3D Games taxes the GPU, 3D applications taxes ???

astroller

Junior Member
Mar 3, 2001
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I'm new at this. Well, it's proven that running 3D games make use of the GPU's power more than the CPU. Thus, getting a high-powered GPU to couple with the (mid-to-high end CPU) makes better sense than a fast CPU but slow VGA card.

Now, what about 3D applications like 3D Studio Max or higher-end ones like Maya and Lightwave 6? Do these applications make use of the VGA card more or the CPU? If it's the GPU, which is better? ATI radeon or Nvidia GF2? As for CPUs TB 700MHz n above enough?
 

CTho9305

Elite Member
Jul 26, 2000
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I don't know for sure, but here is my theory: the "perspective" window in 3dsmax would be dependent on the GPU, but the actual rendering would be CPU dependent, since no GPUs yet do actual raytracing/radiosity. However, tom's hardware had an article about some FireGL or something that is a "workstation" card... really powerful. The question is what it does.
 

jpprod

Platinum Member
Nov 18, 1999
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For 3D applications the modeller/preview is much nicer to work with if there's a hardware T&L accelerator in your system. However, when rendering the final image it doesn't matter if the display adapter is 1MB S3 Trio64V+ or 64MB Quadro Pro - all work is done by the CPU. Choosing a processor for 3D-rendering double-precision floating point performance is what matters the most.

Fastest out of consumer-level 3D cards those based on GeForce chips are significantly more useful for professional apps because of their powerful T&L unit and very solid OpenGL drivers. Best x86 CPU for rendering is undoubtedly Athlon, though if budget allows it, dual-1GHz P3 would slightly outperform a 1.2GHz Athlon. P4 is completely useless on this field until 3D-applications are optimized for SSE2. I'd estimate that Tb 700 would be about equal or even faster than 1GHz P3 in Lightwave.
 

astroller

Junior Member
Mar 3, 2001
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Thanks for the insight (to 3D apps!)

Just a trivia question. Does it make a difference between (consumer VGA cards) like Radeon and GeForce2 for 3D apps?
 

jpprod

Platinum Member
Nov 18, 1999
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See Ace's Hardware's CAD comparison between GeForce and Radeon. Even GeForce DDR is faster than Radeon here, no doubt because of much more solid OpenGL drivers. Working with high-poly 3D models you'll appreciate the performance difference, but as I mentioned, rendering times won't be affected.