Graphics card question

[yochiar1]

When I load a photo from a thumbnail in iPhoto the photo loads a version that is slightly blurry, then after about 5-10 seconds it jumps into focus.

I am using a 2006 24inch iMac and the graphics card only has 256k of memory.

Is the delay in focus a function of iPhoto or is it because I have an older graphics card?

I'm asking because I want to buy a newer computer (probably a Mac Pro) and am wondering if a faster graphics card will speed up the photo loading.

 

[Gomff]

I think it might be related to the age of your machine and the memory capacity of the graphics card. I get no such behaviour on my machine which by today's standards is good but not amazing.

A new iMac (depending to some degree on what model you go for) will most likely make your draw drop in comparison to what you're using now. The i7 iMac's a reportedly very capable machines.

BTW, I'm guessing that you meant 256 MB of memory rather than KB.

 

[toxic]

the photo loading is done primarily by the hard drive. even a weak graphics chip will have no trouble rendering a Jpeg.

256MB was plenty of video memory a few years ago. iPhoto worked fine then...

update: in Aperture, when flipping to a new image, CPU jumps from ~2% to ~30%, GPU from 0 to 1%, and disk from a few kB/s to 6.5 MB/s.