best video card for 3d-modeling and animation.

[Electricice]

i was looking around nad have seen the geforce 3 as the one to get now. but is something like the elsa syneergy 3 better? whats the one to get??

 

[Shooters]

The Synergy is geared more towards 3D modeling apps than the Geforce3, but since it is their budget card for that line I don't know how much better it would be than a Geforce3. The Gloria line of cards is the top of the line professional 3D cards from Elsa. 3DLabs makes some high end professional 3D cards, the Oxygen and the Wildcat, both of which are mucho $$$.

 

[BA]

Depends. What kind of budget are you looking at? Want a consumer level card, or a pro one that costs more than my car?

 

[Bozo Galora]

The new "retail channel" 3dlabs Wildcat 5000
No contest for modeling animation
$1400 list

 

[br0wn]

yup, wildcat is the card to get if you are really serious to 3-d modeling and animation.
Unfortunately, the new card can only be bought with NEW Dell System (I don't know if they
have changed this policy, and allow ppls to buy the card only).

 

[Bozo Galora]

no, the $4000 5110 Wildcat is only sold with expensive servers.

Like I said, the NEW 5000 retail channel Wildcat is available online for $1400 retail. 3dlabs first publicly sold........... Wildcat.........video card. I dont know how much clearer i can make this.

Note: edited to suit Ben Nitpicker

 

[Bozo Galora]

Unmatched productivity for graphics professionals


If you never thought you'd be able to afford the professional
quality and performance of a Wildcat?, then here's your
chance. The Wildcat II 5000 is the first ever Wildcat available
through authorized resellers!

Wildcat II Technology's scalability lets 3Dlabs balance
professional features and performance to create the most
affordable Wildcat graphics accelerator ever.

Wildcat II 5000 combines full-featured 3D acceleration and
exceptional 2D performance in a single-pipeline configuration
including 64 MB of powerful, dedicated frame buffer and texture
memory.

With 3Dlab's performance-boosting DirectBurst? technology,
analog or digital monitor support, and stereo viewing, the
Wildcat II 5000 offers the essential professional features CAD
professionals, digital content creators, and graphics experts
need for precise, interactive designs.

 

[BenSkywalker]

What application are you going to be using and in what environment?

If you are running Maya in a studio setting then by all means go with a Wildcat.

If you are a student learning 3DSM 4 I'd pick up a GeForce3 over the Wildcat.

The Elsa GloriaIII is a GeForce2 MX with a resistor resoldered, and yes I'm quite serious. Modding the board by resoldering identifies the chip as a Quadro board instead of a GeForce(they are the same chip with some features crippled on the GF via drivers). If you were to do such a modification yourself you would be able to install the Elsa specific drivers for 3DSM in particular which are quite a bit faster then the Detonators. However, a Quadro modded GF2MX runs Maya faster using Detonators then it does running Elsa's drivers(or, that was the case not too long ago anyway).

The higher end Elsa boards, the Glorias, are currently based on GeForce chips also. The highest end offering, the Gloria DCC is based on the GeForce3 chip.

"3dlabs first publicly sold video card."

No, 3DLabs has been selling video cards for a long time, this is the first Wildcat available as such. Up until fairly recently the Wildcat line was owned by Intergraph, not 3DLabs.

 

[MementoMori]

Hmmm, I've sorta been away from the IT business the last two years, but I remember that the Glint processor was pretty neat when it came to for instance 3dSM, and I'm sure there should be newer version around nowadays.

 

[Bozo Galora]

go ahead, nitpick my wording to death, until i bow to you and say it exactly the way you want, ultimately proving what a superior being you are.

 

[BenSkywalker]

MementoMori-

"but I remember that the Glint processor was pretty neat when it came to for instance 3dSM, and I'm sure there should be newer version around nowadays."

The Glints are 3DLabs chips, they are still being updated although since they acquired the Wildcat line from Intergraph Glint development seems to have been placed on a bit lower priority. The earlier models are now handily thrashed by a GF1 SDR board, even the models that were current when the GF1 launched had a hard time keeping pace. However, their latest offerings packing dual T&L and dual rasterizers are very fast boards, though they cost like it(around $2.5K if memory serves).

Bozo-

"go ahead, nitpick my wording to death"

There is a person in this thread that is asking about high end 3D boards. If he were to think that the first 3DLabs retail offering was the highly touted Wildcat 5000 he could end up picking himself up an old non Glint equipped Permedia which has trouble keeping up with a TNT. Absolutely nothing personal about it, simply don't want someone to be thinking about things in the wrong lite particularly when the possibility of $1,000 or more changing hands is a possibility

 

[Bozo Galora]

You are sooooooo noble! Jus lookin out for the poor thousand dollar spender who might stumble onto an old tired video card. I am so mightily impressed with your good intentions that I've have made inquiries on your behalf today with the Vatican as to possibly getting you officially sanctioned as a modern day Saint, which i believe even you would consider higher than so called AT "elite".

BTW: I have added the one adjective you found lacking in my post.

 

[Insane3D]

Bozo...aren't you being just a little sensitive? I don't think Ben meant any thing by that...

 

[dullard]

What is your budget? Here is what CAD users at Cadalyst found (higher is better):

3dLabs Wildcat II 5110: Best performance of any card currently available at $2000,
ATI Fire GL2: 52.6 at $1200,
ELSA GLoria III: 38.4 at $1200,
Oxygen GVX420: 29.1 at $2500,
Oxygen GVX210: 28.2 at $2000 (old price),
3dLabs Wildcat 4110: 26.7 at $2200 (old price),
ELSA GLoria II: 24.9 at $700 (old price),
ATI Fire GL1: 23.8 at $700 (old price),
E&S Tornado 3000: 19.2 at $1300 (old price),
ATI Radeon32: 17.9 at $279,
Matrox G400: 15.6 at $210 (old price).

Ok, some of the prices are out of date, but this should help you with your choice. The ATI Fire GL2 will render over 3 times as fast as the Martox, but you need to fork over $1000 more. If you are paying employees $50000/year, $1000 is one week of work. If you feel a card that is 3 times as fast will save you more than one week of work, then it is actullay cheaper to buy the better card.