GPU for graphic design and photo editing?

[Lord Farquart]

My daughter is going to study 3Dand graphic design, including photo and video editing. She needs a new computer. Choice was between IMAC and PC. As it is my money, I decided to go PC.

All I still need is a GPU. Question for those in the know, do I go with a Pro card like Firepro and Quadro, or will a gaming card be sufficient? Gaming cards seem cheaper for same amount of RAM, but maybe that is the wrong way to look at it.

Any advice?

 

[saor]

Quadro etc. only become kinda relevant with heavy 3d CAD models & certain software. Not sure what kind of 3d she's going to be doing, but I suspect you'll be fine with a decent gaming card. What does the 3d part of the course entail?

 

[Rickster]

Only 3D model rendering needs some fancy GPU, any 970+ series Geforce GPU in your budget will do.

 

[Electric]

Go for a gaming card.
We use Quadro cards at work for CAD work where major lines are rendered as well.

I have my own machine with a gaming card and it works just as well.

 

[$m@Rt@$$]

Going PC in the Mac thread is dangerous.

Adobe optimises the shyte out of their software for OSX. You'd probably be better off going the route the whole content creation industry is going.

If you walk into a photography studio, you'll see a mac. Music production, mac. Video editing, mac. My brother works with autocad. I'll leave you a clue as to what he uses. It's not a PC.

 

[Electric]

Going PC in the Mac thread is dangerous.

Adobe optimises the shyte out of their software for OSX. You'd probably be better off going the route the whole content creation industry is going.

If you walk into a photography studio, you'll see a mac. Music production, mac. Video editing, mac. My brother works with autocad. I'll leave you a clue as to what he uses. It's not a PC.

What?
Music production, PC.
Cad work, PC.
What the F are you on?

Yes, people like Macs but they are all intel now.

I am a cad designer, 95% of us use PC not mac.
I am a music producer, the large percentage use pc but many use mac, yes.

 

[Lord Farquart]

Faark. Buttons on the phone is too close together. Did not think I posted it in mac section. Sorry guys. Was not intentional.

Mods, please move it out of here?

 

[saor]

Faark. Buttons on the phone is too close together. Did not think I posted it in mac section. Sorry guys. Was not intentional.

Mods, please move it out of here?

Just report your first post and ask them to move it.

 

[Vaughan]

In general quadros are better for CAD where you require high precision (engineering). A gaming graphics card is probably a better buy for what your daughter shall do. Especially considering that you can get a much better gaming GPU for the price of a quadro.
PC is the correct choice over mac!

 

[saor]

In general quadros are better for CAD where you require high precision (engineering). A gaming graphics card is probably a better buy for what your daughter shall do. Especially considering that you can get a much better gaming GPU for the price of a quadro.
PC is the correct choice over mac!

And if she's any kind of decent student she'll be gaming most of the time anyway .

 

[Edduck]

I have a friend who is a 3D animator (Maya, Cinema4D etc) and works for one of the top CG companies in the country. He has a huge dual CPU hexacore Xeon, with 32GB RAM, mid-range quadro desktop rig. He decided he needed a portable solution as well, and settled on the MSI GS70 http://gaming.msi.com/products/notebook/gs-series?id=3436 Unbelievably, this laptop outperforms his desktop in certain rendering situations (except for V-ray)...!!! So yes, a high-end gaming card, even a mobile variant, will work perfectly well.

 

[Mystic Twilight]

Don't forget, lots of ram.

 

[Lord Farquart]

Stuff I have bought is an i7 3.6GHz processor, Z97 motherboard, 16GB of 2400MHz, 750W PSU, SSD for main and a 1Tb secondary. With a good GPU I think she will be sorted for a year or two. She does have a 2yo 1GB GPU, which could tie her over, but I recon it will not be good enough.

 

[SYNERGY]

I think that your daughter is sorted over the school holidays pending GPU

 

[Lord Farquart]

I think that your daughter is sorted over the school holidays pending GPU

She is not a gamer at all. Her brother, the ADHD one, is.