Upgrade scenarios: vid card+RAM vs. more RAM

[ProviaFan]

The primary applications I use are Photoshop and VMWare (but not usually both at the same time!). Having 512MB of RAM is very clearly a limiting factor when one is dealing with 130MB scans (RGB16 scans of 35mm transparencies at 4000DPI), which quickly grow to 500MB+ once a few adjustment layers and masks are added. And I haven't even started working with medium format drum scans, though that could likely happen in the future.

The $250 question for today, however, is whether I would be better off getting a new video card and 512MB more RAM (1GB total RAM post-upgrade), or 1GB more RAM (for a total of 1.5GB RAM post-upgrade). Now, before you all impulsively click the "reply" button and shout 1GB MORE RAM, please read the next paragraph...

My current video card is an ATI Radeon SDR PCI 32MB. While this has served me well for the past 4 or 5 years, I've found that as I do more demanding things on my system, it seems to be kind of sluggish in 2D redraw operations. For example, when minimizing a web browser window on the desktop with nothing else running, the background image shows a fairly fast but yet noticeable "paint-down" effect. Any time a program that uses alpha transparency is moved, the drawing is very sluggish - seemingly not more than 2FPS! Finally, scrolling back and forth in images at high magnification in Photoshop, or simply scrolling quickly down long web pages, seems less than snappy - even when the system isn't hitting the scratch disk.

Which brings me to the question: could something just be screwed up in my system configuration, causing the graphics problems I describe, or is my video card simply of a vintage that I have to get an upgrade for better 2D performance? FWIW, I'm currently using a relatively recent Catalyst release, though not the latest.

If the problem is in hardware, then I'm thinking about a Radeon 9600 Pro plus 512MB more Corsair XMS to match what I have now. Otherwise, if it's a software issue that can be resolved, I might get 2 512MB modules, if the additional performance of 1.5GB over 1GB is worthwhile.

N.B. that gaming is not really a big priority to me. Photoshop, Indesign, VMWare, Dreamweaver MX - these programs, along with the miscellaneous web browser and Outlook, constitute what runs on my system a vast majority of the time.

Any and (almost) all suggestions are welcome.

Edit: System specs were requested, here they are:

• AMD Athlon XP 1700+ @ 1.6GHz
• Abit NF7-S
• Corsair XMS 512MB PC3200
• Thermaltake Purepower 360W
• ATI Radeon SDR 32MB PCI
• Sound Blaster Live
• Western Digital Raptor 36GB
• Western Digital Caviar 80GB "Special Edition"
• Sony 16X DVD-ROM
• Plextor 52/24/52X CD-RW
• Iomega Zip 100
• Sony floppy drive
• + a Philips 109B2 19 inch CRT, Lexar USB multi-reader, keyboard, MS Intellimouse with tilt-wheel, and ancient HP Scanjet

 

[Feep]

Check the drivers first of all. Ive had that problem with some of the older ati cards that turned out to be a driver issue. I think 1 GB should be fine for those programs but I've never really used them for very demanding jobs so i wouldnt no for sure. By the way, how hast is the cpu and the ram. Because if the cpu is as old as that vid card if will be backing things up a lot more than the ram.

 

[ProviaFan]

No, the rest of the system is relatively recent; the video card is just a hold-over from the ancient K6-2 I used to have. I've simply never bothered to get a different one, since I hardly do any OpenGL. For reference, the system specs have been edited into the original post.

Since I'm just about due for an OS reinstallation anyway, I could use that opportunity to start off with a clean slate and fresh drivers, but that won't happen for a few days yet, as I'm in the middle of some projects.

Any other suggestions?

 

[DaveSimmons]

XP can sometimes have 2D "lag" even with a decent midrange card like my nV fx5900, but my brother did mention having glitches when he was using an old ATI card in his system. A newer card with more recent driver support might help.

An extra 512 will be a big help for VMWare, since it's stingy in sharing main memory with the VMs. 1GB total should be fine for it.

 

[Feep]

Think you should still get the extra gig and then also get a cheap vid card. You can get a substantial imprivement over yours for like 50 bucks. Maybe like a gfx 5200 of somthing like that. The 200 on another gig of ram.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
XP can sometimes have 2D "lag" even with a decent midrange card like my nV fx5900, but my brother did mention having glitches when he was using an old ATI card in his system. A newer card with more recent driver support might help.

I'm not experiencing any display corruption or stability issues. The "2D lag" (assuming we're talking about the same thing here) is my only complaint with my current card, and if upgrading to something reasonably affordable won't take care of that, then I'll probably bypass the video card upgrade for now (or maybe not).

An extra 512 will be a big help for VMWare, since it's stingy in sharing main memory with the VMs. 1GB total should be fine for it.

Yeah, 1GB should suit VMWare fine, but I'm not so sure about Photoshop. I could always try 512MB more now, and add another 512MB at a later date if necessary.

Originally posted by: Feep
Think you should still get the extra gig and then also get a cheap vid card. You can get a substantial imprivement over yours for like 50 bucks. Maybe like a gfx 5200 of somthing like that. The 200 on another gig of ram.

It seems I must get Corsair XMS 512MB PC3200 modules, since that's what I already have; if it's possible to mix RAM in a dual channel config, I'd be glad to settle for something of decent quality but lower price... Anyway, the Corsair XMS is $118 per module, so that makes $236 for two of them.

The problem with cheap Geforce's is that the OEMs tend to put very crappy DACs in them, and when you're running 1600x1200@75Hz (or 1280x960@85Hz), and using Photoshop, the 2D quality can become an issue. $100 is probably the baseline for what I'd need in an acceptable video card, if only to ensure that I get decent quality analog output.

BTW, has anyone done any 2D benchmarks of recent cards in Windows XP and 2000? I found some 2D benches on google, but they were all for comparatively ancient cards (stuff that was loosing its top of the line status when I bought my current card).

 

[ProviaFan]

A quick update: while alpha-blending and other 2D operations still run as slowly as before, I found a solution to the "desktop repainting slowly while using a wallpaper" issue: resize the wallpaper up (or down) to the native resolution of the monitor, save as .BMP, and apply in Display Properties, set to "centered" instead of "stretched".