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Archive 2016 · Upgrade video card for 4K

  
 
ben egbert
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Upgrade video card for 4K


Ok, I sold my 17TSE and am preparing to get the 24 inch NEC wide gamut 4K monitor. I need a video card and power supply installed in my old computer.

First place I went to wanted to sell me an $800 card and a $400 PS. That's before labor. They really wanted to sell me one of their custom built computers for north of $2000.

So I went to the guy who has been doing my repair work and he will do it for $69 labor, $49 for a 600 watt PS and whatever the card cost. I am seeing many cards at $139, including display port 1.2.

So whats the gotcha?

I will replace the computer in another year, so I just need functionality.



May 23, 2016 at 03:25 PM
exdeejjjaaaa
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Upgrade video card for 4K


if you are buying a _new_ card and try to stay within a small budget, I think GTX 960 is a good option... <= $170 w/ rebates.


May 23, 2016 at 03:47 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Upgrade video card for 4K


exdeejjjaaaa wrote:
if you are buying a _new_ card and try to stay within a small budget, I think GTX 960 is a good option... <= $170 w/ rebates.


Thanks, I will put it on my list



May 23, 2016 at 04:01 PM
15Bit
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Upgrade video card for 4K


What's the spec on your current PC?

An $800 card isn't a complete joke, though a $400 PSU certainly is.

In short, you have to choose between a workstation class card and a gamer class card. For photoediting purposes the only real benefit of a workstation card is that you get 10bit colour output, which i believe your screen will take advantage of. The downside is that they are expensive ($800 would get you a relatively low-midrange card) and you get a lot less raw performance for your money. Realistically, your best option in the workstation class is probably a $450 Nvidia K2200 with 4GB RAM.

If you can live without 10 bit colour, a $250 gamer class card has rather more raw grunt than that K2200, and a $150 GTX-950 will probably drive a 4K screen just fine. I would probably suggest a $200 GTX-960 though, as they can be had with 4GB RAM and have a bit more power for LR. You don't need to go overboard for LR - I have a GTX-970, and i can say that whilst it does speed up LR, it isn't making an "Oh my god thats a lot faster" difference.




May 23, 2016 at 04:16 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Upgrade video card for 4K


15Bit wrote:
What's the spec on your current PC?

An $800 card isn't a complete joke, though a $400 PSU certainly is.

In short, you have to choose between a workstation class card and a gamer class card. For photoediting purposes the only real benefit of a workstation card is that you get 10bit colour output, which i believe your screen will take advantage of. The downside is that they are expensive ($800 would get you a relatively low-midrange card) and you get a lot less raw performance for your money. Realistically, your best option in the workstation class is probably a $450 Nvidia
...Show more

I really just want something that will drive 4K for now, then next year I will invest in a new computer with a more robust card. I don't use LR, just CC. I have no issues with the speed of my current computer.




May 23, 2016 at 04:39 PM
UCSB
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Upgrade video card for 4K


NVidia just updated their top cards this week, the 1080 and 1070. These would be good long-term investments at $600 and $400. The prior models, the 980 and 970 should start to be on clearance soon.


May 24, 2016 at 12:00 PM
Eyeball
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Upgrade video card for 4K


One thing to be aware of is that some of these high-end video cards can pull quite a bit of current and when selecting a power supply you often need to look at more than just the over-all wattage rating. You also need to check how many amps the power supply supports on each "rail" and compare that to the amperage requirements of the video card you want to use.

I would expect your repair guy to know about that but it wouldn't hurt to remind him and double-check. It can be a pain to do all the installation and then find out you have an under-powered power supply.



May 24, 2016 at 12:52 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Upgrade video card for 4K


Eyeball wrote:
One thing to be aware of is that some of these high-end video cards can pull quite a bit of current and when selecting a power supply you often need to look at more than just the over-all wattage rating. You also need to check how many amps the power supply supports on each "rail" and compare that to the amperage requirements of the video card you want to use.

I would expect your repair guy to know about that but it wouldn't hurt to remind him and double-check. It can be a pain to do all the installation and then
...Show more

Right, and good point. I am not expecting any high end video card however, just the minimum that supports display port and 4K. I am thinking 2GB or ram and not especially fast. No gaming or video here, just photoshop..



May 24, 2016 at 02:12 PM
aubsxc
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Upgrade video card for 4K


A GTX 960 with either 2GB or 4GB of memory would be fine. A GTX 750Ti or GTX 760 would work fine as well for about $75 less, but make sure it offers a Displayport option that will support the 4K resolution.


May 24, 2016 at 05:02 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Upgrade video card for 4K


aubsxc wrote:
A GTX 960 with either 2GB or 4GB of memory would be fine. A GTX 750Ti or GTX 760 would work fine as well for about $75 less, but make sure it offers a Displayport option that will support the 4K resolution.


Hmm, are you saying it could have 4K, and displayport but not 4K from the displayport? I have instructed the repair guy to include 4K, displayport and at least 2GB.



May 24, 2016 at 07:23 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Upgrade video card for 4K


Here is what I now have. I had this card installed along with a new 750W power supply and a second case fan.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487225

My color sensor quit last week, so I have a NEC MDSVsensor3 On order. As soon as I test this on my old monitor, I will order the EA2440uhd monitor. NEC has assured me all parts are compatible.



Jun 08, 2016 at 02:19 PM
alexdi
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Upgrade video card for 4K


You want a GeForce GTX 950. Nothing before it supports more than one 4K display at full refresh rate. If and when you add a second screen, the card should support it. 2GB or 4GB makes no difference. There won't be any reason to replace the card in a year.




Jun 11, 2016 at 09:12 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Upgrade video card for 4K


alexdi wrote:
You want a GeForce GTX 950. Nothing before it supports more than one 4K display at full refresh rate. If and when you add a second screen, the card should support it. 2GB or 4GB makes no difference. There won't be any reason to replace the card in a year.



Yes, the GTX950 is what I have. I started this post seeking advice, this is the card I had installed. But I will not be installing a second monitor even if it's supported, no room.

I can't evaluate the card yet other than it works with my existing monitor because I have not ordered the 4K monitor, I want to get the sensor working first.



Jun 11, 2016 at 09:21 PM
15Bit
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Upgrade video card for 4K


Ben,

If you already have a GTX 950 i would not recommend spending money on a new GFX card right now. That card should drive a 4K screen just fine. Once you get the screen, test it out for a month or two and if you feel it is too slow, revisit the idea of an upgrade.




Jun 12, 2016 at 07:20 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Upgrade video card for 4K


I am not sure how you got the idea I was going to get a GFX. I just had the GTX installed. Prior to that I only had whatever video was on the mother board. The GTX is one week old, the post is older. This was just an update.


Jun 12, 2016 at 10:18 AM
15Bit
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Upgrade video card for 4K


Sorry - caught scanning through the thread a little too quickly


Jun 12, 2016 at 01:07 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Upgrade video card for 4K


Update. The EA244UHD arrived today and was a snap to install and calibrate. So far, I am very pleased.

I was worried that the smaller size would bother me, my old was a 26 inch. I was also worried about text size. So far every program displayed correctly except ACR. Photoshop is fine, but Camera raw is tiny.

My main reason for this update was to be able to better evaluate sharpness on my 5DSR raw images, they tended to look soft on a 1920 res 26 inch display at 100%. I am very pleased with the way 100% looks now, the image look sharp before any sharpening is done, as I suspected.

This monitor also cover 99% of ARGB, where my old one was only 95%. I may not be able to see any differences.

I also have the new NEC MDSVsensor 3 so I expect my calibrations on a new monitor are better.

I highly recommend this monitor. I did not go for the 32 inch because of size constraints in my work area. My wife gets the old NEC and I will put her old small LCD next to this and see if I can learn to use a two monitor system.



Jun 17, 2016 at 12:49 PM
UCSB
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Upgrade video card for 4K


^^ Thanks for posting your experience with the EA244UHD. Until your post, I had not realized that the EA monitor had any of the professional features, such as Spectraview II compatibility. I've been using a NEC LCD2690WUXi for years. All of my other devices have very sharp screens. My current favorite is my Microsoft Surface Pro 4 tablet. It has a pixel density of 267 PPI. I think it is pretty ideal. But, something lower would probably be OK in a 24" monitor. I am thinking two 24" monitors might be better than a single 32".


Jun 19, 2016 at 02:23 AM
Paul Mo
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Upgrade video card for 4K


Many lower cards will also you give you 4K - where people get picky, I believe, is in gaming frame rates.

My GTX 660Ti does for example.





Jun 19, 2016 at 09:09 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Upgrade video card for 4K


UCSB wrote:
^^ Thanks for posting your experience with the EA244UHD. Until your post, I had not realized that the EA monitor had any of the professional features, such as Spectraview II compatibility. I've been using a NEC LCD2690WUXi for years. All of my other devices have very sharp screens. My current favorite is my Microsoft Surface Pro 4 tablet. It has a pixel density of 267 PPI. I think it is pretty ideal. But, something lower would probably be OK in a 24" monitor. I am thinking two 24" monitors might be better than a single 32".


Glad my post was useful. I am playing with calibration. It comes with a photo edit target of 2.2, D65 140 brightness, and a print standard of 1.8, D50 and 90 brightness. There are others of course but these are most useful.

I also made a couple of customs to match print. 2.2, D55 and 100 is pretty close to prints on Canson Photorag printed on my Epson 3800. The greens are a bit more vibrant than my prints but the brightness and other colors are very close.

My wife's old monitor provides a way to check how an sRGB monitor will display my images.

Win 10 is not color aware in background image mode. The image look fine in Windows browser but way too saturated when used as a background. This was also a problem with my NEC2690. I never had this issue with WIN 7.

I wish ACR (camera raw) had a way to change display size, it's hard to read the titles and menus. As soon as Photoshop opens all is well. So far this is the only program I have had display size issues with. Maybe a future version of ACR will provide a way to scale the image.

I am loving the resolution when working in Phototshop. I have been fine tuning my color and sharpening with more confidence.



Jun 19, 2016 at 04:43 PM
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