Upgrade advice for Photoshop digital painting - RTX 4090 vs RX 7900xtx

[D00MSH0T]

I’m looking to transition from Procreate to Photoshop for my 2D painting workflow. I upgraded to a Ryzen 7900x and 32GB DDR5, but I’m still utilizing an RTX 2060. I’m willing to pay the RTX 4090 prices if it offered any noticeable performance improvements while painting on high resolution canvas sizes with large brushes in Photoshop/Krita. But if there wouldn’t be much improvement over a more affordable card such as the 7900xtx, then I’d just rather get the more affordable card. My main canvas size is 6000x4800 (sometimes even larger) @300dpi. I’m still getting slight brush lag when using complex brushes at large sizes, but much much less than I was getting on my 2015 i5 6500 system I upgraded from. I know Nvidia and some Adobe functions work better together than AMD due to the Cuda technology, but strictly for 2D painting, would it make a difference? 

 

It's hard to find concrete info on this as even the "content creator" benchmarks I've managed to find are based on either 3D rendering or video editing and not on 2D digital painting on very high-resolution canvases. Even the 2D painting info I've found is based on lower resolution painting (4k is medium res to me). To those that are wondering why I require such a high resolution and large brush sizes, it's because I print most of my art at 16"x20" - 26"x30" for hanging in galleries or art competitions. 

 

I've also ran into incorrect information from "experts" on this that stated that "Photoshop doesn't utilize much GPU, and is more concerned about CPU and Ram." which might be true for photo editing and most filters, but the brush engine is another beast. I ran a test last night where I increased my brush size to 800px on a semi-complex blending brush to facilitate brush lag with NZXT Cam on my other screen. Then dragged the brush across my XP-PEN monitor and watched my GPU usage spike to 30-40% usage as the brush lag kicked in. The CPU usage spiked from 6% idle to around 12%. I have "Use Graphics Processor" enabled in the settings, as it noticeably improves the brush engine performance. 

 

What's insane to me about this whole ordeal is how Procreate on my iPad Pro has 0 brush lag on the resolutions I paint at, even at maximum brush sizes. No matter the brush effects. The only reason I'm trying to transition to PC is because I need a bigger screen. 

 

Anyways, attached is one of my paintings from a free commission contest giveaway I held. Zoom in to see the details. 

[SorryBella]

8 hours ago, D00MSH0T said:

I’m willing to pay the RTX 4090 prices if it offered any noticeable performance improvements while painting on high resolution canvas sizes with large brushes in Photoshop/Krita. But if there wouldn’t be much improvement over a more affordable card such as the 7900xtx, then I’d just rather get the more affordable card. My main canvas size is 6000x4800 (sometimes even larger) @300dpi. I’m still getting slight brush lag when using complex brushes at large sizes, but much much less than I was getting on my 2015 i5 6500 system I upgraded from. I know Nvidia and some Adobe functions work better together than AMD due to the Cuda technology, but strictly for 2D painting, would it make a difference? 

Id say you dont need to go straight 4090. RTX 3000 series used is still a very good deal for a workstation card especially 3090 for 600$, and the 4070-4080 range is still good enough for high resolution photo editing when CUDA is very advantageous on recent versions of Photoshop. Just having an nvidia card is already an advantage. But on older CS versions? You might as well spend more of the cash on more RAM and stronger CPU. 

 

Im not sure about Krita though. I mainly learn from Clip Studio Paint user on that front.

[e22big]

For creative, Nvidia is your only option. AMD can more or less match Nvidia in gaming feature but they don't offer anywhere near their level when it comes to compute and creative features.

 

That said, I don't think you will see a major advantage going for the 4090, unless you need a ton of VRAM. I am no creative workers but from what I've heard the 'significant' differences isn't generally all that noticeable, pass a certain product tier (unless you put them on a clock)

 

Personally, I think it's hard to justify going for the 4090 if you don't also want a top tier gaming experience. Maybe just go with a 4070 if you need Lovelace - or 3090 if you actually need the VRAM

[D00MSH0T]

16 hours ago, SorryClaire said:

Id say you dont need to go straight 4090. RTX 3000 series used is still a very good deal for a workstation card especially 3090 for 600$, and the 4070-4080 range is still good enough for high resolution photo editing when CUDA is very advantageous on recent versions of Photoshop. Just having an nvidia card is already an advantage. But on older CS versions? You might as well spend more of the cash on more RAM and stronger CPU. 

 

Im not sure about Krita though. I mainly learn from Clip Studio Paint user on that front.

Where are you seeing 3090s for $600? Newegg's lowest priced non-ti one is $1247, and even on eBay, used ones are going for $750-800. 

[WallacEngineering]

On 6/8/2023 at 12:51 PM, D00MSH0T said:

I’m looking to transition from Procreate to Photoshop for my 2D painting workflow. I upgraded to a Ryzen 7900x and 32GB DDR5, but I’m still utilizing an RTX 2060.

 

The RTX 4090 is in a class of its own, the first ever "HyperCard" as opposed to a "SuperCard". It can't really be compared to AMD's RX 7900-XTX, I know this because I own a 7900-XTX (see signature for build thread).

 

The XTX actually compares to the RTX 4080. These two cards are flagship class, the 4090 is something BEYOND a Flagship. Theres a reason why if you unlock a 4090's power target it will consume 600 watts, its quite a monster.

 

I see no reason why you would need a 4090 anyways, its completely overkill for basically anyone and the 4080 and XTX are both already extremely powerful cards capable of 4K gaming on Ultra Settings with high frame rates.

 

With AMD being less suitable for professional work, I believe the RTX 4080 would suit your needs best while allowing for a bit of overhead but without overspending. Its still a whopping 110-150% faster than your current RTX 2060 depending on the application and will be a completely different experience. It also has 16GB of VRAM which is plenty for just about anything.

 

On 6/8/2023 at 9:10 PM, SorryClaire said:

Id say you dont need to go straight 4090. RTX 3000 series used is still a very good deal for a workstation card especially 3090 for 600$, and the 4070-4080

 

Agreed that the RTX 4070/Ti would probably be enough but the 12GB of VRAM is a little questionable and to be 100% sure I would just get the 4080. If you are willing to spend 4090 money then the 4080 shouldn't even be a question.

[jaslion]

Photoshop basically does not care about a gpu the moment you go above not crap tier. So legit going to a 4090 will not improve performance

 

As seen by gpu useage your gpu is chilling at 30-40%

 

Check ram tho