Best GPU for running Photoshop / similar software?

Hey,

I'm building a system in the next couple of weeks and would like some help with what graphics card would be to buy.

In an old thread I read 'I also believe that much of Adobe's software can also be accelerated via ATI GPUs, so the 4730 / 4770 / 4870 would come into the reckoning and possibly be better value for money...', not sure how true this was?

I'm looking to spend about £1.5k on the system, I might play the odd game but but am not interested in spending a lot on one of the latest cards, main priority is for Photoshop to run quick and smoothly.

Thanks!

If it is just Photoshop you'll be running then you don't need to spend a fortune on a decent graphics card at all as it is not that intensive a programme on the GPU. What REALLY makes a difference to Photoshop speed is having a quality SSD for both the programme and the scratch disk.

If you're going to do video editing, that's a different story.

I read that the latest versions of Photoshop (CS4/5) support CUDA acceleration which might be worth looking into.

Not sure how much it improves the performance though.

Cheers for the replies.

GheeTsar, when you say a quality SSD for both the programme and scratch disk, do you mean a seperate one for each or will one be ok?

I've already planned on buying the following;
SSDSA2MH080G2C1 - Gen 2 - 80GB Intel SSD Gen 2, MLC-Flash, 2.5" , SATA 3Gb/s, Read 250MB/s, Write 70MB/s
£187.96 Inc VAT

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cprowe

Cheers for the replies.

GheeTsar, when you say a quality SSD for both the programme and scratch disk, do you mean a seperate one for each or will one be ok?

I've already planned on buying the following;
SSDSA2MH080G2C1 - Gen 2 - 80GB Intel SSD Gen 2, MLC-Flash, 2.5" , SATA 3Gb/s, Read 250MB/s, Write 70MB/s
£187.96 Inc VAT

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One should be fine - as long as you leave a suitable amount of space for your scratch disk on it of course. I use that exact SSD and it's sped up photoshop a huge amount.

If it's just for photoshop, you may be intested in a OCZ Vertex for similar money as they have better write speeds (although are not as good for 4k random reads which are more important for general system speediness), but I don't think you will go far wrong with the Intel.