Do bus type, memory size, etc. matter for non gaming cards

[OldnCheap]

Hi: I need a video card for photoshop and dvd editing (No gaming). After reading THG and this forum, I'm confused. THG and many posters say, get the cheapest card. However, others have said, if you get a PCI card, then you may need more memory. So my questions are:

1) Will PCI card perform slower for photoshop and DVD than an AGP or PCI-E card?
2) How much memory (32, 64,128M) will I need for the card - I don't know if it matters, but I will be working with large multiple photoshop (50-70M per picture) files.
3) Will memory bus size (32 vs 64 vs 128 bit) influence performance for PS & DVD files?

If the cheapest card rule applies then what do you guys think of this 32 bit, 64M card?
The only thing I need is DVI. Thanks for your help.

PS: I'll be using an Athlon 64 3000, not sure of the MB because I don't know if I'll get a PCI-E mb. If I do get a PCI-E board, I'll be using a PCI card.

 

[orangat]

Originally posted by: OldnCheap
........
1) Will PCI card perform slower for photoshop and DVD than an AGP or PCI-E card?
2) How much memory (32, 64,128M) will I need for the card - I don't know if it matters, but I will be working with large multiple photoshop (50-70M per picture) files.
3) Will memory bus size (32 vs 64 vs 128 bit) influence performance for PS & DVD files?
....

1. Just get an AGP/PCI-E card so there is less load on the PCI bus. You won't save anything(or much) by going PCI.
2. Not sure about this but I think it shouldn't matter for photoshop.
3. I'm pretty it shouldn't matter for photoshop.

What might be more important is the quality of the ramdac which will influence image quality.

New m/b's normally have a minimum requirement of 4x agp so very old cards which are otherwise acceptable might not work.

 

[OldnCheap]

Thanks orangat

1. Just get an AGP/PCI-E card so there is less load on the PCI bus. You won't save anything(or much) by going PCI.

I was going to get a PCI card if I got a PCI-E board. I'm still trying to decide between AGP & PCI-E. I read about the technical benefits of PCI-E, but outside of graphics and gigabit ethernet, I don't know of any devices that will take advantage of PCI-E. But I guess that question belongs in the Motherboard section.

Assuming I went with a PCI-E mb, I would save ~$30 with a PCI card - not much, but if it doesn't make a difference why spend the extra $$ 🙂 Will there be much of a load on the PCI bus if I only have the video card installed in the PCI slots?

What might be more important is the quality of the ramdac which will influence image quality.

I didn't know this - do you mean the speed of the video card? What should I be looking for?