J
Jim Cockfield
Guest
That's only for video processing using the Mercury Playback Engine. For still images and everything else, OpenGL is used (which is supported by AMD/ATI cards, Nvidia cards and Intel HD chipsets beginning with Sandy Bridge).
Using OpenGL and OpenCL means the same code runs on multiple card brands under multiple Operating Systems, and Adobe appears to be going that direction with newer products (although video processing still works better with CUDA using Premiere Pro -- at least for now).
IOW, I suspect they'll probably refine the Video processing so that it's just as fast using OpenGL later, too. That way, they're not tuning it to work better with proprietary technology like Nvidia's CUDA, and users with Intel, AMD, or Nvidia Chipsets will all get superior performance as Adobe refines video processing in later releases.
As a general rule of thumb, the AMD cards are faster for the same money for most purposes (i.e., you get more "Bang for the Buck" going AMD).
But, I also prefer Nvidia cards.
AFAIK, any of the more recent Dell Mini Tower machines use standard ATX PSUs. So, just check out Customer Reviews by searching for specific models at vendors like newegg.com to get a better feeling for PSUs that fit into a given model's case OK, as I did in my earlier post showing XPS 8300 users that upgraded using several different PSU models.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, I bought a new PSU to upgrade the PSU in a Dell Inspiron 530 and it worked fine (and it was just a cheap 585 Watt PSU that newegg.com had on sale at the time).
I just searched customer reviews of Power Supplies for that Delll's model number to get an idea of what would fit into it better. Here's a post about that box (purchased from Dell Outlet some 4 years ago):
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1004&message=28126149
So, I suspect any of them made since then will also work with off the shelf ATX PSUs.
Now.... I do have an even older Dimension 8300 (not XPS 8300) that I bought in 2004, and I understand you have to cut out some of the area where the power switch fits through the case to use an aftermarket PSU with it. Here's a post about that machine posted in January 2005 (about the machine I purchased in 2004)
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1022&message=11738059
That still wouldn't be a huge deal from what I've seen others report (cutting a bit of metal so that the switches fit through OK). Heck, the PSU in that one bought in 2004 still works fine anyway, even though I've got multiple hard drives stuffed into it. lol
But, for newer models, that's no longer the case from what I can determine (they work without doing any cutting of the case metal to get them to fit in, as long as the dimensions of the PSU are not too big). IOW, modern Dell boxes (at least the Mini Tower designs versus the "small form factor" designs) can use off the shelf ATX Power Supplies without any headaches if they will physically fit into the case.
Well... as mentioned in my last post, Dell has offered the XPS 8300 with an Nvidia GTX 560Ti (pulling around 220 Watts under full load at max speed).
But, power requirements have decreased with the newer Nvidia 6xx series cards. For example, the new GTX 670 has a maximum power draw of 170 Watts according to Nvidia's specs for it. That less than the older GTX 560Ti or GTX 570, and the newer GTX 670 is a much faster card.
I'd also expect 6xx series replacements to be rolled out for other Nvidia card models as time passes, too. For example, I'd expect to see GTX 660 and 650 series cards later with even lower power requirements.
So, personally, I wouldn't worry much about needing a better PSU that Dell ships with their XPS 8300 and XPS 8500 models unless you need super performance for high resolution gaming and want something faster than a GTX 670 (which is a $400 card that runs circles around most modern cards, with a max power draw of 170 Watts).
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JimC
