OpenGL problem in Photoshop - do I need a new (quiet) card?

[David Cole]

I have Photoshop CS5 32bit, Q9550, Asus P5K Premium, 8Gb ram, Gigabyte HD5750 Silent Cell 1Gb, Windows Ultimate 64bit. The OS, programs and CS5 scratch disk are on an SSD, the data is spread between x2 WD Velociraptors. I have the latest ATI driver 11.3 (have also used 11.4 beta which works fine too).

The problem is that CS5 has suddenly stopped letting me rotate images with the OpenGL setting set to "Normal"- I have to set it to "Basic". The driver I use makes no difference, nor apparently does the size of the image I am trying to rotate. When I try to rotate the file at an OpenGL setting other than Basic (ie Normal or Advanced) I get this message:

"Could not complete your request because it only works with OpenGL enabled document windows."

Am baffled. I'm not aware of changing anything in my configuration other than the driver and changing the driver to an earlier (11.2) or newer one (11.4 preview) makes no difference.

I assume I'm losing some functionality moving from "Normal" to "Basic" mode but would a new, more powerful card help? And if so, which one? I've been thinking of the Sapphire 6870 Vapor-X but only if I can run it not at load as I understand it gets noisy under load.

Grateful for any ideas.

[mkk]

Sounds like something between the driver and Photoshop. But I've never missed any functionality by using "basic" mode either. For what little Photoshop can use the GPU for, that card is way more powerful than actually necessary.

[David Cole]

Thanks. You put me on the right track. Prompted by your advice I tried reinstalling the 11.2 driver again and this time it worked. I can now again use the auto-rotate feature with OpenGL set to Normal. There must be some incompatibility with the 11.3 and 11.4 versions.

Thanks again.

[mouettus]

Hey there. Just wanted to know about the card. does it actually perform well? I mean... the card itself is getting old but this is the quietest card 125$ can buy. I'm aiming for a silent rig but I don't want to compromise performance TOO much... are there any other quiet alternatives? like a new card and a cooler which would lend some similar acoustical results?!

[David Cole]

This is apparently a known issue and is mentioned in the Release Notes for 11.3. Seems to me pretty dumb to have a driver that deals fine with OpenGL in the previous 11.2 driver then issue a new driver that breaks the OpenGL performance. The problem is still apparent in the 11.4 beta driver so I hope ATI don't let this issue just moulder away.

As for the card's performance - perform well in relation to what? I don't know about games because I don't play them. As for Photoshop, it is absolutely fine when the driver isn't broken.