Which of these video cards are fastest/ which is best for for PS CS2? Know a site that will provide proof?

Question

I have an Emachines T2482 2400+ AthlonXP with 1gig ram 300w psu(brand new) (i'd tell you more, but their support site is down ATM.
I don't play games but I want the best card for working with Photoshop CS2. I had a FX5200 128mb if I remember right, and it just died from a frozen fan(HEAT! caps burst). I am now using (hides head) onboard for the moment, and it takes years just to open an image in photoshop. The old card wasn't real bad for image editing, but better is better, and if I have to get a new card, might as well bump it up a bit if it will show an improvement.
I was looking at these cards from tigerdirect as I was already going to order a $10 agp card from them for my sisters machine, she only surfs the web, and I'm not positive that a new video card is all she needs so I don't want to spend too much money there.

OK here are the cards:
DiabloTek Radeon 9600XT 256mb AGP
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1282028

DiabloTek Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB AGP
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1644510
Visiontek Radeon X1300 256MB AGP
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2467313
GeCube Radeon X1300 512MB AGP 8x
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2274917

I think that I have them listed in order of performance, but I don't know how much of a difference. I know that the flyer is the last one with twice the memory, and the last two seem to be of a more advanced series. I saw the comparer on this site... but didn't see these cards. Is there a site that lets you choose cards and shows you which one is faster and has a ton of cards to choose from? Tiger Direct only compares by showing you the specs.
I kinda want to go and just grab the last one, but every extra dollar gets harder and harder to squeeze out from the mrs.

Would my machine bottleneck any of these cards(I saw one card, not one of these, that said that it was recomended that you have at least a 420w psu)? Would the fastest card here not show me any improvement in image editing, or not enough to bother?
I bought a Radeon 9200 128MB($63), but haven't opened it and I could return it in the morning. I just don't think that it will be any improvement from my old card. Should I just stick with that would I benifit from one of the above cards?

Sorry, I had to add details to complete the question. YA that is lame, just charge more for long questions or something.

Yes there is an APG slot, I had a Geforce FX 5200 128MB ram in there.

6600/7600 looks like a nice bunch of cards but out of my price range.

Leaning towards the 9800, unless I can get her to go for the X1300 512mb.

So far everyone here deserves best answer.

Interesting development, I asked this question at Toms Hardware Guide, and one the the guys that works there reviewing cards says that all five of these cards (four on tiger, one i just bought) will run PS the same.
I really thought that a faster card would help with redering times when making a major edit(not just a clone stamp, but say enlarging with Genuine Fractals, or something intensive. I also thought that more memory would help as 10MP images can get pretty large when opened with PS. And then considering that you may have more than one image open at a time for compositing.
I knew that the big difference would be in 3D games (which I don't play), but I thought that there would be improvement in PS also. He says no difference.

Answer 1

People, he said he isn't playing games!

If you never play a game, the 9200 you bought will serve you just fine.

Only games and professional 3d apps (like 3dsMax) will take advantage of high performance 3d accelerators.

Photoshop doesn't care if you have a 9200 or an X1900.
128 or 256 megs of RAM doesn't mater either... It's all the same to Photoshop.

(P.S. and for the record, from best to worst: 9800 PRO 256bit > X1300s = 9800 PRO 128-bit > 9600 XT )

And, for the record, Ati drivers are as stable as Nvidia's. It's 2006, people! The days of crappy Ati drivers are long gone...

Answer 2

Uhh, thats only one card. Anyway yes this card is an improvement over the FX5200, nothing massive, but you are not a gamer so you don't need a really fancy card. I don't happen to have any benchmarks because these are older cards, but I can tell you the 9600 has a higher core clock and more memory bandwidth, hence it is faster.

Okay you added, so now let me add. The last two are basically the same card, just one has more memory, so for $10 more get the extra memory. Although looking at it, as hard to believe as this is the 9600 looks a little better, it has a higher core clock and more memory bandwidth, which is surprising since it is older. I would send back the 9200 and go with the 9600XT, the 9200 will actually perform poorer than your old FX5200.

Okay one more edit, I missed the 9800 on there. The 9800 and the 9600XT are close, slower clock on the 9800 but slightly more bandwidth and more pixel pipelines. I would side with the 9800, although either would be good.

Answer 3

Radeon 9200 128MB is a DirectX 8.0 card, all the other ones you are considering are DirectX 9.0. If you are buying one, I would get the newer DirectX 9.0 kind.

System requirements for PS CS2 aren't very much. You should be ok with any of those cards.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/systemreqs.html

Answer 4

I would recommend heavily the card with more memory as it well worth it even if it was 50 bucks more. however I as a system builder do not care for the ATI brand due to to many conflict and programs glitch caused by ATIs substandard drivers. so my remediation's would be for a mid line geforce card of at least the 6600 or above to 7600 or above for a sweet PS CS card

Answer 5

be sure there is an agp slot ... i would personally get a 9700 or 9800 radeon if you can find one ... but the 9600 should be ok for photo editing.

the 9800 will blow the 9200 away for a few dollars more ... you should be ok with a 300 watt supply if its not generic and a true 300watt ... just try it ... it should be fine.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1644510&Sku=TC3H-1036&SRCCODE=NEXTAG&CMP=EMC-NEXTAG

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