2 graphics cards?

[Derek W]

Just a quick question or two about installing 2 graphics cards.

1. can i do this with my pc specs (see sig)

2. Supports ATI CrossFireX™ with Dual PCI-E 2.0 x16 graphics for extreme gaming performance. (from gigabyte website) I take it this is the answer to q1.

3. I currently have the asus 9800gt graphics card, should i just get another (assuming answers to 1 and 2 are yes)

4. What is the best graphics card my mobo can handle.

I do use my pc for some gaming although the main reason is for photoshop and AutoCAD appliences (see how quick is your photoshop in photography forum, my result is about 3 mins where as i see other 'poorer' pcs performing much better during that test)

Thanks for any comments

 

[neil_g]

photoshop doesnt need a good graphics card..

i run CS3 on a crappy onboard intel card on my laptop and it opens in about 20 secs. (dual core, 3gb etc)

 

[neil_g]

just seen the test you mention, that would be CPU/memory/hard disk related..

my time was 1:02 (IE, firefox, Outlook 07, RDC, uTorrent, AS400 emulator all open at the same time)

 

[[timko]]

Derek

Yes you can install another 9800GT in there but you won't be able to use SLI for increased 3D performance since that mobo, as you've already pointed out, only supports CrossFire, which is an ATI thing. Even if you bought two ATI cards for Crossfire, that's not going to increase your PS bench scores either.

You can put any PCI-E based graphics card in there no matter how powerful or weak. The only limitation really is your power supply since faster cards require more power than slower ones.

 

[Mal X]

Just a quick question or two about installing 2 graphics cards.

1. can i do this with my pc specs (see sig)

2. Supports ATI CrossFireX™ with Dual PCI-E 2.0 x16 graphics for extreme gaming performance. (from gigabyte website) I take it this is the answer to q1.

3. I currently have the asus 9800gt graphics card, should i just get another (assuming answers to 1 and 2 are yes)

4. What is the best graphics card my mobo can handle.

I do use my pc for some gaming although the main reason is for photoshop and AutoCAD appliences (see how quick is your photoshop in photography forum, my result is about 3 mins where as i see other 'poorer' pcs performing much better during that test)

Thanks for any comments

Autocad doesn't need a powerful card......mine up here is an old heap, it's only 1.6 GHz and an FX 5200....but it does have 1GR RAM ha ha

it's grease lightning in Autocad, plus on the web too..... for graphics you need a bit of RAM/ plenty of space on the hard drive...this pc upstairs goes right back to Win 95......... it's as reliable as anything.and pretty quick too, which is a bit odd !

i think there's a hidden clue there somewhere, because it's almost as quick as my gaming pc, and it definitely is surfing the web too.

my gaming rig ( too old nowadays) has the 8800GT etc etc, this is probably too powerful for AutoCAD/ Poser 6........... but here upstairs, it'll be futureproof for the next 15 years!

this old heap beside me has the same PSU/ mobo that it had 14 years ago...would you believe it, yet the gaming rig downstairs continually breaks down, bug infested, blows its PSU's, has had 5 graphics cards, 3 hard drives, 2 CPU'S...bloody hell

 

[Derek W]

just seen the test you mention, that would be CPU/memory/hard disk related..

I see the test quotes it relates to cpu / memory / HD but surely the graphics card would come into play as well?

Looking at my components I didn't think that my cpu / mem / hd were that bad really?

RAM : - Corsair XMS3 DHX 4GB DDR3 1333C9DHX Twin3X (2x2GB) (TW3X4G1333C9DHX)

CPU : - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 LGA775 'Yorkfield' 2.83GHz 12MB-cache (1333FSB

HD : - Western Digital Caviar Blue 250GB SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM x2

But still it doesn't achieve the photoshop test in very good time

 

[feeddagoat]

If you use CS4 and have the cuda plug in which allows some work to be offloaded to the GPU. Tho as far as Im aware its only panning and zooming etc and its not very gpu intensive. You need a nivida graphics card for that too since they are the only company to use cuda. Since your board only suppots crossfire you can only link 2 ati graphics cards together. You would need an SLI capable board to link 2 nvidia cards. Even then, SLI and crossfire are only really for gaming and possibly GPU processing. PS is still heavily ram cpu and HD deoendant for speed.

 

[Derek W]

I've upgraded to CS4 and my time has been drastically reduced........8.4 seconds

Thanks for all the comments though, appreciated