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Best GPU?

sldsmkd said:
The HD 3000 on your i7 no good?
Click to expand...

+1

The HD 6450 is on the same level of performance as the HD 3000 onboard graphics in the i7 2600K.

Admittedly the HD 6450 will be a bit better for playing HD videos as it can set the correct framerate, but apart from that the HD 3000 will be as good as this graphics card in most tasks.

If you want a decent step up in graphics performance and only have a ~£30 budget then I would look for a decent, good value second-hand card.

Something on the level of a: 8800GT, 8800GTS 512MB, 9800GT, 9800GTX, 9800GTX+, GTS 250, GTS 450, HD 4770, HD 4830, HD 4850 or HD 5750 - though none of these are likely to be available fanless (unless you get very lucky).
 
HD3000 supports OpenGL3, so should be fine for Photoshop and perform just as well as a HD 6450.

One of the higher-end second hand cards (like the ones I listed) do offer better GPU performance, but how much this will improve your photoshop performance does depend on what kind of work you are doing. For most tasks a basic GPU like the HD 3000 will be fine.
 
Here is a review which compares the HD 6450 and HD3000 in some gaming tests. As you can see, the HD 6450 is a bit quicker - but compared to proper graphics cards it is still really slow.

For gaming performance your money would be much better off spent on a higher-spec second-hand graphics card (like one of the ones I mentioned above).
 
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