best card for rendering 3Dmax

[fire400]

best card for rendering 3Dmax, will spend 200-500 bucks

coupled with gigs of RAM and an X2 3800 processor, what card is suitable for rendering?

edit: wondering if low CAS RAM will make a huge impact?
edit: will a gaming card be good for workstation stuff like adobe, flash construction type software, 3DS max, adobe photoshop premiere, etc???

 

[fire400]

bump

 

[brshoemak]

ATI FireGL V5100

 

[fire400]

bump

 

[mechBgon]

Rendering's not done by the card. It's done by the CPU.

 

[pkme2]

You seem to have a very good CPU already so the Video card change is in order.
The FireGl or Quadro cards should fit your needs. I'm looking at those cards on eBay, right now. An ATI V7100 is available.

 

[pkme2]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Rendering's not done by the card. It's done by the CPU.

I thought the GPU handled the rendering speed?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: pkme2

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Rendering's not done by the card. It's done by the CPU.

I thought the GPU handled the rendering speed?

CPU handles the rendering. The video card handles in scene setup. And it is damn near impossible to do a complicated scene, even with a 6800 GT OC. (I know).

 

[fire400]

bump

 

[fire400]

bump

 

[fire400]

bump

 

[Sentinel]

Rendering is all processor, video card will improve the display and smoothness but not how fast to render. Try building a render farm if you want to render faster. ie. if you had 3x1Ghz machines it would be better than 1x3Ghz machine.

 

[fire400]

bump

 

[gsellis]

Have you signed up for the 3dMax forum at Discreet's site and asked this question? That would be the place to ask.

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo

Originally posted by: pkme2

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Rendering's not done by the card. It's done by the CPU.

I thought the GPU handled the rendering speed?

CPU handles the rendering. The video card handles in scene setup. And it is damn near impossible to do a complicated scene, even with a 6800 GT OC. (I know).

I haven't played around with the newer nVidia cards lately, but is it still possible to use RivaTuner's NVstrap to fool the system into thinking the 6800GT is the equivalent Quadro card? The GeForce and Quadro cores are basically the same to save production costs for nVidia, and it's mainly a matter of getting the Quadro drivers running so you can use the the high end GPU features that are locked out in the GeForce cards. In my experience, you didn't always get the full performace of an equivalent Quadro and it wasn't always 100% stable, but using NVStrap to softmod the card was a great way to save money if you were still learning with a educational copy of MAX and couldn't afford the a real Quadro.

 

[Czar]

Get any card you think is good, dont spend to much though. The consumer gaming cards are way more than enough for you when you are getting started and when you have reached the skills needed where you max out your graphics card the card you have will already be way outdated. 3D takes allllot of time.

2 year multimedia student and a 3dstudio user since it was on dos

 

[RallyMaster]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133142 looks like a 6600GT so I don't know how well it would work but it's 500 dollars just like you asked...if you want max power, buy two FX4500s and run them in SLi ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133162 )

 

[Praxis1452]

6800 agp unlocks with rivatuner I think. PCi-E won't unlock

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: Praxis1452
6800 agp unlocks with rivatuner I think. PCi-E won't unlock

I think I remember hearing that the 6800 native PCIe cards can also be unlocked with RivaTuner, but any of the cards with a bridge chip to adapt the AGP to PCIe can't be unlocked because the bridge chip messes up NV Strap (same goes for the 6600GT AGP cards). Can anyone confirm?

 

[humanentity]

theres a video forum go there to ask that ull find way more answers

 

[fire400]

bump

 

[Czar]

really, dont get an expensive graphics card, just use whatever is handy

the cpu does the rendering
the gpu does the viewport and you have to do some very complex scenes to even notice the difference between a consumer grade card and a professional one

 

[Remedy]

edit: wondering if low CAS RAM will make a huge impact?

Most, if not all rendering is driven by computational power. The CAS & RAS Latency doesn't play a role in rendering performance as much as memory bandwidth will play a role.

edit: will a gaming card be good for workstation stuff like adobe, flash construction type software, 3DS max, adobe photoshop premiere, etc???

Everything mentioned except 3DSMax. Depending on how talented and aggressive you are in this application. A toy card and a Professional can make the difference in your viewport construction. If you're just begining to learn Max, then stick with a Toy card. If you're Ameture or going pro, then pick up a refurbished Quadro FX. You can usually find Quadro FX 3400's from OEM's like HP and Dell on the under 40% of retail side. The FireGL V5100 and 7100 might be a good alternative depending on how well ATi has polished their support for Max in their drivers.

FireGL V7100 @ this price I wouldn't pass up.


Quadro 3400 @ this price is also a good.

What kind of system will this card be installed on? Dual socket or single socket?

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: Remedy

edit: wondering if low CAS RAM will make a huge impact?

Most, if not all rendering is driven by computational power. The CAS & RAS Latency doesn't play a role in rendering performance as much as memory bandwidth will play a role.

edit: will a gaming card be good for workstation stuff like adobe, flash construction type software, 3DS max, adobe photoshop premiere, etc???

Everything mentioned except 3DSMax. Depending on how talented and aggressive you are in this application. A toy card and a Professional can make the difference in your viewport construction. If you're just begining to learn Max, then stick with a Toy card. If you're Ameture or going pro, then pick up a refurbished Quadro FX. You can usually find Quadro FX 3400's from OEM's like HP and Dell on the under 40% of retail side. The FireGL V5100 and 7100 might be a good alternative depending on how well ATi has polished their support for Max in their drivers.

FireGL V7100 @ this price I wouldn't pass up.


Quadro 3400 @ this price is also a good.

What kind of system will this card be installed on? Dual socket or single socket?

pci-e x1
amd dual core 3800+

 

[SonicIce]

Originally posted by: Sentinel
Rendering is all processor, video card will improve the display and smoothness but not how fast to render. Try building a render farm if you want to render faster. ie. if you had 3x1Ghz machines it would be better than 1x3Ghz machine.

really? even with all the overhead?