Photoshop cs4 Graphic Card Requirements!!

Question

Hello Guyz!!  I wanted to learn Photoshop CS4 on my Dell Precision 670 Intel Xeon 2.8 Ghz × 2.8 Ghz With 2Gb of Ram and Graphic Card Radeon X300/X550/X1050 Series of 128 MB n I am using Windows 7 Ultimate!! Now, I can't "Enable OpenGL Drawing" in Photoshop and I guess I will have to change my graphic card to help  the cause!! Please Suggest a Graphic Card that should work well throughout my Photoshop Learning Process!! Thanks

Answer 1

LOL, there are 1000's of documents explaining it. You are way over thinking it.
32 bit OS can only handle 4 gigs worth of memory addresses. period.   That's not saying all video ram is in use all the time, but that all video ram it is available at all times. In order for it to be available it needs to have an address so the OS can send data to it. That memory addressing is reserved at boot as a hardware requirement. In order to reserve the memory locations for hardware memory it has to use part of its 4 gig limited addressing and specify it as hardware. once its out of addresses... no more memory can BE addresed, its just that simple.
If windows reserves 1 gig of address space for hard ware, it can not address more then 3 gigs of RAM. It is that simple.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929605/en-us
"If a computer has 4 gigabytes (GB) of random-access memory (RAM) installed, the system memory that is reported in the System Information dialog box in Windows Vista is less than you expect. "
Answer:
"This behavior is the expected result of certain hardware and software factors.
Various devices in a typical computer require memory-mapped access. This is known as memory-mapped I/O (MMIO). For the MMIO space to be available to 32-bit operating systems, the MMIO space must reside within the first 4 GB of address space.
For example, if you have a video card that has 256 MB of onboard memory, that memory must be mapped within the first 4 GB of address space. If 4 GB of system memory is already installed, part of that address space must be reserved by the graphics memory mapping. Graphics memory mapping overwrites a part of the system memory. These conditions reduce the total amount of system memory that is available to the operating system.
The reduction in available system memory depends on the devices that are installed in the computer. However, to avoid potential driver compatibility issues, the 32-bit versions of Windows Vista limit the total available memory to 3.12 GB. See the "More information" section for information about potential driver compatibility issues.
If a computer has many installed devices, the available memory may be reduced to 3 GB or less. However, the maximum memory available in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista is typically 3.12 GB."