Upgrade from GeForece 8600GT?

[rivbyte]

•Intel Quad Q6600 Core2 Duo CPU 2.40GHz

•Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT (256mb) (540MHz Core Clock) (128Bit)

•Screen resolution – 1280x768

•Thermaltake 700w PSU / ToughPower / 700-Watt / ATX / 140mm Fan / SATA Ready / SLI Ready / Crossfire ready

ATX Coolermaster Case. No water cooling. Plenty of Fans.

I think I paid about $150.00-$175.00 for my 8600GT, and I would maybe spend the same amount, maybe not.

I do not plan on any Multi-GPU solutions, such as Crossfire or SLI? I am not a gamer, nor do I overclock.

At present, I have not looked at any GPU products yet, just gathering some ideas.

What I am wanting in a new GPU, is just to upgrade from my present 8600GT, to a higher Core Clock, with more memory, which may help my using Photoshop and Pinnacle Studio 15 HD Ultimate Editing programs.

I do not intent to overclocking the new GPU, and I do not game.

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I am looking to upgrade from my present GeForce 8600GT to a newer, faster, higher core, and more memory PCi-E graphics card. When I built this computer four years ago, these are some of the components I used:
• MS-7345 Platinum Micro-Star International (MSI)
• Intel Quad Q6600 Core2 Duo CPU 2.40GHz
• Windows 7 PRO 64
• Onboard REALTEK HD Audio
• 8GB DDR2 Memory
• Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT (256mb) (540MHz Core Clock) (128Bit)
• Screen resolution – 1280x768
• Thermaltake 700w PSU Thermaltake / ToughPower / 700-Watt / ATX / 140mm Fan / SATA Ready / SLI Ready / Crossfire ready
• ATX Coolermaster Case

Let’s say I wanted to upgrade to a newer or better GPU card now, using my existing computer specs (shown above) that could also be used in my future newer Mobo, what are the choices, or should I simply wait to upgrade the MoBo, get the new CPU, then get the newer GPU?

I am told that actually, 2GB or 4GB DDR2, system memory is sufficient enough, but something tells me the more the better. Thanks for any help!

 

[DominionSeraph]

e: ignore.

 

[Necc]

+1 for the 6870 :thumbsup:

 

[DooKey]

If those apps run better with CUDA I'd buy a GTX460 1gb 256-bit vid card.

edit: looks like some plug-ins use CUDA, but that's about it.

 

[Sable]

Will a graphics card upgrade even help with those programs? Surely a processor upgrade would be more beneficial.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Oh crap, I didn't see "I do not game." I thought you were looking for a gaming card that may have some help in those apps. (Which the 6870 may do in some edge cases)

So how about you do your own homework on the applications you use? This is not the Photoshop or Pinnacle Studio 15 forum, and we have no idea what your usage is. You could be CPU, RAM, or I/O limited and we'd have no idea.
If you are having performance issues with an application, go to the application website.

 

[LoneNinja]

I'm not sure what version of Photoshop you have, but from my experience graphics cards have very little effect on photoshop performance. I know some of the filters in the lastest version of Photoshop can make some use of the video card, but it's mostly dependent on a fast CPU and hard drive. I know nothing about Pinnacle studio or what it even does so can't comment on that.

 

[DaveSimmons]

What you need is a Core 5 i5-2400 CPU, motherboard, 8 GB DDR3 RAM not a new video card:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/53?vs=363

It's almost twice as fast in the PhotoShop and video encoding benchmarks AnandTech used. Cost is around $350.

 

[nenforcer]

A 1GB Quadro 600 GDDR3 is right up your alley but for the software applications you listed you might get better performance with a Geforce GTX 460 1GB GDDR5 for the same price.