Custom Computer Build for Photo Editing (Page 3): On startup, PS 2022 checks the amount of VRAM (not Cuda cores) the Open CL and Open GL revs, and the driver release date to determine...

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

jlg1000 wrote:

It's not about the VRAM amount... it's about the CUDA Compute Capability (if you use NVIDIA... I've never used ATI).

When a program starts, it checks that with:

__host__ cudaError_t cudaGetDeviceProperties ( cudaDeviceProp* prop, int device )

If the Compute Capability is below the instruction set used in the program, then it either fails with some kind of error or emulates the GPU with CPU, greatly reducing performance.

On startup, PS 2022 checks the amount of VRAM (not Cuda cores) the Open CL and Open GL revs, and the driver release date to determine if the GPU is usable, and if any of those items fail, it will not use the GPU and certain tools are not available. I’ve also confirmed this with PS support after encountering exactly that issue.

jlg1000 Loc: Uruguay / South America

TriX wrote:

On startup, PS 2022 checks the amount of VRAM (not Cuda cores) the Open CL and Open GL revs, and the driver release date to determine if the GPU is usable, and if any of those items fail, it will not use the GPU and certain tools are not available. I’ve also confirmed this with PS support after encountering exactly that issue.

Interesting...

On this support page, https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/photoshop-cc-gpu-card-faq.html, Adobe only asks for:

* On Windows, a GPU with DirectX 12 support and 1.5 GB of GPU memory
* On macOS, a GPU with Metal Support and 1.5 GB of GPU memory

... which is very little VRAM.

The key is on the DirectX 12 requirements which relates to Table 3 of https://docs.nvidia.com/cuda/cuda-c-programming-guide/index.html

But, as you can see in this site: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3711/~/which-nvidia-gpus-will-support-dx12%3F, DirectX 12 is supported even by Nvidia Fermi GPUs ... which goes back to the ancient NVIDIA GeForce 410M, which was launched in 2011 (https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/4656/~/list-of-fermi-series-geforce-gpus)

In my experience support people - and I know many of them -often have a semi-fixed answer list, like "format and reinstall Windows", "upgrade your PC", etc.

I've received such answers myself many times, and each time I ended fixing the problem by some simple hacks.

dmeyer Loc: Marion, NC

chemsaf wrote:

In 20 19 I carefully compared Xotic and Puget Systems. I wanted a workstation. I went with Puget. If I had wanted a laptop built to my specs I would have gone Xotic.

That's interesting because I got two units--laptop and desktop simultaneously--with mostly all the same specs. The laptop hasn't given my any problems, but the desktop doesn't perform well for Lightroom (although I doubled my RAM to 32 GB over the old computer) and one of the ports doesn't even work. Very pricey with the 2x2TB Samsung 970 SSD's, Geforce RTX 3060 12 GB, and Ryzen CPU's. And I specified that the Windows remain 10, not to change to version 11 unless they called to discuss, but I got 11 anyway. Live and learn.

pego101

Rongnongno wrote:

Very expensive way to go.

Build your own, anybody can do that. It is like Lego.

Absolutely correct

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

jlg1000 wrote:

Interesting... br br On this support page, https:... (show quote)

I didn’t rely on the support person (who was to be honest, mediocre). I just confirmed that he didn’t have a work around. I originally had an old NVidia 1GB card which worked fine (if slowly) until I upgraded to PS/LR 2022. It then failed (“at least 1.4 GB DRAM is required”), so not counting cuda cores, but looking at VRAM and some tools were unavailable. I then stuck in an AMD FirePro 2GB and PS failed it because the driver was more than 6 months old (it was 8 and the latest) and it failed Open CL support even though the card actually supported the correct rev. I finally changed an advanced DMA setting in the FirePro Ap, and PS recognized it, but Win 10 would crash periodically. Adobe support agreed the card met its specs, but after trying multiple fixes, said the card was “too old”. Also, several of the options in Topaz AI Sharpen and AI Denoise were unavailable. At that point I said “screw it” and bought an EVGA 3060. Regardless of what Adobe’s page says, if you run PS2022, you can watch PS check VRAM, driver date, Open GL, Open CL and a couple of other parameters. if I hadn’t uninstalled PS in favor of Capture One (because of superior Fuji XTrans raw conversion), I’d take a screen shot and post it.

The point to my entire (long) story is that (a) one of the earlier posters suggested you could run quite old graphics cards (if you’re willing to wait a long time), and my contention is/was not if you want to use all the tools in the latest version of PS or Topaz (and probably other PP SW) And (b) in at least my case, the PS GPU qualification tool is apparently looking at multiple factors including VRAM size. Of course the take away is that unless you have lots of time to wait on the machine AND you don’t want to use the latest toolset in some popular SW, you DO need to have a relatively recent (well less than 10 years) graphics/GPU card. Can you get by with less? Absolutely, but IMHO, it’s a real handicap. Fortunately, the price of graphics cards is slowly returning to closer to list price. Perhaps all the crypto miners have discovered that all that free $ isn’t quite so free.

BTW, GPUs (particularly NVidia) have really revolutionized high performance computing. All the new machines, including the ExaFlop machines at Argonne and Oak Ridge rely heavily on GPUs.

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

dmeyer wrote:

Curious to know if anyone has used Xotic PC to build a computer specifically for photo editing? How long ago, what operating system, CPU, RAM, etc. Were you happy with the company?

P.S. I see that some comments already are going away from the question being asked. Really would like to hear from anyone who has used Xotic PC specifically. Thanks!

No have not but their review's are not great. Look at Micro Center. They are great.

pego101

Micro center house brand is very good and Dell at Costco. Love my Dell XPS desktop from Costco.

Drbobcameraguy Loc: Eaton Ohio

pego101 wrote:

Micro center house brand is very good and Dell at Costco. Love my Dell XPS desktop from Costco.

The only thing I don't like about Dell is the bloat ware. Takes me forever to get rid of all the little pieces delete leaves behind. Lol

pego101

What bloatware my Dell xps has a 2tb ssd I put in but I don't remember a bloatware annoyance or problem ?

alvin3232 Loc: Houston, TX

Hi
I have never heard of them, but I build my own system and just built one just for photo editing. Windows 11 Pro, 32gigs of ram, Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-10700K CPU @ 3.80GHz 3.79 GHz
2TB SSD Samsung.

Al

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Bloatware?

When purchasing a new computer...

► Download all the most recent drivers, the latest version of software you use and need. DO NOT INSTALL anything.
► Install whatever OS you use. Install all the drivers. Install all the updates. Make a backup.
► Install the pre-downloaded software. Set all the parameters as needed (Including OS). Make a backup.

This way you have a clean install backup*, if you ever need it, and a Startup point in case an extreme recovery is needed.

From time to time I back up the OS drive then use the clean install backup and proceed to upgrade all that is needed (remember only the OS). Then I do a new clean OS backup and finally restore the drive as it was before I messed with it...

russjc001 Loc: South Carolina

Check out Pugent Systems. They are expensive but state of the art. Tell them what programs you are using, storage requirements, etc.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/

DI Seller Loc: Knoxville, TN

I was fortunate enough to have someone built one for me pre-pandemic, so it was easy to get parts. Turned out to be much cheaper than buying one. Best of luck.

Pgphoto Loc: Brooklyn, NY

Not only have they upped their game they have jumped way ahead of windows machines

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Pgphoto wrote:

Not only have they upped their game they have jumped way ahead of windows machines

In what respect? Certainly not in terms of cost, max performance, cost/performance, upgrade ability… Now if you like the OS/presentation manager, the customer support, simplicity of operation, styling or seamless migration, then Macs do all those things very well and may also well be the machine of choice for those with limited computer skills, but don’t kid yourself that they’ve “jumped way ahead of Windows”. Despite the classic UHH “Mac vs PC” discussion, computing (except in high performance computing and for sales/marketing folks) is not a competitive activity. The wide array of computers available to the consumer is a win-win, and if the machine fits your budget, requirements and ability, then whether it’s the “best” platform for anyone else is irrelevant.

The OP asked a question about where to get a WINDOWS machine assembled…