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what the diference??

sunderz

sunderz

sunderz

Associate
Joined
28 Sep 2007
Posts
74
right been reasearching for a while now for a new card for my system now. i've decided on the Gainward ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 "Rampage GLH" 2048MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) (is this the best of the X2's??) but noticed tonight the PNY NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express)...now i will be useing the system for CAD design over the next few months for university, will the Quadro make a diference over the 4870 X2?? for the large increase in price??

and also what power suply would you recomend for either cards as i only have a 400w thing at the mo and kinda think it would need summot with more umpf..


regards
chris
 
The Radeon HD 4870 X2 is a gaming card while the Nvidia Quadro series is for people that use CAD software. Since l am guessing you are doing CAD for the first time or just studying the subject and you will be simply experimenting and not doing any serious work l would suggest not buying a specialized card for the time being.

An average gaming card can get the job done in most CAD software. Both ATI and Nvidia have professional line of cards the FireGL(ATI) and Quadro(Nvidia) but those cards cost an arm and a leg so unless you are filthy rich and have done you homework about what advantages such specialized cards provide don't buy them.

A video card like a 4850 would be just fine for your needs. Also your 400w PSU might need replacing if it's a generic PSU and assuming that you have modern hardware in general.
 
sorry should have said more detail it's full CAD modelling useing Ailias studion in my final year of uni 3rd year of useing the software. need the power to render the animations now not just still images. i was origionally going to get the 4870 x2 to play the latest games at full res etc and be able to play them to the full potential and future games.
im pretty sold on the 4870 X2 but wanted to ask the questions first. but you reckon the gameing card is best over the CAD specific card as that wont handle games as well?

sorry for all the questions

i also have never overclocked owt in my life so just to add that iff some one recomends a cheaper card to clock.

regards
chris
 
From what l am aware the video card, regardless if it's for gaming or CAD work doesn't actually render the animation or images. That is completely done by your CPU. Take also into consideration that most of those utterly expensive professional video cards are actually the same videocards you buy for a much lower price with a different bios and/ or drivers.
The professional cards from what l know only help when actually designing the animations and not rendering them.
Someone with more experience with CAD programs should pop-in and guide you better but if l were you l would get a good quad-core if you haven't got one already and lots of RAM since those two factors are the most important when it comes to rendering complex animations or scenes.

In addition if you are using a 32-bit version of windows you should consider going for a 64-bit version of Vista since that will enable you to use more than 4GB of RAM.
 
When it comes to rendering, a ton of RAM, 64-Bit OS, and a fast quad-core CPU will help more than a graphics card. A good graphics card will help when in the modelling area or the software, you could display your work on a higher preview quality setting. But when it comes to the final rendering it's all done on CPU.

The new Intel i7 CPU's are by far the fastest CPU's around for this type of stuff. Getting one of them would be a better upgrade for rendering, but that would also mean a new motherboard and RAM.
 
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firts off...chears for all the help guys :D

second off. :rolleyes:.

the speck of my machine is:

Core 2 Duo E6850 @ 3.00Ghz
4 GB of ram (looking at 8 gig and 64bit xp)
gigabyte x38 mobo
ATI Radeon 2600 Pro

so ill stick with the 4870 X2 and pack in some more ram you reckon??

you guys all love your vista is it sorted now as i have steared clear due to driver problems at the begining, and just not too keen on the layout of it all??

regards

chris
 
I'd possibly consider getting a single 4870 (or GTX 260) and upgrade that e6850 to a quad.

The X38 will be compatible with 45nm quads so i'd consider something like a q9550. With decent cooling you'd see 3.6ghz+ (possibly 4ghz) which will destroy your current dual when it comes to rendering speed.

gt
 
ok then well if i look into that how would i go overclocking that then and i take it air cooled would do?? cos as i said have never overclocked befor.

regards
chris
 
Aircooled would do - what cooler are you using at present?

The Gigabyte X38's are nice to clock - mines been very straight forward. All i needed was a bump in the CPU voltage. :)

gt
 
just standard i have a mahoosive radiator thing that wont actually fit but got it dirt cheap. think it's a thermaltake 120 ultra or summot..

i take the bump in cpu voltage is just a setting set in a small peice of software?? like a said i have read threads on here about clocking but not done it or anything..

regards

chris
 
It's in your bios (press delete when on the boot screen) and then you can get to the settings you'll need. If you read the stickies here - or even your manual that came with the mobo you'll be fine.

Also, the Ultra 120 Extrame is a great cooler - it should almost guarantee your chances of a very decent clock.

gt
 
ahh okies yeah i now you can run a think in the bios to overclock the cpu to like 125% or summot read and seen it but not wanted to play with it incase damage was caused??

so the future as of the help on here stands as.

q9550 ( or similar) Oc'd
8 gig ram : (Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 TwinX (2x2GB) Supplied with Airflow Fan (TWIN2X4096-8500C5DF))
xp 64
4870 ( to look to crossfire if needed later on)


i now this now aint on the topic of grafics so sorry for that.

thanks for the help no idea what to do now really but will probs stick with that might be gready and get the 4870 X2 still haha :D

regards

chris
 
No problem Chris!

If you need/want any other help or advice just ask. Plenty of people here who are more than happy to help. :)

As for the final spec - that all looks great!

gt
 
thats great mate ta for the help :D i will be gettign an order off in the next week or so and report my improvements (kinda exited lol) and also when clocking tried reading the basic overclocking sticky and will keep reading it till i understand it :confused: haha

regards

chris
 
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