It really depends on what you will be doing with Photoshop. Some functions benefit significantly from using a discrete GPU.
While this is true, I'd like to add, though it's not quite as significant of an improvement, Intel GPUs (such as the HD 4000) are supported by these functions, too.
Yes, they are supported... But the speed differences between the HD4000 and the tested discrete GPUs at Barefeats.com are significant. It's well worth a look if you are considering buying a Mini and you do a lot of work with Photoshop. I can't say how Final Cut Pro performance improves when using a discrete card.
Yes, they are supported... But the speed differences between the HD4000 and the tested discrete GPUs at Barefeats.com are significant. It's well worth a look if you are considering buying a Mini and you do a lot of work with Photoshop. I can't say how Final Cut Pro performance improves when using a discrete card.
.............. I'm not sure with FCP.
Point is if time is important, get a Mac Pro with a real discrete video card and not one half cracked mobile one like in the iMacs.
The amount of time you'd really see consumed in a typical workflow wouldn't be much. I mean look at something accelerated like liquify. How much time are you really going to spend rendering and re-rendering it? The only thing that really looks painful without OpenCL is iris blur, which didn't exist previously. The older ones were tuned to be fine on the cpu. The barefeats testing merely tries to quantify how much it can be accelerated via various gpus. I wouldn't worry too much about this in terms of how it would reflect actual use. A couple people on here complained about the HD 3000/4000 in conjunction with 27" displays and exceptionally large files. Most users would be fine with this. I'm not sure with FCP.
Ehh I keep forgetting they are due for an update. Hard choice unless one picks up a 660 fairly cheap and throws it in. But who knows, I know nothing of installing video drivers on a mac. Im a noob in the mac house.. heheUnfortunately the mac pro cards are from two generations ago. The 680mx might be a better choice, .......
Makes me wonder what "is" considered heavy for Photoshop. I also use a tablet and do graphics design and renderings from scratch at sometimes insane resolutions 8k x 5k-ish at times without issues. I have 3 Canon cameras. A Rebel EOS T3i (16.1MP), PowerShot G12 (10MP), and a PowerShot ELPH 110HS (16.1MP). At max settings on all, PS laughs at them. Not sure what you got to throw at PS to bog it down, but I know it aint nothing I got.I keep saying it but it doesn't seem to sink-in: it all depends on how you plan to use your Mac. I do pro photography but I don't do the kind of Photoshop editing that requires a beefy GPU. ...........