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Graphics card for 3D rendering / CAD
- Thread starter darude
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Soldato
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- 26 Apr 2004
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Do your programmes support any 3d cards or do they require certain versions like the Quadro and FireGL series? If you're just after something a little nippier to speed up rendering from an onboard solution then most cards these days would likely suit your needs, although you might also want to consider how much vram/texture memory you require for your rendering.
If its a case of anything is supported and no major memory requirements - something like the current 4 or 9 series low end cards would give you more oomph than an onboard solution, they also tend to have low power requirements.
Taking it as the machine in your sig is to be used for rendering, you might want to look into a CPU/overall upgrade as well, as something like a C2D overclocked would be nippier for CPU-based CAD.
If its a case of anything is supported and no major memory requirements - something like the current 4 or 9 series low end cards would give you more oomph than an onboard solution, they also tend to have low power requirements.
Taking it as the machine in your sig is to be used for rendering, you might want to look into a CPU/overall upgrade as well, as something like a C2D overclocked would be nippier for CPU-based CAD.
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Caporegime
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If yer can find an old 6 series card, then that will do yer, as you can mod them into Quadro's.
Well we need something suitable for 3D Studio Max 2008. The machine we're using is actually a single core 3.2GHz P4, will be upgrading to a Quad core setup soon. We're running XP and currently using a Radeon x600, would a better graphics card really help?
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Soldato
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Well looked into it a little, and seems that 3ds max has apparently supported vga card rendering since earlier versions, over cpu rendering. On the other hand Im not sure how it works with traditional games orientated cards compared to precision/render memory orientated rendering studio cards like the Quadro/Fire series. '08 also apparently has series issues if people try to run it in DX10 mode over DX9, but I'm not a modeller so this is going outside my understanding.
3dsmax doesn't really need a beefy graphics to run although is does help a lot if you're dealing with high 10,000+ poly models. I can run the program fine on my laptop which has a IGP 320 which is like 5+ years old. You'd be much better investing in a faster CPU if you intend to do any rendering as the GPU plays no part in it. I think it also has the ability to use multiple machines to render a single scene over a network to greatly decrease rendering time.
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As Rozzy85 points out, the Graphics card only affects vieport speed, rendering is entirely determined by CPU.
The X600 is pretty low power and crusty. Quaddros and Fire GLs are very good but not cost effective for most people. A Geforce 9600GT/ Radeon 4670 range card would be ideal to give a boost in viewport speed.
3DS max, especially nowadays is better off running in Direct 3D mode than Open GL mode as that's where the development work is going for a while now (in max).
The X600 is pretty low power and crusty. Quaddros and Fire GLs are very good but not cost effective for most people. A Geforce 9600GT/ Radeon 4670 range card would be ideal to give a boost in viewport speed.
3DS max, especially nowadays is better off running in Direct 3D mode than Open GL mode as that's where the development work is going for a while now (in max).
