CS4 & new video card

I couldn't decide if I should post this here or in the computer forum.

To make a long story short, I'm in video card hell and I need to purchase a new card. Will I benefit from 1gb of ddr3 of video memory in CS4?

Thanks,

Jerry

Prob not much, make sure you get a compatible card though. With a 32bit OS having 1GB in the video card reduces the system RAM the computer can use by 1GB.

Basically you want a card that supports OpenGL 2.0 and greater, DirectX 9.0, and has 128MB or more memory on board. Just get one of these cards tested by Adobe and you'll be safe: List of tested graphics display cards for Photoshop CS4.

tim wrote in post #7584013
With a 32bit OS having 1GB in the video card reduces the system RAM the computer can use by 1GB.

Huh? Don't you mean just the opposite? Isn't it freeing the system RAM? Tim, it sounds like you're talking about onboard video.

The reason I'm commenting is I am using a 32bit Windows XP and an nVidia 9500GT with 1GB memory.

ChasP505 wrote in post #7585192
Huh? Don't you mean just the opposite? Isn't it freeing the system RAM? Tim, it sounds like you're talking about onboard video.

The reason I'm commenting is I am using a 32bit Windows XP and an nVidia 9500GT with 1GB memory.

The maximum amount of system RAM 32-bit Windows can use is 4 GB less your video RAM, regardless of whether it's integrated or a dedicated card. This is why having a 64-bit OS is great; much more usable memory capacity (currently use 8 GB myself with Vista 64)

I knew that 32Bit Windows XP would only give me about 3.3Gb of usable system RAM out of 4Gb installed, but I always thought the video card memory spared the system RAM. So with 1Gb of video card RAM, why is my usable System RAM 3.3Gb and not 3 or less?

(Apologies to the OP for hijacking the conversation)

I have a 1gb radeon and I really can't tell much of a difference between CS3 and CS4... But I don't work with 3d objects, etc.

ChasP505 wrote in post #7585407
I knew that 32Bit Windows XP would only give me about 3.3Gb of usable system RAM out of 4Gb installed, but I always thought the video card memory spared the system RAM. So with 1Gb of video card RAM, why is my usable System RAM 3.3Gb and not 3 or less?

(Apologies to the OP for hijacking the conversation)

Nope. The way the hardware addresses the video card memory is by memory mapped I/O, which uses memory which is addressable in the range of regular system RAM. The result of this is if you have a 1GB video card you can't address 1GB of system memory, plus some overhead. With a 128MB video card you only lose 128MB.

A google search about 32 bit operating systems and memory mapped I/O will give you more information, but getting the search query right to get correct information could be tricky.

tim wrote in post #7585458
The result of this is if you have a 1GB video card you can't address 1GB of system memory, plus some overhead.

Well... I'll be moving to Windows 7 soon and doubling my RAM to 8Gb, so this will become a moot discussion.

thank you for the replies. All of it good info. I never realized that video memory was included in the system memory calculation of a 32bit O/S.

From my research it appears that anything over 512mb on board video memory is negligible for my application. I have read it does help with high resolutions.