Graphics card advice for this spec. please :)

[TimCee]

Hi I'm about to buy this computer off my brother and I would like to upgrade the graphics card. I'm using this computer first and foremost for photography & photo manipulation using Photoshop CS6 but I don't deal with 3D so I am not fussed about those features. The newest version of CS6 uses graphics accelerated features for 2D so the graphics card is much more important than in the past. I don't play games so that isn't an issue. Any advice would be much appreciated I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to computer tech! This is the speccy:

Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i7 980 @ 3.33GHz 40 °C
Gulftown 32nm Technology
RAM
12.0 GB Triple-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK Computer INC. P6X58D PREMIUM (LGA1366) 30 °C
Graphics
PL2710HD (1920x1080@60Hz)
PL2710HD (1920x1080@60Hz)
512MB GeForce 9800 GT (XFX Pine Group) 65 °C
Hard Drives
1863GB Hitachi HDS723020BLA642 ATA Device (SATA) 39 °C
1863GB Western Digital WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 (SATA) 29 °C
Optical Drives
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
DTSOFT Virtual CdRom Device
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH22NS70
Audio
High Definition Audio Device


Thanks!

 

[n1ghtr4v3n]

AMD HD7870XT (LE) ~240$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202024

edit:

i just saw you have dual monitors... you may want to go for xfire from this...

or

GTX670 Amp ~350$ (can go dual on SLI)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500267

 

[bigcyco1]

What's your budget

 

[wa1]

So, your PC will mostly use to Photography & Photo, right?
What about your budget for this graphic card? There's FirePro from AMD or Quadro from NVIDIA, they're quiet expensive, take a look at this:

Quadro K4000 VCQK4000-PB 3GB GDDR5:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133485

FirePro W600 2GB 128-bit GDDR5:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195115

Well, it all depends on you, we need more info about your need of this card...

 

[spentshells]

i'm not sure an upgrade is needed have you tried using the current card?
The older cards such as the one you have more complex shaders that can do more math per core per cycle
If you are able to find a used one a gtx 280/285/460/470 might be your best bet providing you do not go with a proper workstation card. The cards I listed can all be found pretty cheap on the used market and offer a lot of compute power vs the newer gaming cards (for the money).

 

[TimCee]

What's your budget

So, your PC will mostly use to Photography & Photo, right?
What about your budget for this graphic card? There's FirePro from AMD or Quadro from NVIDIA, they're quiet expensive, take a look at this:

Quadro K4000 VCQK4000-PB 3GB GDDR5:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133485

FirePro W600 2GB 128-bit GDDR5:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195115

Well, it all depends on you, we need more info about your need of this card...

Thanks for your replies. At the moment it's hypothetical so haven't thought of a budget but I suppose I would be looking at £200. I haven't personally used the computer yet so dont know how it will handle Photoshop when it comes to photography. However my current computer has the same card and photoshop crashes often after I try using the features that use graphics processing. I will definitely be using 2 monitors though. Thanks