Best budget video card for Maya, 3D Studio Max

[winnieibsen]

I am just starting to get into 3D graphics programs (Maya, Studio Max), but my video card is not up to the job. I need to find a professional quality 3D video card (which I know nothing about), but it has to be a budget model. Got any suggestions?

 

[eviltoon]

At $2500 or so a program I don't know why you'd be wanting to skimp on the video card.

Anyway, I know a well known video game company that uses these programs all day long and they don't have any video card greater than a Geforce 3. These programs require big time processing power and ram though. Lot's of ram.

Ask youself how much you want to get into these monster programs, and how big your scenes / files will be. If you're just fiddling, like I do, then I'd say something like my P4 384 Rd ram with a Geforce 2 gts is okay. I means it works for me. You don't say what you do have, so it's hard to recommend. Maybe you'll be limited by your motherboard, processor....whatever. But really, its ram and processing speed. Not just the video card. These programs are BIG! When they render, they max the potential of your machine. Oh boy.

You can go here to see what the makers suggest. You'll notice that they mention mostly the professional cards like Elsa, Oxygen... I do know that the Geforce cards do work with these programs.


http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/products/maya/index.shtml
http://www.discreet.com/support/max/

Good luck.

Careful with these programs though. They can have negative side effects. Currently, I've regressed to playing Captain Comic, a 1988 (or so) DOS game. Strictly 2d. I blame Maya. Soon I'll be playing x's and O's on paper.

 

[Actaeon]

My friend, runs a GF3Ti500 and plays around with Maya, and he uses riva tuner, and theres a little option, to make it run in Quadro DCC mode. It also works on my Ti200, but I don't mess with the Maya, or any of that stuff, so, I leave it as a Ti200.

Perhaps that'll be the best low budget solution.

 

[Mikki]

I use Maya, and I can tell you from personal experience that it'll be a while before you'll do anything that'll require a pro card. I'm not poking fun, it took a long time before I had to upgrade from my GeForce 2. I would save your money until you really need it.

HTH