Dual monitor setup for CS4

[Kubaki]

Hello. I'm looking for help building a dual monitor rig. It will serve mostly for 2D graphic design (70%) and gaming (30%). I will be working with CS4 (mostly Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Flash). I plan to buy one monitor for web design and photo editing and another one for print-target media processing. Does it make sense? I'm willing to spend up to $2000 for both. What do you recommend?

Next I plan to spend $500, or a little bit more, on a video card. I'm torn between high-end gaming cards (like Radeon HD4870x2 or GeForce GTX295) and mid-range workstations (Quadro FX 1700, Quadro NVS 420 or 450). Are they all suitable for dual monitor setup? Which will be best for my needs? Finally, what CPU/motherboard/memory should I invest in? I don't want them to bottleneck my system. I don't want to go cheap here, but I don't want to spend too much if it's not really necessary.

Thanks in advance.

UPDATE
I'm considering these components:
Processor: Intel Core i7-920
Motherboard: DFI LanParty DK X58 or MSI X58 Platinum
RAM: OCZ 3x2GB 1600MHZ Platinum
Video Card: Geforce GTX275 (or Radeon HD4890)
Power supply: Antec EarthWatts 650W
Monitors: undecided

What's your opinion?

 

[theAnimal]

Have you read the LCD sticky?

 

[Kubaki]

I did. I even posted a similar question there. The problem is that I have three main goals in mind: 1) design for print, 2) design for the web, and 3) gaming. Currently I am using good old Sony CPD-G500 (21" CRT monitor), and I use it for everything, but it looks like it's going to die soon.

I could buy NEC MultiSync LCD2690WUXi for publishing work, LCD2090UXi for web design and call it a day. Exactly $2000, mission accomplished. Still, I love playing computer games. I'm having less and less time for it recently, but I don't want to give it up. I know that LCD2090UXi is pretty fast (for a NEC) but I'd like my gaming monitor to be slightly larger. Will LCD2690WUXi be fit for the job?

I would probably consider Planar PX2611W instead of NEC LCD2690WUXi, but this one is hard to get in my country (practically unavailable). Are there any other viable options?

 

[zagood]

If you're not doing 3d or video, there's no reason to get a workstation card. You'll get much more out of a good monitor when focusing on print.

CS4 is uses GPU acceleration on both ATi and nV parts. I haven't seen any benchmarks so can't say which side makes better use of it, but Adobe and nV made a big deal about their most recent partnership so more development may be focused that way.

Premiere's GPU acceleration works out of the box with ATi's 4xxx cards, but I think you need a Quadro to get the same performance from an nV part.

So some googling for cs4 gpu acceleration and you'll get some good info.

-z

 

[Kubaki]

I don't have enough $ to spend on NVIDIA Quadro CX or Quadro FX 4800+. Luckily I won't work with Premiere or After Effects, and high-end gaming card should do a good job for my needs (smooth display at all zoom levels, rotate canvas, faster color conversion etc.).

Doing my research I found out that CS4 can't take advantage of dual-GPU cards. MultiGPU is the whole point of HD4870x2 and GTX295. As it stands I will have to keep turning it off each time to use CS4 with GPU acceleration... Well, at least I don't have to consider them anymore, and can go with cheaper solution

GTX275 or HD4890? Both are priced at $250-$300, and GTX 275 seems to have an edge in terms of performance. Will it support two large LCD's at their native resolutions? It looks like it should, but I really want to be sure.