Which GPU should I upgrade to

[Ernie Misner]

Please help me choose a new graphics card for my MSI 2390 Ace motherboard. Currently I am running an Nvidia GTX 1080 which doesn't meet Adobe's requirements for photo editing in Lightroom anymore. It still works, but Lr slows down considerably when I get some local edits and masking going. I think it is the low amount of V Ram that it is lacking.

This MSI board uses an Intel Z390 Chipset. For GPU it just says Multi-GPU and Supports 2-way NVIDIA SLI Technology. So being older technology now, what is the best graphics card I could get to replace my GTX 1080? Thank you.

 

[The Point and Shoot Pro]

Please help me choose a new graphics card for my MSI 2390 Ace motherboard. Currently I am running an Nvidia GTX 1080 which doesn't meet Adobe's requirements for photo editing in Lightroom anymore. It still works, but Lr slows down considerably when I get some local edits and masking going. I think it is the low amount of V Ram that it is lacking.

This MSI board uses an Intel Z390 Chipset. For GPU it just says Multi-GPU and Supports 2-way NVIDIA SLI Technology. So being older technology now, what is the best graphics card I could get to replace my GTX 1080? Thank you.

You could save a bunch of money and not use Adobe. Much better solution.

 

[plantdoc]

Is your power supply adequate for a which upgrade?

greg

 

[CAcreeks]

Is your power supply adequate for a which upgrade?

greg

Good question.

RTX 4070 consumes 200 Watts, 20 more than the GTX 1080. RTX 4070 Ti consumes 285 Watts. Even reduced power RTX 4060 performs better than 1080.

GTX 1080 vs RTX 4070 - Nov 2025

Compare Nvidia GTX 1080 vs. RTX 4070: Benchmarks, price-to-performance, and power efficiency. Discover which GPU offers better value and performance.

bestvaluegpu.com

 

[Ken Seals]

Hi Ernie

When the new LrC denoise AI came out a few months ago, I was using a GTX 1660 Super. That was turning in some long times for denoise. I replaced it with a RTX 3070TI. That reduced denoise times on 45MP files from over a minute to about 11 seconds. The 3070TI really breathed new life into my 6 year old machine. See specs in my sig.

BTW the 3070TI does a respectable job on the limited amount of video work I do in Premier Pro.

 

[Robert Zanatta]

Please help me choose a new graphics card for my MSI 2390 Ace motherboard. Currently I am running an Nvidia GTX 1080 which doesn't meet Adobe's requirements for photo editing in Lightroom anymore.

The Lightroom requirements are minimum 4GB VRAM (8GB preferred) and DirectX 12 support. The GTX 1080 matches those requirements, and it's a decent GPU. What doesn't work for you?

If you want a noticeable improvement in GPU performance you'll need to go up to a 3xxx/4xxx series - like a 3070 or better. It'll cost a few hundred dollars if you go with a new GPU.

 

[BobKnDP]

Please help me choose a new graphics card for my MSI 2390 Ace motherboard. Currently I am running an Nvidia GTX 1080 which doesn't meet Adobe's requirements for photo editing in Lightroom anymore. It still works, but Lr slows down considerably when I get some local edits and masking going. I think it is the low amount of V Ram that it is lacking.

This MSI board uses an Intel Z390 Chipset. For GPU it just says Multi-GPU and Supports 2-way NVIDIA SLI Technology. So being older technology now, what is the best graphics card I could get to replace my GTX 1080? Thank you.

If you care to read specs, here's a listing for a few generations of nVidia cards:

Compare Current and Previous GeForce Series of Graphics Cards | NVIDIA

It doesn't cover the GTX 10X0 series.

I doubt that the GTX 1080 is slow because of VRAM, if it has the standard 8GB. It may be due to it lack of processing features that are present in RTX cards.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database

I admit that Adobe recommends a minimum of 8GB of VRAM to run the full Lr features set.

If you want more then 8GB, the nVidia based desktop card choices would be the RTX 3060 (make sure to not get the 8GB variant), RTX 4060 ti (available in both 8 and 16GB versions), or the RTX 4070 and above.

Things go all the way up to an RTX 4090. (24GB of VRAM.) That requires 3+ slots, an 850W PSU or larger with 3 or 4 PCI-E 8 pin cables, and more than $1.6k.

What's your budget?

What's you power supply? (It must have enough capacity, plus the correct number of PCI-E power cables. A standard GTX 1080 uses a single 8 pin cable.)

 

[BobKnDP]

Please help me choose a new graphics card for my MSI 2390 Ace motherboard. Currently I am running an Nvidia GTX 1080 which doesn't meet Adobe's requirements for photo editing in Lightroom anymore.

The Lightroom requirements are minimum 4GB VRAM (8GB preferred) and DirectX 12 support. The GTX 1080 matches those requirements, and it's a decent GPU. What doesn't work for you?

If you want a noticeable improvement in GPU performance you'll need to go up to a 3xxx/4xxx series - like a 3070 or better. It'll cost a few hundred dollars if you go with a new GPU.

An RTX 2060 12GB might be worthwhile as well. Newegg has refurbs for less than $200.

 

[Ernie Misner]

Is your power supply adequate for a which upgrade?

greg

It is an EVGA 1000W power supply. Should be adequate?

 

[Ernie Misner]

Is your power supply adequate for a which upgrade?

greg

Good question.

RTX 4070 consumes 200 Watts, 20 more than the GTX 1080. RTX 4070 Ti consumes 285 Watts. Even reduced power RTX 4060 performs better than 1080.

https://bestvaluegpu.com/comparison/geforce-gtx-1080-vs-geforce-rtx-4070/

Thanks for your input and the link! My power supply is an EVGA 1000W model.

 

[Ernie Misner]

Please help me choose a new graphics card for my MSI 2390 Ace motherboard. Currently I am running an Nvidia GTX 1080 which doesn't meet Adobe's requirements for photo editing in Lightroom anymore.

The Lightroom requirements are minimum 4GB VRAM (8GB preferred) and DirectX 12 support. The GTX 1080 matches those requirements, and it's a decent GPU. What doesn't work for you?

If you want a noticeable improvement in GPU performance you'll need to go up to a 3xxx/4xxx series - like a 3070 or better. It'll cost a few hundred dollars if you go with a new GPU.

Thanks, Robert. Price is not a problem for quality. I'll look at the 3070 or 4070 then. My 1080 bogs down with local edits,masking, and video work.

 

[Ernie Misner]

Please help me choose a new graphics card for my MSI 2390 Ace motherboard. Currently I am running an Nvidia GTX 1080 which doesn't meet Adobe's requirements for photo editing in Lightroom anymore. It still works, but Lr slows down considerably when I get some local edits and masking going. I think it is the low amount of V Ram that it is lacking.

This MSI board uses an Intel Z390 Chipset. For GPU it just says Multi-GPU and Supports 2-way NVIDIA SLI Technology. So being older technology now, what is the best graphics card I could get to replace my GTX 1080? Thank you.

If you care to read specs, here's a listing for a few generations of nVidia cards:

Compare Current and Previous GeForce Series of Graphics Cards | NVIDIA

It doesn't cover the GTX 10X0 series.

I doubt that the GTX 1080 is slow because of VRAM, if it has the standard 8GB. It may be due to it lack of processing features that are present in RTX cards.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database

I admit that Adobe recommends a minimum of 8GB of VRAM to run the full Lr features set.

If you want more then 8GB, the nVidia based desktop card choices would be the RTX 3060 (make sure to not get the 8GB variant), RTX 4060 ti (available in both 8 and 16GB versions), or the RTX 4070 and above.

I think these fit my budget of up to $800 or so. Thank you for that. Power supply is 1000W.

Things go all the way up to an RTX 4090. (24GB of VRAM.) That requires 3+ slots, an 850W PSU or larger with 3 or 4 PCI-E 8 pin cables, and more than $1.6k.

What's your budget?

What's you power supply? (It must have enough capacity, plus the correct number of PCI-E power cables. A standard GTX 1080 uses a single 8 pin cable.)

 

[Ernie Misner]

Please help me choose a new graphics card for my MSI 2390 Ace motherboard. Currently I am running an Nvidia GTX 1080 which doesn't meet Adobe's requirements for photo editing in Lightroom anymore.

The Lightroom requirements are minimum 4GB VRAM (8GB preferred) and DirectX 12 support. The GTX 1080 matches those requirements, and it's a decent GPU. What doesn't work for you?

If you want a noticeable improvement in GPU performance you'll need to go up to a 3xxx/4xxx series - like a 3070 or better. It'll cost a few hundred dollars if you go with a new GPU.

An RTX 2060 12GB might be worthwhile as well. Newegg has refurbs for less than $200.

I should have done that when I got the 1080, but at this point I'll probably go for something like the 4070. Many thanks.

 

[BobKnDP]

Is your power supply adequate for a which upgrade?

greg

It is an EVGA 1000W power supply. Should be adequate?

Adequate for anything, including one of the 600W RTX 4090 models.

You don't mention the exact model, but I imagine that it has multiple PCI-E 8 pin power cables.

If you can afford an RTX 4070 or better, I presume you'd get a major performance boost.

 

[beneix]

The Lightroom requirements are minimum 4GB VRAM (8GB preferred) and DirectX 12 support. The GTX 1080 matches those requirements, and it's a decent GPU. What doesn't work for you?

While 4GB is the minimum, Adobe has been clear that certain features, such as Denoise, need 8GB or more. See quotes from Eric Chan here, for example. Why doesn't Denoise work properly for me? | The Lightroom Queen

 

[svc13]

The RTX4060 and 4060 TI have a PCIe V4 x8 interface not x16. I don't know how much performance you loose if you put it into a machine that uses the slower PCIe V3

 

[BobKnDP]

The RTX4060 and 4060 TI have a PCIe V4 x8 interface not x16. I don't know how much performance you lose if you put it into a machine that uses the slower PCIe V3

That's a point I keep forgetting. The Z390 board is PCI-E 3.0, which has half the nominal bandwidth of 4.0.

I don't spot non-gaming benchmarks, but my guess is that while there may be some performance loss, it won't ne major.

(The RTX 3060 uses an X16 interface rather than X8. A 12GB 3060 seems to cost about the same as an 8GB 4060.)

 

[Barleyman]

Please help me choose a new graphics card for my MSI 2390 Ace motherboard. Currently I am running an Nvidia GTX 1080 which doesn't meet Adobe's requirements for photo editing in Lightroom anymore. It still works, but Lr slows down considerably when I get some local edits and masking going. I think it is the low amount of V Ram that it is lacking.

This MSI board uses an Intel Z390 Chipset. For GPU it just says Multi-GPU and Supports 2-way NVIDIA SLI Technology. So being older technology now, what is the best graphics card I could get to replace my GTX 1080? Thank you.

You definitely want to use a GPU with the Tensor Cores (RTX-xxxx) if you are going Nvidia. Adobe has optimized for those in the masking, noise reduction, and other processing. I use an RTX-3060, and it works well. A bit older, but plenty of memory and Tensor Cores.

 

[Barleyman]

Please help me choose a new graphics card for my MSI 2390 Ace motherboard. Currently I am running an Nvidia GTX 1080 which doesn't meet Adobe's requirements for photo editing in Lightroom anymore. It still works, but Lr slows down considerably when I get some local edits and masking going. I think it is the low amount of V Ram that it is lacking.

This MSI board uses an Intel Z390 Chipset. For GPU it just says Multi-GPU and Supports 2-way NVIDIA SLI Technology. So being older technology now, what is the best graphics card I could get to replace my GTX 1080? Thank you.

You could save a bunch of money and not use Adobe. Much better solution.

A $250 GPU is well worth the investment. Other modernn SW benefits from it as well. And I haven't found a better package of Lightroom & Photoshop for $120 per year that's better. Actually, even close to what I get from Adobe.

 

[kerpan]

The RTX-3060 - 12 GB version seems to work well enough for me. Big upgrade from the GTX-1660s.