[Sedul]

Hey everyone. I'm wondering what video card are you using just to get optimal 2d display rate using your drawing program (Photoshop)

I'm wondering what is limiting the speed my brush strokes (60 pixels or something big) are displaying in photoshop as i draw with ma tablet. Also, i'm zoomed into the screen quite nicely on a large file.

All i could think of is Memory and Video card and mbe the Processor.

I have a 8 meg Matrox Millenium II Card and I'm running 1280x1024 16 bit 85hz refresh rate... I think it's the card. What do you all think.. cause i want my display to be faster!!! What card are you guy using and what system? (Mac/PC) i'm using a PC

Also i have 512 megs of ram so i'm not toos ure that woudl be the limiting factor.

I'm running a T-bird 750mhz

Thanks!

[r4bid]

your problem is definitly the graphics card....

I run the following:

1.33 ghz AMD Athlon
256 mb pc2100 ram
40gb hd
64mb geforce 3
19inch monitor
6x8 intuos
cable modem

[Sedul]

wow u got a sweet computer.
i'm thinkin' of raiding my hds so i get fast swap disk performance.

but yeh Graphics card rite?> . The memory on the graphics card is improtnat and the RAMDAC too?>

good ram too.

[KrassOtti]

Any new card these days are fast enough to show a 2D picture. The most important ingredients for fast photoshopping are the CPU and RAM amount.

Though the Millenium2 is a fairly old card. Maybe it hinders the performance a bit, but a CPU upgrade would give you much better increase in performance.

btw, I have a 733MHz P3 with 128MB Ram and a GeForce2 as graphics card. I really gotta upgrade that RAM. With big pictures there is just too much swapping going on and the performance plummets...

[Frost]

quote:

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Originally posted by r4bid:
your problem is definitly the graphics card....

---

Erm, well, could very well be. Generally, Matrox has always had spectacular performance in 2D, in fact theyve pretty much always been the fastest at it, but this card you have is ancient from what I gather... even before the AGP days. Anything AGP would be a great step forward... but if you're doing 2D, I'd still go for a Matrox card, as they are still the 2D speed champs. (3d is a different story however)

[Sedul]

quote:

---

Originally posted by KrassOtti:
Any new card these days are fast enough to show a 2D picture. The most important ingredients for fast photoshopping are the CPU and RAM amount.

Though the Millenium2 is a fairly old card. Maybe it hinders the performance a bit, but a CPU upgrade would give you much better increase in performance.

btw, I have a 733MHz P3 with 128MB Ram and a GeForce2 as graphics card. I really gotta upgrade that RAM. With big pictures there is just too much swapping going on and the performance plummets...

---

Hrmm. I got the Ram. Ok amount. I got the processor tha'st faster than your P3. . I'm not talkin about whether i can load big pictures or not. More on the Display Rate of a brush moving across a screen. And when i work on a picture my photoshop doesn't use the swap disk.. only when i have REally huge pictures... i need more ram.. but for now it's fine.

Just the card. needs change.. are there any specific cards out there that does 2d redraw really good like professional ones?> or just buying a matrox is good enuff?

or Ati. <-- good quality 2d display

[Dthind]

Problem=graphics card

[Loki]

Hey Sedul!

Just a few points - maybe I can help you ...

* 8meg card is kinda out of style these days (not painting specifically, but in general); Switching to a GeForce2/3 would definetely be an improvement (or the Matrox equivalent).

* did you go to the preferences and give PS about 80% of the system memory*

* refresh-rate has got nothing to do with the speed of your brush. The card should be able to do 1280x1024 with a sufficient speed.

* PS nearly always writes a scratch-file - so, a fast disk helps - or assigning it to a fast petition.

* more RAM helps immensly too, but 512 should be sufficient for now.

Hope that helped a little bit

[Sedul]

Hey Loki, your stuff is great,
been seeing all your works since last year on this forum!

Anyhow i consulted another forum, a more technical one and the video card shoudn't matter that much on the brush strokes part of photoshop. i'ts mainly cpu and ram as one of the posts on this thread mentioned.

I'm gonna oc my comp soon and also getting some raid goin' on and siwtching the card with a faster one (from ma freind) just to see if it makes a large difference (otherwise i dont'need it yet)


But thnaks for het all the replies
Thanks!

[NukleoN]

Photoshop SUCKS with respect to draw speed. I am one of those artists that draws very fast, since you know I am sketching..and then I finalize my lines..many times, my final lines are also very fast, so I get a nice, smooth line. Photoshop is slow...so much that sometimes while drawing a circle, I get a hexagon..you get the picture.

However, Painter 5.03, which I *adore*, is FAST and can keep up with my fastest strokes. I have a 1 GIG machine with an old Riva TnT video card, and it works fine.

Actually the Matrox is fine..you have plenty of RAM, if you don't have a USB Wacom, that will make a difference (tho I have a serial Wacom and it is fine, but I do like the USB's speed better).

The bottom line is, Painter is faster. Try it..see if you still have this problem. Photoshop is great, don't flame me, but there is no way I'd want to draw in Photoshop if I can use Painter.

[Sedul]

thanks nukleon i'll test it out. yeh i get the same problesm u mentioned. the fast strokes with like hexagons. are definately annoyin'

i'ts more of a software problem. grr.

[NukleoN]

Sedul!

Yes absolutely...I would attribute most of this to Photoshop.

I run in the same resolution as you, with less RAM (384mb) and an old Riva TnT video card. Painter is definitely faster than Photoshop...and if you use a Wacom tablet and it isn't a USB (serial) then that will definitely be part of the problem...if you are going to get a tablet, get the USB for *sure*.

Your machine is fine.

NukleoN