Best graphics card for photo editing

[HalfPress]

How much attention should I pay to the graphics card I get for a new desktop machine if the purpose is primarily photo editing? It seems all the boards today are geared toward gamers -- how many gamers are there out there, anyway? You'd think all people do with computers any more is play games!

So which card should I get? Does it mean when a card is great for games it's great for photoshop, too?

[Mr. Pickles]

Well, no. Really, all you need is a bazillion colors, just to make sure you have more than the color space. A high refresh rate is nice, if the monitor can handle it. I think the cards will be "faster" than the computer running Photoshop on large images, but I could be wrong.

You might want a dual monitor setup some day, so you could think about that. If you might, get a card that has two separate jacks and can handle two monitors that can be set or calibrated individually.

I wouldn't get a $29 card, but wouldn't get a $1000 one either.

[Worm324]

Something in the 150-250 dollor range should do everyhing you would ever need. And play some games if you want I have High end gaming cards in both my machines and they work great for Photoshop aswell as dual monitor and games.

Hope that helps. Theres so many to choose from; personaly I preffer Radeon over Nividia, but its just personal prefferance.


Jay

[jfrancho]

I use a Matrox Parhelia card in my photo editing machine.

[skrubol]

I would feel pretty comfortable spending $29 on a video card for a photo editing machine if I were to hook it up to a CRT. The only thing missing in general from a cheap card is DVI. What you're usually really paying for in a video card is 3d acceleration. Workstation video cards are geared towards 3d acceleration of CAD and animation type programs.
I've heard ATI generally has better image quality for 2D and movies (may apply more to movies.) The main features to look for are DVI or dual DVI if you plan on connecting 1 or 2 LCD's to it, and of course compatibility with the motherboard (AGP or PCI Express.)

[jfrancho]

My matrox is actually optimized for 2D.