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Reccomendation on a new video card for rendering

post #1 of 8
10/31/04 at 2:19am
Thread Starter 
Hey all-

I do a lot of AutoCad work, primarily in 2d, so I've never really had to worry about rendering or hardcore processing. Lately I have been fooling around with Sketchup (f you dont know, think 3dMax-ish) a lot, and want to use this puppy for some quality 3d work.

I also got to thinkin, I don't really play games that much anymore, especially anything super graphics intensive. I just don't have the time. It's sad. But work is fun, so oh well. So I think its time I make the jump from primarily gaming based 3d cards to a more workstation-class videocard. My Radeon 9700 pro has treated me quite nice over the past couple years (how long its been now, wow), but I think we might part ways soon.

So does anyone have any recommendations for a really good workstaion video card in the $200 or so range? Primary use is for 3d work in SketchUp. I will admit that I am definately an ATI fanboy (and an AMD fanboy too, at that), but from what I hear, the Nvidia cards are much better with OpenGL, so I am not too upset to switch teams, so to speak.

Any recommendations/ thoughts are very appreciated. Thanks!
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post #2 of 8
10/31/04 at 3:36pm
I don't think you will find a fireGL or Quadro based card for around $200. I've seen guys use Acad and ATI cards no problem. One of my clients is also using solid works on an ATI they seem to be happy with it. ATI does have some driver issues with OpenGL or atleast did. Some of the other design guys on here would be better resources for you.
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post #3 of 8
11/1/04 at 1:18pm
Thread Starter 
thanks bsmith.....

does anyone else have any opinions on either an ati or nvidia card that will do me good. I guess i'lll be spending more than around $200.
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post #4 of 8
11/2/04 at 12:12am
wut is the difference between a rendering card like a firegl, and a 9800??
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post #5 of 8
11/2/04 at 1:37pm
Thread Starter 
A graphics card, such as a radeon 9800 or an nvidia 6800, is built and designed primarily for 3d graphics used in gaming. A workstation based graphics card, such as the Firegl series, or Nvidia's quadro series, is deisigned for 3d applications that render 3d or 2d scenes or drawings, such as AutoCad or 3dMax, etc. A radeon 9800 is great for computing on the fly 3d data such as in a Doom3 or a Half Life 2, but just plain sucks at rendering a 3d interior of a building, for example. From my understanding, the cards are quite similar in structure, but the main difference is in the drivers (but a FireGL driver wont work with a Radeon, and vice versa)

Anyone else out there have any suggestions/thoughts on rendering cards?
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post #6 of 8
11/5/04 at 1:56pm
Thread Starter 
no one?
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post #7 of 8
11/6/04 at 3:00am
ME, I'LL SAVE YOU!! I USE AN OLDER XP SYSTEM IN THE LAB FOR 3D chip design and running numbers. I'll provide you with some links to good GPU for this purpose, but the price will be about $400, so I hope this helps. I'll provide the first 2 links to $250 and under, then the rest are over, but better cards. I just hope you MOBO supports the voltage differences in some of them . Here they come:

1)>http://www.pcsupplysource.com/itemde...DGLT2&cc=&tpc=
2)>http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...ct_Code=190873
3)> THIS FIRE GL X2 AGP!!!!!! is only like $640!!! usually like at least $900!!
http://www.pcavailable.com/web/index...pid=1487&cid=3


NOW IT GETS PRICEY!! WITH QUADRO SERIES!!
http://www.adamant.com/ItemInfo_fx40...oducts&webid=2
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post #8 of 8
11/6/04 at 3:09am
I know you can get a Nvidia FX graphics card, such as the FX5800, FX5900 and FX5950, then through a simple bios flash and new drivers, they can be converted into Quatro cards. Im not very knowledgeable on this particular point so i would reccomend you go ask around on some hardware forums about it.
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