Best Video Card for my use

[Jingato]

Ok, I have a question for you vido card experts. I'm going to be building a new system when Nehalem is released. I'm trying to decide on the best video card to get for me. I know the 4870X2 would be the best for gaming, but I do a mix of many different applications. I do also play games though too. I mostly use it for working in the Unreal Editor and Maya, but I also like to play the latest games too. Would it be more beneficial to have the more powerfull Single GPU for UnrealEd and Maya vs the dual GPU?

What's your opinions?

Thanks

 

[z1ggy]

One more powerful card.

 

[Narynan]

I second the above statement. If you can swing it, go with the 4870x2.

 

[Jingato]

Originally posted by: Narynan
I second the above statement. If you can swing it, go with the 4870x2.

But with the 4870X2 when working in Maya and the unreal editor it will only be using one GPU correct? Would I benefit in that situation having the GTC280 over the 4870X2??? If so...How much do you think??

 

[Jingato]

Bump

 

[CSQuake]

I need an answer to this as well. So bump.

I use my rig for the Hammer editor (HL2 engine) and gaming, this is with a 30" monitor so as you can imagine my res is 2560xwhatever it goes to (i can never remember).

Currently I have a 9800gx2.

I am looking to upgrade now, either to the 260 OC'd, the 280, or the 4870 or 4870x2, but which one?!

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: Jingato
But with the 4870X2 when working in Maya and the unreal editor it will only be using one GPU correct?

Correct. So you may be better off with one powerful GPU.

 

[Elfear]

You might want to check over at the Maya forums and see which manufacturer has better support for that app. When I was helping my buddy build a rig a few years ago Nvidia seemed to have better support in Maya, but that may have changed. If you have a 30" monitor and gaming is decently high on your priority list, I'd definitely go for the 4870x2. It isn't much of a contest at 2560x1600 with 4x/8x AA between ATI's new card and the GTX 280.

 

[Zstream]

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2168891&enterthread=y


Anyways a quad core CPU would be a wise choice.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Jingato
Ok, I have a question for you vido card experts. I'm going to be building a new system when Nehalem is released. I'm trying to decide on the best video card to get for me. I know the 4870X2 would be the best for gaming, but I do a mix of many different applications. I do also play games though too. I mostly use it for working in the Unreal Editor and Maya, but I also like to play the latest games too. Would it be more beneficial to have the more powerfull Single GPU for UnrealEd and Maya vs the dual GPU?

What's your opinions?

Thanks

i 'd say wait till then .. that is 3 months [minimum] away and your choice may be totally clear

by then the *single-slot most powerful* GPU may be called GT290 and may well be monolithic. Nvidia knows what they need to do to take back the performance crown with their "ultra"

i am guessing that Nvidia has better support for UnrealEd and Maya
- ask on their tech forums who is better

 

[jkresh]

apoppin, why do you say that Nehalem is 3months minum, I thought there was some talk of a release in September with November/December being the tale end of possible times (not the beginning)? Do you have any specific information (NDA?) or just a guess?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: jkresh
apoppin, why do you say that Nehalem is 3months minum, I thought there was some talk of a release in September with November/December being the tale end of possible times (not the beginning)? Do you have any specific information (NDA?) or just a guess?

that is what we are saying in CPU/OC'ing forum
--and that is not even the "mainstream" Neha desktop CPU .. we are thinking "later" for that

Why is everyone salivating for it? We know that it is not optimized for gaming and it is going to be released with expensive and buggy MBs


a Q9550 e0 stepping O/C'd to near 4.0 Ghz will hold me till Neha is more mainstream, inexpensive and with a good choice of competing bug-free MBs - i am saying "Spring" .. until then you will have to spend a lot of money to outperform a fast QC Penryn on a x48 MB with HD4870x3 graphics

 

[jkresh]

Mainly because my 780i motherboard is having issues (two memory slots have just failed, stuck with 4gigs in single channel) and while my q6600 is pretty good I could always use more threads/processing power (I am not worried about gaming improvements as gpu upgrade will take care of that, but I am somewhat reluctant to decide on a high end gpu before I know what the deal with Nehalem and sli is)

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: Elfear
You might want to check over at the Maya forums and see which manufacturer has better support for that app. When I was helping my buddy build a rig a few years ago Nvidia seemed to have better support in Maya,

That's because Maya uses OpenGL

 

[octopus41092]

Maya uses OpenGL, I'm not sure if it has a option where you can switch it over to DirectX like in 3D Studio Max. Using DirectX makes gaming cards much better in 3D modeling programs. Otherwise it's still not going to be anything spectacular. I also agree with the others who said to get a quad core because rendering is pure CPU and that would be very helpful. Also, as far as I know the 3D modeling programs do not support multiple GPU's so the GTX280 would be better for that. But from all the people saying it overheats and everything I would probably stay away from it. I'd still stick with the HD4870X2 though because either way a single HD4870 in Maya or UnrealEditor would still be somewhere around the GTX260.

 

[Jingato]

I'm definitely getting a quad core cpu. I was planning on getting the nehalem extreme edition

I guess another factor would be whether or not that 2GB of memory is shared between cores or if it's just one per.I thing it would be nice to have the use of 2GB f memory when in these 3D applications. Does anybody know?

 

[Tempered81]

If you like gaming i'd say gtx280 for < 1920 resolution, and 4870x2 for 2560 resolution. At 1920, it's a toss-up between the two cards and comes down to price/performance & user preferences. Not sure about maya.

 

[Jingato]

Well, I have dual 24" monitors at 1920x1200 So at that res maybe I should stay with the 280??

 

[Qbah]

At 1920x1200 a GTX280 is plenty GPU power And you don't have to worry about scaling and driver support for the dual solution. Hell, I'd say my HD4870 is enough at that res

 

[Jingato]

It would be sweet if by the time nehalem is released Nvidia released GTX280x2 :0

What about directX 10.1? I know games don't support it NOW, but will it becomes something important in the future? I always like to be as future proof as possible.