new computer specs

[DanK]

It's time for a new computer, and while I can figure out most of the options facing me, one has me completely in the dark. I'd be buying a Dell on a group contract that offers two video cards: an AMD designed for OEM use, the AMD Radeon HD 8490 1GB, and the 512MB NVIDIA QUADRO NVS 300. Anyone know whether one of this is appreciably better than the other for photo editing?

Thanks

Dan

[Manfred M]

Although the AMD card has better specs than the nVidia one, I would go with the nVidia card purely because Adobe uses CUDA functionality in some of its software (Premiere Pro and After Effects for now) rather than the computer's CPU for some rendering functionality. If they extend this to some of the image editing software, this would be an advantage.

That being said, it's hard to imagine Adobe doing that...

Quadro used to be nVidia's high end work station cards, but they seem to have extended the name to low end work stations for regular business use.

Frankly, they are both low end cards so I can't see any advantages one way or the other. The Quadro card is fanless, so it will reduce the noise levels in your computer a bit too.

Photo editing really does not take a lot of computing power.

[RustBeltRaw]

In this case, I think you'll find the Radeon is a tad faster. Part of what you're paying for with a workstation-class card is improved build quality and less-stressed components. They're designed to run almost continuously at or near full power. Naturally, that requires performance trade-offs to maintain the price point. Additional (dedicated) video memory is also a boon for photo editing, so unless you use the applications Manfred mentioned (video production software), I think the Radeon is a better bet.

[DanK]

Manfred and Lex,

thanks very much

Dan