Graphics Card Recommendation: Running Win 10 on an Intel i5 3.2 ghz 64-bit desktop with 32GB ram. MSI Tomahawk motherboard with the primary drive a 1TB M.2 SSD with 70% free. Also...

BillFeffer Loc: Adolphus, KY

Running Win 10 on an Intel i5 3.2 ghz 64-bit desktop with 32GB ram. MSI Tomahawk motherboard with the primary drive a 1TB M.2 SSD with 70% free. Also installed is a 250GB SSD, a 750GB disk drive.

I work primarily in LR 6.14 and PS. I generally shoot RAW with a D750. I'm looking for recommendations for a graphics card. Most of the photography/GPU Google searches haven't been a lot of help.

I'm retired on a fixed income, so budget is a consideration.

ClarkG Loc: Southern Indiana USA

Is your currently installed graphics card too slow for what you’re doing! They can get very expensive only to slightly increase you speediness?

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

BillFeffer wrote:

Running Win 10 on an Intel i5 3.2 ghz 64-bit desktop with 32GB ram. MSI Tomahawk motherboard with the primary drive a 1TB M.2 SSD with 70% free. Also installed is a 250GB SSD, a 750GB disk drive.

I work primarily in LR 6.14 and PS. I generally shoot RAW with a D750. I'm looking for recommendations for a graphics card. Most of the photography/GPU Google searches haven't been a lot of help.

I'm retired on a fixed income, so budget is a consideration.

Most of the higher end cards do nothing for either Photoshop or Lightroom, unless you are looking at video processing. A very modest GTX -1060 with 3 gb for $150 is all you will need, unless you are running multiple 5K displays, in which case you will need more memory.

I would spend a little time on this site, which does some serious testing and benchmarking of all computer components for Photoshop and Lightroom.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommended/Recommended-Systems-for-Adobe-Lightroom-Classic-CC-141/Hardware-Recommendations

https://www.pugetsystems.com/recommended/Recommended-Systems-for-Adobe-Photoshop-CC-139/Hardware-Recommendations

BillFeffer Loc: Adolphus, KY

Gene51 wrote:

Most of the higher end cards do nothing for either... (show quote)

Thank you

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Nvidia is the best choice based on the programing used... the 1050ti has 4 gig of DDR5 onboard. Agreeing with Gene51 above who says 1060 with 3gig is fine. There are one fan, two fans, fancy case variations by diff names... basic guts much the same.... The video card is important to post processing.

mborn Loc: Massachusetts

Gene51 wrote:

Most of the higher end cards do nothing for either... (show quote)

BillFeffer Loc: Adolphus, KY

👍👍👍

Schoee Loc: Europe

BillFeffer wrote:

Running Win 10 on an Intel i5 3.2 ghz 64-bit desktop with 32GB ram. MSI Tomahawk motherboard with the primary drive a 1TB M.2 SSD with 70% free. Also installed is a 250GB SSD, a 750GB disk drive.

I work primarily in LR 6.14 and PS. I generally shoot RAW with a D750. I'm looking for recommendations for a graphics card. Most of the photography/GPU Google searches haven't been a lot of help.

I'm retired on a fixed income, so budget is a consideration.

Depending on what connectors you have on your motherboard you may not need a graphics card and can just use the built in graphics processor on your Intel i5. I drive a 4k monitor (3840x2160) plus a smaller 1680x1050 monitor all from the built in graphics on the i5. I also have a M.2 SSD like you and it is a very fast setup. Check what you have and you may not have to spend a cent.

nadelewitz Loc: Ithaca NY

BillFeffer wrote:

Running Win 10 on an Intel i5 3.2 ghz 64-bit desktop with 32GB ram. MSI Tomahawk motherboard with the primary drive a 1TB M.2 SSD with 70% free. Also installed is a 250GB SSD, a 750GB disk drive.

I work primarily in LR 6.14 and PS. I generally shoot RAW with a D750. I'm looking for recommendations for a graphics card. Most of the photography/GPU Google searches haven't been a lot of help.

I'm retired on a fixed income, so budget is a consideration.

So what is lacking with what you have now? Sounds like a very capable system.

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

Schoee wrote:

Depending on what connectors you have on your motherboard you may not need a graphics card and can just use the built in graphics processor on your Intel i5. I drive a 4k monitor (3840x2160) plus a smaller 1680x1050 monitor all from the built in graphics on the i5. I also have a M.2 SSD like you and it is a very fast setup. Check what you have and you may not have to spend a cent.

The onboard gpu/cpu arrangement is the least desirable choice. It is about half as fast as even a modest card. Driving multiple displays from the included gpu is all about memory allocation, which is less memory for other tasks. For years a ran an old NVidia GTS450 with 512 mb memory, and drove 2 hd displays 1920x1200 each. Before that I, like yourself, used the Intel HD Graphics 3000 onboard gpu, and found the separate card to be much faster when refreshing the screen, especially after a zoom or when panning the image. I would advise against using the gpu unless money is an issue.

Schoee Loc: Europe

I only proposed the gpu solution because from what the OP said money IS an issue. Also with the rest of the system being so high powered the overall performance may well satisfy the user, at least worth trying to see if it is ok or not.

NCMtnMan Loc: N. Fork New River, Ashe Co., NC

Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1050 Ti OC 4GB GDDR5 128 Bit PCI-E Graphic Card (GV-N105TOC-4GD)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M25X363/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Been using one of these for several months now and am well pleased. They are about $165 at Amazon and do not require an additional power supply connection.

Buzzardluck Loc: Tempe, AZ

I have a similar system to yours and use a 1050 Ti with 4Gb and it works very well for LR. It also works ok for video but the final render takes a while. I got one for a 140.00 at NewEgg but the pricing doesn't seem to vary much from site to site. The system works well for what I paid to build it.

BillFeffer Loc: Adolphus, KY

Thanks for all the input. Under $200 is manageable. The question now is 1050, 1060 of 1650? All 4g options are about the same price.