Choosing a video card for professional use

[DefntlyMB]

I am looking to set up a personal computer for some learning and possibly freelancing work with graphics and i was wondering if anyone had any advice as to what video card to use. Most likely i would be utilizing adobe products.

[Xayd]

Depends.

If all you need is 2d quality, i.e. no gaming, I'd go Matrox or ATI, with Matrox at the top of the list.

http://www.maximum3d.com/reviews/g400.htm
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/reviews/video/ati_ragefurypro/

I personally was not very impressed at all with the Geforce line's 2d performance. They're fast in games, but compared to my 3dfx cards my desktop seemed to have a greenish tint that I couldn't get rid of on the Asus Geforce DDR I had.

3dfx is going out of business, plus the only Voodoo cards that had 32 bit color were the 4500 and 5500, which are aimed at gamers, they don't really have the features you're looking for, although their 2d peformance is good compared to other cards.

If you really want to splurge and go with a gaming card that also has very good 2d performance, you might consider the ATI Radeon.

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/guides/ati_radeon_64mb_ddr/

Xayd

[DefntlyMB]

Thanks for the info. I think most stuff would be 2d. I would be using programs like adobe photoshop and premiere. nothing too hi-tech like 3d games, but maybe having graphics moving around. It may sound stupid, but I'm not sure if that's considered 2 dimensional or three dimensional.

[Xayd]

Well, the 2d/3d definition isn't as important. Gaming cards are aimed at first person shooter players, period. They don't all have great image quality, but rather they're meant to be fast, above all else.

Matrox and ATI on the other hand, are known for having superior image quality, as well as input/output features that most other cards don't have.

For graphics work, those are the two companies that produce "consumer level" cards for what you want to do.

Xayd