Should i buy a Quadro?

[julioverani]

Good Morning Everyone

 

I need a little help defusing this problem, since i don't find any information directly related to this topic.

I work with 3D Max and VRay 2.0, modelling and rendering interiors, and my actual setup is:

Intel i7 CPU 920@2.67GHz

12 Gb RAM 1600 MHz

ATi Radeon HD 4870x2

 

I'm feeling it starts to get slow, and i'm thinking about buying a Quadro x1800, but i'm not sure if this card helps proccessing and rendering itself, or if it only help in the viewport processing, can you people help me with that?

 

Thanks in advance!

[pixelperfectg]

i'm not sure if this card helps proccessing and rendering itself, or if it only help in the viewport processing, can you people help me with that?

GPU's will only help with rendering when you use a GPU accelerated rendering application like VRay R/T, iray, Octane, etc.. The GPU will not assist with rendering on non-GPU accelerated applications like VRay or mental ray.

 

As for the viewport performance, I would ask on the hardware forum because rendering with a GPU and viewport performance with a GPU are two different animals all together. I try to steer clear of viewport discussions because they are highly subjective. I've seen people using almost identical rigs have completely different viewport experiences due to the different types of work they do and perhaps different drivers, etc.

 

That being said, if you're planning on trying out rendering with a GPU by using something like VRay R/T or iray then I'm not sure the Quadro FX1800 would be a good choice for that. It only has 768mb of ram with 64 CUDA cores so it won't be blazing fast and depending on what you work on you may hit the 768mb memory limit pretty quickly.

 

You may want to look into the GTX type cards as you can get them with several hundred CUDA cores and up to 3gb of memory. Just stay away from the 590 series for rendering because they are dual systems that split their on-board memory. If you consider this route, please be advised that it's been said the GTX GPUs weren't designed with rendering in mind and all the heat they produce when rendering (a LOT) can cause them damage.

 

Some feel that's just marketing B.S. so they can sell more quadro units. I don't believe that as I've seen the heat produced by a 460 GTX I used for a while and it was very intense. I know heat + electronics = bad so I think it's a legitimate concern to consider. However, things like a good cooling system and perhaps lowering the clock speeds will help with the longevity of the GTX cards.

 

So to summarize:

* Check around in the hardware section for info on which cards are best for viewport performance.

* For rendering, I would probably pass on the quadro fx1800 in lieu of a 2gb to 3gb GTX based card. If you go the GTX route try to do everything you can to make sure the GTX card is kept as cool as possible when rendering to help it's longevity.

[AJLynn]

The 1800 isn't a very powerful card by current standards. I doubt it would offer much improvement over your current one. And I'll just reiterate what Jeff said - video cards only accelerate rendering when using particular programs that support it. Video cards will run Vray RT-GPU and iray but won't run Vray or mental ray. And only fast ones with a lot of memory run those programs well, so a Geforce 580 3gb would be a much better option.

[Julio Verani]

Hi Guys,

 

I appreciate so much your explaining and tips, so i won't invest my money on these cards, at least, not for now, since my objective is Still Images, not RT.

 

Thanks again!

[erkutacar]

u can get very good results with gpu rendering... but quadro 1800 will not increase your performance at all.. i got quadro 5000.. its a lil faster than my i7 2600k clocked to 4.5ghz.. but i mainly bought it for viewport performance considering nvidia performance drivers for max.. quadro 5000 has no difference from gforce 580 as specs.. if u got the means, get 2 or 3 of those and u will really boost ur gpu renders.. i suggest using iray.. no settings at all.. and everything is physical..

[AJLynn]

The Quadro 5000 is much worse than the Geforce 580 on specs. The 580 3GB is much less expensive than the Quadro 5000 and will run circles around it in CUDA.

[erkutacar]

i agree its got better specs but it wont make much difference.. i meant to say they r very similar not the same..