Card for 3D modeling

[josephg]

Hello,
I am currently doing some 3D modeling, and I am rendering in OpenGL. I am just getting started so I haven't done anything very advanced yet, but I hope to keep progressing, and hopefully to do some 3D animations. I want to do some ultra realistic rendering, so I will need something more powerful than my ATI Radeon 64MB VIVO that I got back in 2001. I am not really a big gamer. What types of cards would you guys recommend for such a task? I would like to stay under $400 if possible, although I may be able to go a bit higher if there is enough performance gain. Also, I am not in any rush, so if there is a card that I should wait for, I could do that too. The main thing I am concerned about is having good hardware OpenGL support and good drivers. I have seen the FireGL line of cards. Are they really work the extra cash? I am wondering if I would be ok with something like a 6800 GT. Also, I would like to have a card that will work well in Linux. It seems like Nvidia is better in that respect. I would appreciate your opinions.

Thanks,
Joe

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: josephg
I want to do some ultra realistic rendering, so I will need something more powerful than my ATI Radeon 64MB VIVO that I got back in 2001.
Joe

Actually, rendering is all software based so a fast CPU and lots of RAM are what you should put your money into if you want to lower your rendering times. That said, The 3D view is where the videocard comes into play; so the more complex scenes you plan to do the more videocard you will want to be able to manpulate the 3D view smoothly and even a used ti4200 or such for $50 would be a great improvment over your current card and may well be enough for what you plan to do. Again, rendering speed isn't going to change regardless of your card, so depending on what your current system is the bulk of your budget may well be spent on other parts besides the videocard.

As for which chip manufature to go with, many people will prase Nvidia over ATI for 3D design work, but having owned and used both for such work I cannot help but to atribute their stance to missinformed bias. On the other hand, with Linux support being a concern for you, a Nvidia card is probably best.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

yeah try find a compromise, the rending is all software, so u need good cpu and a good chunk of ram, hen of course once its rendered you wanna manipulate it smoothely.

ATi and Nvidia both have great cad cards, even thought they are also very expensive. the older CAD cards from earlier Nvidia chips will be better than the ATi ones though. Ati has only gotten on terms with nvidia recently with their new R420 chip.

so in all honesty any maker is a good choice, be it Ati or Nvidia, maybes even those 3d labs wildcat cards!.

but you mention linux, and IMO Nvidia is the best choice, their linux driver team do a good job

 

[imported_Hi]

if your doing a lot of open-gl work go for a Nvidia Quadro

 

[PG]

Go over to the guru3d.com forums and check out the threads on 6800 to quadro soft mods that people are doing. I'd give you an exact answer, but I'm not 100% sure of what's possible.

Anyway, from what I have read some of the 6800 cards can be soft modded to Quadro cards using just Rivatuner. It's not hard to do and CAD performance doubles or more in many benchmark tests for Pro/E, UG, etc.
Unfortunately I think some of the newest cards haven't been working, but maybe that's just a few individuals who can't figure it out, who knows.

I don't know if anyone has got an AGP 6600 or 6600GT to work as a Quadro yet, but supposedly the PCIe cards will soft mod using Rivatuner to a QuadroFX 540. That would be a cheap and powerful card if it does work for the AGP cards.

 

[crazyeddie]

You can find PNY Quadro FX500 and 580 XGL cards in the $200 to $300 range.

Tom's Hardware published a comparison of various solutions that you might find interesting to read:

Graphics Boosters for OpenGL Workstations

 

[josephg]

Thanks for all the information. It seems like I need to do a lot more reading about this stuff. So far I've found out that what you guys are calling rendering is raytracing and is all done in software (CPU), and what OpenGL calls rendering is pixel shading and scanline rendering which can be assisted by the GPU. So it looks like if I want to do animations or stills I will be rendering each frame using raytracing with a program like POVray which would not benefit at all from the graphics card, and if I want to just build models and place them in real-time scenes rendered in OpenGL then that would benefit from the graphics card. Would the graphics card help me when I am creating my models? I am under the impression that the modeling tool (AC3D) renders the model using OpenGL (while I am modeling not rendering), so if I get a good CAD card then that would speed the process of creating complex models. It seems like I need to have a fast CPU with lots of RAM, and then a decent graphics card along with that. What do you think? Am I making any more sense now?


Joe

 

[rogue1979]

A good cheap solution would be to pick up a used Ti4200-4600 and use the resistor mod to change it to a real Quadro.