New PC performance issues - Tilted Forum Project - TFP - Sexuality, Philosophy and Political Discussion

silver26 · 02-17-2005, 04:25 AM

My boss just purchased a new PC (P4 3 gHz, 1024mb of ram) and shes has had serious performance issues with 2D graphics application like Photoshop and Illustrator.

She called the store where she purchased it and they told her to buy a new video card because it was using onboard. I argued that he was trying to make her buy something she didn't need..... I was under the impression that a good processer, extra scratch disk and a lot of ram was the main thing, and a video card didn't matter because it's mostly for 3D handling.

I could be very wrong... can someone clear this up?

irseg · 02-17-2005, 04:49 AM

Onboard video is absolute junk. I don't touch it unless I'm building a Linux box that never leaves text mode. Most onboard setups use system RAM, which is not only slower than what's used in most video cards, but it reduces memory available to the rest of the system. And apps like Photoshop need all the memory they can get. Plus if you buy a machine that has onboard video, chances are the rest of the hardware is going to be really cheap as well.

I'd start by ensuring that all the drivers are up to date, and especially make sure that Windows is not using its generic SVGA drivers. If that doesn't help, I think a video card upgrade is in order. It doesn't have to be an expensive model; pretty much anything on the market would be a significant improvement.

TheProf · 02-17-2005, 05:35 AM

Given that it seems most of the applications your boss seems to be running are graphics-intensive, the best solution would be to get a video-card. It is true that while on-board video is good for most things, when it comes to graphics, there is a performance hit.

Once factor to consider is how much of the system RAM is being allocated to the on-board video. Boot up the system and go into the BIOS. One of the settings will be how much of the system RAM to allocate to the on-board video. Try increasing that amount, saving the settings, rebooting, then running Photoshop and checking for a performance increase. Many time the amount allocated to on-board video is set to a low amount, so that a lot of system RAM remains free, which seems to impress the customer. Play around with that setting to see what works best.

02-17-2005, 04:25 AM	#1 (permalink)
silver26 Insane Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canada	New PC performance issues My boss just purchased a new PC (P4 3 gHz, 1024mb of ram) and shes has had serious performance issues with 2D graphics application like Photoshop and Illustrator. She called the store where she purchased it and they told her to buy a new video card because it was using onboard. I argued that he was trying to make her buy something she didn't need..... I was under the impression that a good processer, extra scratch disk and a lot of ram was the main thing, and a video card didn't matter because it's mostly for 3D handling. I could be very wrong... can someone clear this up? __________________ I know I was born and I know that I'll die, the inbetween is mine.

02-17-2005, 04:49 AM	#2 (permalink)
irseg Junkie Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Florida	Onboard video is absolute junk. I don't touch it unless I'm building a Linux box that never leaves text mode. Most onboard setups use system RAM, which is not only slower than what's used in most video cards, but it reduces memory available to the rest of the system. And apps like Photoshop need all the memory they can get. Plus if you buy a machine that has onboard video, chances are the rest of the hardware is going to be really cheap as well. I'd start by ensuring that all the drivers are up to date, and especially make sure that Windows is not using its generic SVGA drivers. If that doesn't help, I think a video card upgrade is in order. It doesn't have to be an expensive model; pretty much anything on the market would be a significant improvement.

02-17-2005, 05:35 AM	#3 (permalink)
TheProf Crazy Join Date: May 2004	Given that it seems most of the applications your boss seems to be running are graphics-intensive, the best solution would be to get a video-card. It is true that while on-board video is good for most things, when it comes to graphics, there is a performance hit. Once factor to consider is how much of the system RAM is being allocated to the on-board video. Boot up the system and go into the BIOS. One of the settings will be how much of the system RAM to allocate to the on-board video. Try increasing that amount, saving the settings, rebooting, then running Photoshop and checking for a performance increase. Many time the amount allocated to on-board video is set to a low amount, so that a lot of system RAM remains free, which seems to impress the customer. Play around with that setting to see what works best.