video card for graphics/rendering

ecory · 01-25-2008, 05:47 AM

Hi, I'm a first time poster here and will be buying a desktop in a month or two and I'm looking for advice on what video card to get. I will be doing a lot of graphics work with Photoshop and Illustrator as well as 3D modeling and rendering. I also tend to do a lot of multitasking. My budget is about $1000 for the entire desktop and I prefer to not be an energy guzzler if I can help it (I'd like to keep my power supply around the 350 watt mark if possible).

Most of the recommendations are based on gaming rather than graphics work and I just have no idea what cards to consider beyond knowing that I want more than an integrated card.

what do you all think?

littlenlnga · 01-25-2008, 05:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ecory

Hi, I'm a first time poster here and will be buying a desktop in a month or two and I'm looking for advice on what video card to get. I will be doing a lot of graphics work with Photoshop and Illustrator as well as 3D modeling and rendering. I also tend to do a lot of multitasking. My budget is about $1000 for the entire desktop and I prefer to not be an energy guzzler if I can help it (I'd like to keep my power supply around the 350 watt mark if possible).

Most of the recommendations are based on gaming rather than graphics work and I just have no idea what cards to consider beyond knowing that I want more than an integrated card.

what do you all think?

radeon hd 3850

ecory · 01-25-2008, 01:36 PM

thanks for the reply. Why the radeon hd 3850?

jimkonow · 01-25-2008, 02:22 PM

well, the 3850 isnt exactly a workstation card.
youre definitely gonna have to up your power to around 500w to have a stable system and a workstation card running...sorry to be the one to tell you.
lemmie put a system together for you....im assuming you live in the US?

ecory · 01-25-2008, 05:04 PM

yes, I live in the US. Thanks

ecory · 01-28-2008, 05:34 AM

Any other recommendations?

ecory · 02-03-2008, 06:12 AM

bump...

hermeslyre · 02-03-2008, 06:33 AM

The 8800gt, on par with the $400-500 8800gtx, would be great. It's not a workstation card, but it's damn powerful, and for $240, I don't know that you could get a CAD card that compares. More good news; it only requires a 400w, +12v@26 amperes.

The 512mb of VRAM it sports should help tons.

ecory · 02-06-2008, 06:37 PM

Thanks hermeslyre, I'll look at the 8800gt. It's good to have a starting point. There are so many different cards out there it's a bit overwhelming.

01-25-2008, 05:47 AM	#1 (permalink)
ecory Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 25	video card for graphics/rendering Hi, I'm a first time poster here and will be buying a desktop in a month or two and I'm looking for advice on what video card to get. I will be doing a lot of graphics work with Photoshop and Illustrator as well as 3D modeling and rendering. I also tend to do a lot of multitasking. My budget is about $1000 for the entire desktop and I prefer to not be an energy guzzler if I can help it (I'd like to keep my power supply around the 350 watt mark if possible). Most of the recommendations are based on gaming rather than graphics work and I just have no idea what cards to consider beyond knowing that I want more than an integrated card. what do you all think?

01-25-2008, 02:22 PM	#4 (permalink)
jimkonow Platinum Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Chatham, New York Age: 18 Posts: 963	well, the 3850 isnt exactly a workstation card. youre definitely gonna have to up your power to around 500w to have a stable system and a workstation card running...sorry to be the one to tell you. lemmie put a system together for you....im assuming you live in the US? __________________ E4500 @ 2.2GHz Gigabyte P35-DS3L 2048MB OCZ DDR2-800 80GB Excelstor SATA 3.0 MSI HD2600XT (256MB GDDR4) NEC DVD-R-DL above for sale.....450 shipped. vista ultimate 32 bit or windows xp home for an OS.

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01-25-2008, 01:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
ecory Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 25	thanks for the reply. Why the radeon hd 3850?

01-25-2008, 05:04 PM	#5 (permalink)
ecory Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 25	yes, I live in the US. Thanks

01-28-2008, 05:34 AM	#6 (permalink)
ecory Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 25	Any other recommendations?

02-03-2008, 06:12 AM	#7 (permalink)
ecory Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 25	bump...

02-03-2008, 06:33 AM	#8 (permalink)
hermeslyre VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Portland, Oregon Age: 19 Posts: 4,973	The 8800gt, on par with the $400-500 8800gtx, would be great. It's not a workstation card, but it's damn powerful, and for $240, I don't know that you could get a CAD card that compares. More good news; it only requires a 400w, +12v@26 amperes. The 512mb of VRAM it sports should help tons.

02-06-2008, 06:37 PM	#9 (permalink)
ecory Bronze Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 25	Thanks hermeslyre, I'll look at the 8800gt. It's good to have a starting point. There are so many different cards out there it's a bit overwhelming.