Somebody explain Graphics Cards

[Michael Emo]

For all the super tech folk out there, can anyone provide a definitive answer on just how much a graphics card (in a single workstation setup using XP Pro) has an effect on 3d modeling in Max/Vray and on which parts of the modeling process (ie animation, rendering, etc.) it effects the most or doesn't affect at all?

 

How much is a graphics card like the 3dlabs Wildcat, going to help for rendering architectural illustrations?

 

http://www.3dlabs.com/products/product.asp?prod=273

 

Thanks,

Michael

[BrianKitts]

do a search on these forums, this topics been covered a couple times....

 

but the quick answer is a graphics cards doesn't improve your rendering time, thats the processor's job. The graphics card improves your onscreen display. Better graphics cards will make it easier to display, navigate, and work on more complex models in your viewports.

 

hope this helps ya!

[Michael Emo]

That's the basic explanation I was looking for

 

Now, to hijack my own thread, how much does RAM come into play for rendering?

 

Thanks,

Michael

[BrianKitts]

totally does....more ram the better, I just finished a scene with so much geometry (vegetation is killer) that I completly maxed out the ram so far that my only saving grace was Vray's ability to render out to an image file and not waste memory on an onscreen buffer.

 

The software has to load all the geometry into the memory to complete a render, thats why you always want to be keen about optimizing your geometry to not waste memory. There's tricks such as proxy objects and instancing that can help..... but personally I wouldn't want to work on a system where it doesn't have all the ram it can.

[Virtual Partners]

Having agreed with all of the above please let me add that there ARE products that are cards you can plug in to your computer that WILL increase your rendering times. Go to: http://www.artvps.com/

They have a card called the Pure 1800 that works with max.

Also PUH----LEEEZ read carefully about their soon to be released support for Mental Ray in MAX etc. It ONLY works with the RenderDrive NOT the Pure 1800. Of course the Pure 1800 works pretty good!

 

Murph

 

http://www.virtualpartners.com

[AJLynn]

Personally I wouldn't spend money on specialized hardware to get increased render times.

[tecton3d]

For all the super tech folk out there, can anyone provide a definitive answer on just how much a graphics card (in a single workstation setup using XP Pro) has an effect on 3d modeling in Max/Vray and on which parts of the modeling process (ie animation, rendering, etc.) it effects the most or doesn't affect at all?

How much is a graphics card like the 3dlabs Wildcat, going to help for rendering architectural illustrations?

http://www.3dlabs.com/products/product.asp?prod=273

 

Brian explained it pretty well, but one more thing is to consider the "balance" of the cpu-video card-RAM within your system. I.E. you won't get the true benefit of a Quadro FX5500 if you mate it with an Intel Centrino processor and 512mb of ram.

 

The video card does indeed control how quickly your model/textures are rendered "real-time" on screen but, aside from panning, orbiting, zooming, and changing viewports, there are geometric transformations that occur in system memory that have nothing to do with your video card. These operations are controlled more by cpu and system ram. the Operation is held in system ram and is then pumped to the video card via the cpu... so it's easy to see why a slow processor results in slow viewports despite the fast video card.

 

FWIW: I have a dual 248 opteron system with a QuadroFX 3400 and am looking to upgrade to 254's or 256's after the next round of AMD price cuts because I feel, after researching a bit, that my opterons are the bottleneck in my system when working with huge models.

 

hope this helps

 

Now, to hijack my own thread, how much does RAM come into play for rendering?

 

ram is a big holdup right now with systems due to the software not being able to use more than a couple of gigs. The way around this, as has already been mentioned, is to choose a rendering engine that can work with millions of polys as needed to make the rendering... i.e. it doesn't have to load the entire scene to RAM before rendering but can do it actively as your buckets request info for a specific part of that scene.

[Michael Emo]

This is all good stuff. Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. This stuff is never laid out clearly in books or anything and from my own experience I knew how certain things worked, but I didn't have definitive answers. But I've also heard conflicting remarks regarding this stuff.

 

Excellent point tecton. I definitely don't want to couple a radically built video card with a cheap processor and slow/low ram. Right now I have a Pentium 4 2.6ghz with ATI FireGL X1 128 w/ 3gb ram. It's a basic setup that works well for what I do which is architectural visuals and photography. But as I begin to think about a new computer for the future I want to be aware of the importances of everything.

 

I'm going to hold off until Vista comes out. I know once MS releases Vista, there are going to be a lot of new hardware devices coming out that will be able to take full advantage of Vista's capabilities. Seeing as that's 'probably 'only 6-9 months away, I'll definitely wait.

 

I'm not a big fan of the idea of buying specialized hardware. It's been my experience working for some big firms that when you buy the specialized stuff, more often than not, your productivity does not increase. This is due to factors such as limited support or training (or you have to pay the company more boatloads of money for 'official training'), incompatibility problems between software/os/hardware that have to be solved by calling tech support and then once you upgrade your other software, you have to go out and get the new upgraded stuff for your specialized equipment too. I try to stick with 'normal' hardware if there is such a thing.

 

Michael

[tecton3d]

I'm going to hold off until Vista comes out. I know once MS releases Vista, there are going to be a lot of new hardware devices coming out that will be able to take full advantage of Vista's capabilities. Seeing as that's 'probably 'only 6-9 months away, I'll definitely wait.

 

glad to help: )

 

although it's a step in the right direction, our world is still software limited. I'm still waiting for an 64 bit versions of Autocad, Form-Z, and Max to be released before I jump on the vista wagon. Hopefully the software coders are listening : )