bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

I'm not really a computer guy, but trying to learn. I really want to build my own photo editing computer. Not necessarily to save money, just because I like the pride of learning something new, and having it work (hopefully)

I have read several posts telling people to disable the ability of Photoshop to use the graphics card. If this is the case, would it make more sense to spend the extra money one would have spent on a graphics card, to boost the ram even more? I get that for gaming and for video editing, that you pretty much HAVE to install a graphics card.

Which speeds up a photo editing computer more, extra RAM or a graphics card?

I'm planning on using a "Ryzen 5" processor if that helps.

Thanks
bk

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

You disable in Lightroom and Photoshop the ability to use the Graphics Processor Unit ( GPU ) not the graphics card. And only if your system seems slow. It is always preferable to upgrade system RAM as LR and PS processing is memory intensive and the longer your system can avoid using your Hard Disk (scratch disk) the better. Upgrading your graphics card, with today's technology, may also require upgrading your systems power supply as well.

Depending on your mainboard, determine the maximum amount of RAM supported and upgrade to that. If you go to www.crucial.com they have a utility which will determine this for you.

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

Be sure to check the Adobe list of comparable graphics cards before you buy.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You'd want 32 gb ram to minimize the need to use a scratch disk, which really slows things down. NVidia and AMD Radeon are the usual choices for graphics cards. If you are going to run a wide gamut display, then the NVidia Quadro or AMD FirePro will provide fast and competent support for wide gamut. You select your graphics memory by how much resolution your display has, and how many displays you use. Most of the time 4gb Vram is all you need. The speed of the GPU is not that important, since you are only dealing with displaying a small bitmapped image.

So for performance's sake, 32 gb ram, an i7 quad core with hyperthreading, unless you are planning on using Lightroom, in which case a 6 or 8 core cpu would be advantageous, a really fast system drive (PCIe, NVMe, m.2 SSD), and, if you can justify it, SSDs for data storage will make for a really fast machine. I like ASUS and MSI motherboards. If you get an Intel cpu with a K after it, this means you can overclock it. If you do that, then you should get a liquid-based CPU cooler - like a Corsair Hydro H110i or an H115i will keep the cpu cool.

I would check with Adobe and post some questions online about using a Ryzen with Photoshop and Lightroom before committing to it, but I think they are likely to be fine.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

Thanks all. Still not sure I understand GPU and Graphics card. I thought they were the same thing?

Skiextreme2 Loc: Northwest MA

The graphics card has several things on it, memory, a graphics processing unit (GPU) and many have cooling fans. The GPU is actually part of the graphics card.

Dikdik Loc: Winnipeg, Canada

I'm not into graphics, and, don't use photoshop.... I use paint.net which serves my needs. My desktop and laptops are nearly 'top of the line' with heavy processing and graphics capability. My son has helped assemble them with gaming intended. I run with a top Intel i7 processor and a 1080T graphics card. I do a lot of heavy FEM analysis. The Ryzen processor is an excellent choice and you should look into a near top end graphics card. I don't know how photoshop works, but, normally you wouldn't disable the graphics card. It has a lot of processing built into the hardware that in some cases, programs use the processing power of the graphics processor in addition to the CPU.

Dik

mkaplan519

Yes, GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is the same thing. A video card has the GPU built-in as does most CPU's of today from Intel and AMD.
Most separate graphics cards are better than the CPU built-in ones. You would need to make sure USE GPU is ticked in Lightroom for this to work and it should show your card in the setting page. This is what Adobe has to say...

How does Lightroom leverage the graphics processor?
Using a compatible graphics processor (also called a graphics card, video card, or GPU) lets you experience better performance with Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic CC.

Lightroom CC
---------------
Speeds up the task of adjusting images in Detail view. (Win, Mac)

Accelerates rendering of images in Photo Grid view, Square Grid view, and Filmstrip. (Windows-only)

Provides a significant speed improvement on high-resolution displays, such as 4K and 5K monitors,

Lightroom Classic CC
-----------------------
Speeds up the task of adjusting images in Develop module.(Win, Mac)

Accelerates rendering of images in Library module's Grid view, Loupe view, and Filmstrip. (Windows-only)

Provides a significant speed improvement on high-resolution displays, such as 4K and 5K monitors

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

GPU is a graphics chip that comes on the motherboard, that is the one you disable if you add a discreet video card like Nvidia or AMD video card. Not all motherboards have on-board video built in, so look for a blue 15 pin svga plug on the motherboard, if it does, you have on-board video. The on-
board video shares memory with your system memory and is considerably slower than a discreet video card.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

At times UHH people confuse simple 2D graphics with Gaming 3 D rendering... A Graphics Card costing $150 is quite sufficient. I replaced mine not because of speed, but because of programing language hoping to install Google Deepdreams on my computer. And no the Power Supply needs of modern equipment are not great... the wattage of components has dropped a good deal in the past few years.

Yes I love opinions, "to opine is divine" and Aunt Sally will tell you stuff, Trump will tell you stuff, but better to go to Adobe Help for advice on a graphics card:
https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html
Hey wait a minute: https://www.pcmag.com/roundup/355217/the-best-graphics-cards
second in a row of cards is this el'cheap0 $150 card !! editors choice... OK OK... the one I got was $50 more [$200] is a dual slot with 4gig of fast memory vs the $150 with only 2. I have the MSI GTX 1050 Ti 4GB.

Start reading about builds that the PC people put together... PCs are their joy, not photography... they are knowledgeable and not hindered by old info.
Here is a 2015 build: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/ArK search and you will find 2017 and 2018 suggestions.

Here is a $1500 new [high end !] computer build for 2017 for photography: https://fstoppers.com/diy/2017-high-end-pc-buyers-guide-photographers-running-photoshop-181671

Newegg for $90 is offering a 500gig HP SSD. That is a low price, indicating to me that competition will follow.... SSD use much less power than disk HDs. Modern Central Processing Units.. CPUs... run low wattage also. For that price... one for System and one for Photos and two more... backup both system and photos monthly is wise.... suicide is recommended for those who do not back up and lose everything....

SSD discussion: https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404258,00.asp

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

I am a guy who used the PC platform for many years and even built and sold computers for others. I always custom built my own machine for photo work because I wanted complete control over the components. Three years ago I switched to Apple and never really looked back. I presently run an iMac Pro with an 8 Core processor, 8 GB graphics card, 32 GB of memory and a 1 TB SSD. As you might suspect, this system flies with Lr Classic. For storage of current images, I use an attached Thunderbolt 3, LaCie 2Big system with dual 8TB Seagate enterprise drives. All of my image storage is on Synology NAS systems which, collectively, contain just over 100 TB of storage. One system is used just for images, one just for backup and a third for general storage. A bit anal, I know! I find that the Apple platform, out of the box, just fits so well for my work. Not bashing PCs as I have a few of them as well, but have retired them from my photo work. FYI. Best of luck

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Invest in a good 4GB graphics card. This DOES help accelerate both Lightroom and Photoshop..

kymarto Loc: Portland OR and Milan Italy

Enabling GPU use in PS has some distinct working advantages besides speed that cannot be implemented without using the GPU.

mjgoulet

I own a top of the line computer system with a Nvidia GEFORCE 1080 Ti video card. I monitor the load on the GPU, CPU and RAM. It'
s the CPU and RAM that you need. I hardly notice any load on the GPU when running Lightroom or Photoshop. Unless you have a very old video card and if so, I wouldn't spend much on a new one (~$150).

mjgoulet

If you are wondering why I have such a good video card, I'm an old gamer. I could be a grandfather to most of the kids I play with.