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will a video card with more ram on board help my image processing ?.I think my present card has about 64 meg ram and the one i am wanting to get has 512 meg ram

It certainly wouldn't hurt. I think my video card is running with 128 mb and I have been told that unless I am gaming or editing video that 128 should be enough, but if I ever get around to putting together another machine, I think I will go with 512 myself. I tend to be a more is better kinda person.

malamute wrote:will a video card with more ram on board help my image processing ?.I think my present card has about 64 meg ram and the one i am wanting to get has 512 meg ram

I would suggest you contact the software manufacturer that produces whatever image editing software you use or intend to use and see what they suggest as the optimal solution.

there is a Crucial Radeon X1600 PRO 512MB AGP at the local (new zealand) trade supplier that i might get

malamute wrote:will a video card with more ram on board help my image processing ?.I think my present card has about 64 meg ram and the one i am wanting to get has 512 meg ram

You would have to check the requirements of the specific software package you are using. However as a general statement few imaging packages use the actual graphics hardware (OpenGL/D3D pipeline) to accelerate the processing, but instead rely on the processor(s) in your system to do the work. That makes the specific algorithms used independent of the graphics card and also puts them under the full control of the software developer (and not ATI or Nvidia). The most likely constraint a graphics card will have for you is the resolution you will be able to drive your screen at. Eg. some of the new displays at over 2000 pixels width can on be driven by (dual) DVI.

You would probably benefit a lot more by upgrading to a newer processor, than spending the money on a GFX card. Unless you also plan to do some gaming.

Most of my home machines are cpu heavy and graphics light. (Except for one on which I did some work from home on the Sherit project when I was still at SGI).

Even if Photoshop CS3 uses OpenGL I suggest you to first invest in Ram.
With image processing video cards only display.
Upgrading your card is interesting for refresh rate of your screen if it is a cathode-ray. In that case 256Mo is more than enough.

A techNote from Adobe : http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgeb ... ?id=331412