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  • 7 months later...

Hi guys!

 

Can somebody guide me,

i'm currently shopping for a i7 920, and i have 2 choice for video cards..

 

What would you recommend between these 2?

 

Radeon hd 4870X2 1024mb

GEFORCE GTX 285 1024 mb

 

Thanks for your help

I need the viewport speed and i will work with some evermotion library..

 

Take care

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For Max, it doesn't matter much. If you want to use something specialized, some run better on one than the other - e.g., Revit runs better on ATI cards, but that new Vray GPU feature Jeff posted a demo of currently requires nVidia (though they're talking about porting it to OpenCL, which would run on either).

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I think i'll go with the GEFORCE GTX 285 1024mb

 

The softwares i'll use is max, vray 1.5. I will use some evermotion's library (mostly vegetation..) And probably try Vue..

 

So you think i'll be fine with that, along with my i7 920, 6 gig Ram?

 

Thanks for your help, i'm really a newbie on hardware, and i really want to get a decent machine!;)

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Hi Andrew..or anybody else!!;)

Just a quick info to ask you,

When i ask you about the differencde between the 2 graphic cards yesterday, my question wasn't right..

 

The 2 cards are as follow..

 

Geforce gtx 285 1024 mb and

Radeon HD4870X2 ..2048mb

 

Is the Radeon more powerful for Max 2010 since it's 2048 mb,or are they still kind of equivalent? Also, i read that the X2 is worthless in 3d Apps like Max So is the card worth the 100$ more even if it's 2048mb?

 

Thanks again my friends, your help is really appreciated!

Edited by moris7
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Hi All,

 

Sorry to beat a dead horse, but I am looking for a current video card recommendation since technology and prices are constantly in flux. I have always had Radeon 256 cards in previous machines, so I guess it is safe to preface this by saying I haven't really experienced any better than that. Budget is a large concern, and the programs I use are 3D Studio Max 2010, Revit, AutoCAD, Photoshop and Adobe Premier. Max is the primary program. I will be building a new desktop for my visualization business, so that is why I am shopping! Please advise, and thanks in advance for current recommendations.

 

Katie Pashel

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Do you want cheap, expensive or medium?

 

Cheap: nVidia 9800GT. Cheapness doesn't mean this isn't a damn good video card. Most people should buy this unless they know they have special requirements or use Revit. It's faster than what I use. Even cheaper would be a 9500GT.

 

Medium: Whatever the current new Geforce and Radeon options are. Like the older ones, only faster.

 

Expensive: The current Quadro and FireGL/FirePro models. These are for people with special requirements.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

The low end Quadro cards are weak - I'd go for the Radeon. The only times I see getting a low end workstation card as making sense are when you have some good reason to need the stamp of approval of Autodesk saying your card is qualified for their software, or you want an economical Revit solution in which case you'd get a lower end FireGL.

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Andrew,

 

To beat the very dead horse, let me ask you your opinion on this video upgrade matter. You may remember thread I started a few weeks ago, asking about the Win 7 variants.

 

So what I ended up doing, is using an existing HD in my Boxx xp64 system, I reformatted it, and installed a copy of win7 64 pro as a dual boot. Works great so far, including max/vray/acad.

 

I'm going to upgrade this to 16gbs ram, from my current 6gb.

It's a tyan mobo, 3 yrs old, dual xeon 3.0's. Has a pci-e x16 slot, and quadro fx 1500 (256mg). I get decent video results, unless I really load up with a really high poly scene.

 

 

Would I be an idiot to replace my quadro with a new 200 series nvidia high end gaming card to get even better performance? Problem is its not a 2.0 slot on this mobo, and its essentially a 'server' board. Would that be a complete waste of money? Or could I realize a pretty decent gain with modeling and possibly regular win7 uses (games, videos, etc).??

 

thx again!

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I was actually thinking of doing that. At first I was wondering how to benchmark the difference in a non-gaming way, then i realized (in a dumb fashion) just try rotating the most difficult modeling files and see what works better.

 

If I do this, I'll let you guys know the results...

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Doh! Made sure to check the PSU and found the 12v rails are only rated to 18a. For anyone out there considering building or upgrading vid cards, always make sure to check your power supply and connectors first.

Mine is rated at 600w, but I think with a dual xeon system, plus a newer powerful vid I'll need to upgrade that to 750+w.

 

So much for a cheap upgrade test!

 

edited to add:

 

hey, for those of you wishing to 'geek out', check out this PSU calculator I found: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Edited by Geoffc
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