I have an older computer and looking to upgrade my video card because I am attempting to do some basic 3D in Photoshop and my current video card does not support hardware acceleration. I have two video cards I am comparing and considering. But it comes down to a few questions I have.
One card is 512MB and the other is 1GB in Memory, does that extra 512 in memory really going to make a difference that it is worth paying extra for (doubles the price).
Basically is the performance improvement going to be noticeable or it might be noticeable or not noticeable at all.
Are there other requirements that I should be looking into? Meaning The 512 Card has this which will make it better (or worse) because...
Thanks for any assistance in helping me understand =>
Please when you say "But it's twice as fast"
give details and explanations as to how twice as fast is truly better (remember more is not always better)
Note: Both cards have the requirments for 3D in Photoshop which are:
- supports OpenGL, a software and hardware standard that accelerates video processing when working with large or complex images, including 3D.
- has at least 256 MB of RAM.
- has a display driver that supports OpenGL 2.0 and Shader Model 3.0, which the GPU uses to perform rendering effects.
Here are my computer specs along with both video card specs:
Computer
P4 - 2.8 GHZ - 3GB RAM - AGP Version 3 8x - Windows XP Pro (SP3)
512 Card
Bus Width 64 bit
RAMDAC Speed 400 MHz
Analog Signal Yes
Digital Signal Yes
Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
Chipset Model Geforce 6200
Chipset Line GeForce
Chipset Series 6
Height 2.7"
Memory Technology DDR2 SDRAM
Maximum Resolution 2048 x 1536
Length 4.3"
Memory Speed 1064 MHz
Product Model 512-A8-N405-KR
Processor Speed 300 MHz
Standard Memory 512 MB
Host Interface AGP 8x
API Supported DirectX 9.0
OpenGL 2.0
Dual RAMDAC Yes
Number of Monitors Supported 2
Cooler Type Passive Cooler
1 GB Card
HDCP Supported Yes
Bus Width 128 bit
Analog Signal Yes
Digital Signal Yes
Chipset Manufacturer ATI
Chipset Model 3650
Chipset Line Radeon
Chipset Series HD 3000
Memory Technology DDR2 SDRAM
Maximum Resolution 2560 x 1600
Product Model 900284
Processor Speed 725 MHz
Standard Memory 1 GB
Host Interface AGP 8x
API Supported DirectX 10.1
Shader Model 4.1
Number of Stream Processors 120