Building a Graphics Workstation: Graphic Card
June 18, 2008
If you are going to use your computer to process photographs only, the requirements for the graphic card will be minimal as most current graphic cards (including some on board solutions) will work well for 2D graphics. The choice will be influenced by
- resolution and number of the monitors that you are planning to use
- operating system requirements
- availability of drivers
- need for monitor profiling and calibration
Most graphic cards will have no problems supporting monitors up to 1920 x 1200 resolution via single DVI port. Resolutions above that (such as 30+ inch LCDs) will require specific connection. It is unclear to me which port for displays will become a standard in the near future and replace current DVI (or VGA). Most graphic cards today can even support 2 monitors, and if you are getting new DVI monitor you should be able to use your old VGA monitor as a secondary monitor.
Multiple monitor setup can be more economical as one large monitor, but calibrating and profiling 2 monitors might be difficult. It requires that graphic card supports 2 'look up tables' for individual color profiles. Only few graphic cards support this feature. Fortunately for most of photography work you need only one monitor calibrated and profiled. Secondary monitor can be then used for pallets, brushes, Bridge etc. where precise color management is not as critical.
Other option is to consider getting two separate graphic cards, as long as your motherboard will accommodate this and connect each monitor to its individual graphic card. I am this will sort some of the problems with profiling and calibration as well as creating new ones :-)
Windows Vista has some basic requirements for graphic card which one will need to take into consideration. Many people report problems when trying to use their colorimeters on Windows Vista 64 bit, the driver support will hopefully improve over time.
For my setup I just used the graphic card from my previous computer, with 128MB of video memory, quiet with passive cooling. It supports my 24 inch main LCD at 1920 x 1200 resolution at 32 bits via my DVI port and my older 19 inch VGA monitor at 16 bits.