nvidia, CUDA and 3d max and adobe

[vian_siu]

as a regular user of 3d max and adobe creative suite (photoshop, after effect, premiere, illustrator), since i only ever had nvidia cards, i would like of know how much difference nvida gfx (not the quadros and testas) and CUDA, etc. actually makein terms of rendering speed and response time, etc?

 

[vian_siu]

bump---please i really need to know to help me decide should i wait for a nvidia refresh or switch to ati...

 

[vian_siu]

You would be better asking on the Autodesk forums, but my experience on 3D forums is that 9/10 people will recommend Nvidia. Driver and software support is still a long way ahead of ATI there. Plus as chaos already mentioned you have PhysX plugin etc..

BTW, you shouldn't dismiss the Quadro cards, Nvidia have a driver specifically built from the ground up for Max, and even the very lowest end Quadro cards can beat the top ATI cards, sometimes by a factor of 2x depending on what you test.

Have a look here:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/quadrofx-firepro_17.html#sect0

i wish i got the cash for quadro, although i would to have one. i originally just want to upgrade my 9800gtx to fermi, but thats until i saw the review...in general i just want/need a good mainstream card for both 3d rendering and gaming that doesnt cost a mountain.

 

[vian_siu]

do quadro need a server mobo or just some sort of professional mobo to work? for me is general use comes first, then the rendering thats why i am looking for mainstream cards, but as you stated cheap quadros are as low as £100 i wouldnt rule them out. maybe my best bet is wait for gtx 470 to drop price and something to cool it down a bit or some sort of new fermi mid-range cards