Need help with video card

[ohheckyeah]

For Photoshop CS5 it is recommended that you have a hardware-accelerated OpenGL graphics card that you can set to 1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended). I currently have a NVIDIA GEForce FX 5200. If I set it to either of the resolutions above the quality is not good.

I have a Dell Dimension 3000. Any suggestions on a video card that would work better with my Photoshop?

[canetoad]

1. If you go to this page of cards

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_family.html

and look at the middle column - GeForce GTS and GT for desktop, there should be something in your price range. For a mid range workhorse card, the GTS 250 is good and the GTS 450 is better. The GTXs are very expensive. You will need an extra power connector for the 450 and possibly the 250.

At some stage I've had a GT 440 but it didn't last long, possibly it was a cheaper brand.

[struggle4progress]

2. Not an expert. How old is the machine? Does the videocard sit in a PCI slot or some other slot?

Your options for a pci card may be limited: it looks like most people are buying pcie -- but that may not help you with your machine

How much do you want to spend? If you've got an old machine, you may not want to dump a lot of $$$ into an expensive graphics card for it

You can get an eVGA GeForce 6200 (PCI 2.1) for about $50; a post in dell forums claims the Dimension 3000 is pci 2.2; wikipedia suggests the GeForce 6 series have openGL 2.0 support; the manufacturer recommends at least 300w psu; it's considered a low end card; I'd guess 2048x1536 Max Analog resolution would support 1024x768 but have no idea whether 1920x1200 Max Digital resolution would support 1280x800. I honestly don't know whether the card would solve your problem or not

What's the OS? Wikipedia indicates the videocard is no longer supported, so you might ask yourself if nonsupport from the OS is part of your resolution problem. And I think CS5 may have been released after support for your videocard ended

I'm asking these questions, not because I need to know the answers (I really can't help much) -- I'm asking because maybe you ought to be asking yourself such questions

[hobbit709]

3. What is the resolution of your monitor?

Those resolution settings are the minimum. If you have a higher quality monitor set at a higher resolution there should be no problem.

If you replace it with a higher end graphics card I suggest replacing the power supply with a better one. Dells are notoriously underpowered and putting in a card with higher power demands may overload it.

Personally, if I was going to run CS5 I'd get a better computer.

[ohheckyeah]

4. Thanks for all of the answers.

I think that maybe it would make more sense to wait and get a new desktop computer soon. The Dell Dimension is probably 5 years old and I'm running XP on it.

My monitor is an Acer 22" HD widescreen and I have the resolution at 1440 x 900.

When I got the Acer monitor I upgraded to the video card I have now.

[Occulus]

5. Well, you *could* get an OEM copy of Windows 7.

Then, watch for a CPU/mobo combo- or a good deal on a barebones kit- at TigerDirect or NewEgg. Your hard drive should still be good (for the time being), your monitor doesn't need to be replaced, and you can use the video card you have until you can get a better one.

I always do this; my desktop is a mutt in that respect. I recommend it because it gives you much more control over your PC than you would have if you bought a name-brand machine off the shelf. Even the full PCs from the sites I mentioned are just better machines in general than a Dell or an HP. Sure, they might cost more out the door sometimes, but... look at what you're getting.

I would definitely buy an OEM copy of Windows 7 regardless. Having an actual official disc with the OS on it is an absolute must, no matter what you do.