you'd say, well they usually know what they're talking about [well rest assured they do])
Quickly DVI is a better Connector (no digital to analogue conversion errors, just straight digital) but CRT is a better monitor technology (better contrast, truer colours). For the enthusiast a DVI LCD/CARD combination is best, quick and easy to use it keeps the colours consistent and relatively true (compared to a regular crt, especially cheap ones).
For the Pro-sumer a CRT with a color management system (<A HREF="http://www.xrite.com/product_overview.aspx?Line=16" target="_new">X-rite</A> makes most of the ones for Sony and Iiyama IIRC) is best. But it requires alot of work to calibrate and must be done with each restart. Also the monitors are expensive.
There are CRTs with DVI inputs (DVI-A) like the P260 I have at work, but they still do the digital to analogue conversion within the monitor (so if there is a better one on the market it can't be upgraded throught the connector and then you're back to the VGA DB-15 analogue connector.
Barco is among the very best CRTs in the world, but they are expensive, expect to pay around $3000+ for a GOOD calibrated CRT from people like Sony, IIyama or Mitsubishi.
What kind of camera are you using? What files types are you working with? RAW, TIFF, ERI-JPEG, regular JPEG?
Here is the most recent good 2 part review by FiringSquad <A HREF="http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/building_gaming_opteron_2003_Part1/" target="_new">Part 1</A> & <A HREF="http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/building_gaming_opteron_2003_Part2/default.asp" target="_new">Part 2</A> that is a good enthusiast workstation build for general use, and not a dedicated system with proprietary components. I can't remember if I posted this here before or in another forum, for those of you whom it's new to, enjoy.
The crux of the digital imaging benchmarks is in Part 2 starting <A HREF="http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/building_gaming_opteron_2003_Part2/page10.asp" target="_new">HERE</A>.
When readin the article though remember that some of their concern is gaming performance, and just plain raw performance over quality thus they didn't inclue the Matrox cards. Really nothing beats the MAtrox cards, the ATIs and nVidia cards are OK, but just not up to the same level of image quality for 2D. Raw speed means very little if the quality is off. Even some of the issues they encountered 3 months ago are gone (ATI added rotational support to their drivers since then).
From their results, I'd say that the opterons (or AMD64 FX) would be a good choice. I run dual XP1800+ in my editing rig, and I love it.
If you are really serious though you can get a TYAN board with up to Quad Xeons, and you can get very large cache Xeons too. But that's if money is truely NO object.
The other thing is as the software and OSes get optimized 64bit will be perfect for serious editing. Adobe does have optimized versions of most of their software packages, but even those aren't running anywhere near their full potential.
I would suggest if you are looking for mid-priced then go with a VIA based (the nForce3 solution right now is slow and buggy) AMDFX solution (similar to the Opteron in the review), but the biggest problem is they are only socket 940, and therefore have a very short life span for replacement CPUs, you will have to replace the motherboard to get a faster CPU beyond the one that will replace the FX53 socket 940 CPU. The replacement socket 939 will start at FX53 and go for a few more generations from there. The single channel AMD64 3200+ using the socket 754 solution may have longer legs but will have the drawback of single channel only, althought the socket 940 solution does require registered memory. So your current memory may decide your rig. What type of memory and what speed.
BTW how much money are you talking about? Probably should have found that out first.
Well that should be a good start for now.
Man this whole thing took almost an hour including the first lost draft.
- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK
fragglefart
Distinguished
- Sep 5, 2003
- 132
- 0
- 18,680
Hehehe. what a fantastic post!
Um. i really wouldnt worry about any of the components if i were you, as long as you spend enough on each one.
But yes, get a good Matrox card, and spend your entire budget on a bloody awesome Monitor. CRT definately.
Processors/ MOBO's really make little difference for digital photography work these days, unless you are working on an image the size of a small moon
Just get a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE screen and an awesome wacom pen!
............................................
Render times? You'll find me down the pub...
Um. i really wouldnt worry about any of the components if i were you, as long as you spend enough on each one.
But yes, get a good Matrox card, and spend your entire budget on a bloody awesome Monitor. CRT definately.
Processors/ MOBO's really make little difference for digital photography work these days, unless you are working on an image the size of a small moon
Just get a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE screen and an awesome wacom pen!
............................................
Render times? You'll find me down the pub...
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