I mostly use Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for photo editing and occasionally use Premiere for video editing on an older i7 workstation with a Quadro K2000 2GB GPU. I am testing the new Topaz Photo AI and Video AI products, aware the K2000 does not meet the minimum specification for them and hoping to find an affordable mid-tier computer upgrade to better accommodate them. There are some early Black Friday sales for Windows i7 computers with the NVidia A2000 16 GB GPU for $1,500 - $2,000 while i9 computers with the NVidia A4000 16GB are $2,500 - $3000. The NVidia A2000 16 GB appears to exceed the minimum and recommended Photo AI spec and exceed the minimum but not meet the recommended Video AI RTX 3000 spec. Can anyone possibly offer a performance opinion for using the NVidia A2000 16GB GPU with the new Topaz Photo and Video AI products versus the additional cost of an A4000 16GB GPU for someone who does mostly photo editing? Thanks, Jeff.
Why do you need the professional GPUs?
I did use them too in the past because of stability, but since the studio drivers, to me its nice to use gaming gpus too.
The only thing you need to watch out is memory size.
And i would advice you to get a RTX 4090 or wait for the next genereration in January or febuary.
I do us a 4090 for photography (99% of the time) and i do not regret it, but most of the time a 4070 ti would do the job too.
But keep in mind that the 4090 has ECC.
I do play on my workstation too, yesterday i did make use of superfocus (PhotoAI) in a 11000 px wide image and did play Stalker 2 at the same time (1920x1200 (with FSR 3 , 30% sharpening and everything other setting at epic) and i did not notice that the 4090 was in heavy use from TPAI.
Hi Thomas, thanks much for your reply. I do no gaming and have a very cursory understanding of GPUs and gaming / studio drivers. My company uses Lenovo exclusively, so their computers are my comfort base. Their GPU desktop families are primarily the professional P series workstations with a professional GPU, Windows 11 Professional for better AD networking capabilities and a three year on site warrantee or the gaming Legion series with a gaming GPU, Windows 11 Home Edition and a one year depot warrantee. Their A2000 P series workstations usually cost 25% – 50% more than RTX 40x0 Legions with similar CPUs, memory and storage, but there are a few currently on Black Friday sale that have roughly the same price as Legions, hence my focus on them. The only benefits I see for a comparable Legion other than pricing are a slightly larger power supply and additional cooling, but I have no understanding of how the professional A2000/A4000 GPUs would compare with RTX 40x0/50x0 GPUs when used primarily for TPAI, some occasional TVAI and zero gaming. I am aware of the upcoming RTX 50x0 release early next year that would normally drop the price on the remaining RTX 40x0 model inventory, but have no idea how that would impact the current A2000/A4000 P series now on sale. Regards, Jeff.
When choosing between the NVIDIA A2000 16GB and A4000 16GB GPUs for software like Topaz Photo AI and Video AI, the decision depends on your workflow needs and budget. As a professional portrait photographer specializing in high-quality headshots and branding sessions in Cary, North Carolina, I often rely on tools like Topaz Photo AI for noise reduction and sharpening.
The NVIDIA A4000 16GB has a significant edge in performance, thanks to its higher CUDA core count and memory bandwidth. This makes it ideal for handling large image files or rendering tasks efficiently. If you frequently process batches of high-resolution photos or work with video editing (e.g., enhancing videos for clients), the A4000 will save you time and handle heavier workloads without lag.
However, the A2000 16GB is still a solid option for lighter workloads and offers great value for its price. If your primary focus is editing single images or moderate-size photo projects without diving deep into video enhancements, the A2000 could be a budget-friendly choice that meets your needs.
In my studio, where I process large headshot galleries and occasionally enhance promotional videos, the A4000’s superior performance would make it my preferred choice. But if you’re just starting or have a limited budget, the A2000 can still deliver good results for photography-focused tasks. <a href="https://sarahannewilsonphotography.com/" target="_blank">headshots Cary</a>
Hi Joseph99,
Thank you very much for your insights, which based on my experiences since I originally posted my questions were spot on.
I do mostly nature photography, so processing larger numbers of high resolution RAW files and the occasional video. In the time since my original posts, I purchased a Lenovo P3 ThinkStation with an Intel i9 CPU, 64 Gb RAM, 1 Tb SSD storage, 750 watt PSU and Nvidia A2000 12Gb GPU on a Black Friday sale that was so good that the Nvidia was pretty much included at no cost compared to previous sale prices. I understood that the A2000 was a mid tier GPU in performance versus price, and another useful feature to me was its low power consumption.
Using a slightly fuzzy and noisy flying belted kingfisher RAW photo as a test picture, my old Lenovo P310 ThinkStation with an Intel i7 CPU, 32 Gb RAM, 512 Gb SSD storage and Nvidia Quadro 4000 GPU took 330 minutes to complete the new Topaz Photo AI Super Focus BETA, which I suspect was actually performed in CPU with the Topaz preference set to Auto. The same test on my new P3 with the preference set to the Nvidia A2000 took 33 minutes. Completely satisfied with those results and now committed to keeping the new computer, I kept watching the internet for the next few days and managed to buy one of the last remaining MSI Shadow Nvidia RTX 4070 TI Super 16 Gb GPUs on a Black Friday sale, which when installed in my new P3 computer, reduced the time for the Super Focus BETA test from 33 minutes to 12 minutes. Satisfied with that upgrade, I moved the Nvidia A2000 GPU to my old P310, which ran fine with its 270 watt PSU, and processed the Super Focus BETA in 36 minutes, just 3 minutes slower than it did in my new P3.
So I now have two computers capable of simultaneously performing Topaz Photo AI processing at speeds I can live with and will keep an occasional watch on the price / performance specs of the new Nvidia 50x0 GPUs.
Thanks again for taking the time to help.
Regards,
Jeff
You could get rtx 4XXX from the second market.
I buy lenses from the second market but ony from professional sellers.
The only downside is the memory size of the Geforce cards.
