Mid-level video card suggestion for rendering & modeling?

[legocitytruck]

I am building a new phenom II based machine that will see a fair amount of rendering work using 3Ds Max and some 3D AutoCAD/ Rhino work. I plan on budgeting around $100 for the video and would prefer it to include two DVI outputs for the future upgrade-ability to dual monitors. It won't be used for gaming or video play.

What is a good suggestion for this price range? Should I look for a card with specific features because it will be used for rendering? I imagine that a PCI express 2.0 is the best format to look for. Is there a minimum suggested speed or ram level? For rendering purposes, does it make sense to chain (correct terminology?) multiple graphics cards together, or is this only helpful in gaming situations?

Any suggestion is a good one because as you can see I am a noob when it comes to video card selection.

 

[legocitytruck]

Also, if it helps the selection, I plan on using Vista 64.

One more question, when video cards are "chained" together, is it common practice to hook one monitor to one card and one to the other?

 

[legocitytruck]

No suggestions?

 

[angry hampster]

4770 seems ideal for $100.

 

[jandlecack]

If you want it for rendering and modelling I would definitely not buy a gaming-oriented graphics card. And if that's the case then you won't really get high end rendering cards in the $100 price range. These can cost several thousand dollars. Also, SLI or Xfiring them is a common practice in highest-highend studios as it further improves rendering performance, much more so than it does for games with gaming videocards.

Anyway look into what you can get from the Nvidia Quadro range, that will probably be the only worthwhile entry level rendering card available on the market.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I think an HD3850 or HD3870 (as well as other cards) can be BIOS-flashed to do the same things as their way more expensive FireGL counter-part* cards do.

*Since cards are based on the same exact processing chip.

 

[legocitytruck]

How important are stream processors vs. memory? At the $150-180 price mark (I am considering expanding my price range), their are two cards with vastly different characteristics:

The ATI FirePro V3750 which has 256MB 64-bit GDDR3 and 320 stream processing units
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814195077

The Nvidia Quadro FX580 which has 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 and 32 stream processors
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814133273

The Nvidia card has double the memory at double the speed (bit-rate) but significantly less stream processors. Which is more important?

 

[cusideabelincoln]

That really depends on the application you use. I can't comment on 3D modeling, though, so I really don't have an answer for you. The FirePro V3750 sounds like a nerfed HD3850 (or maybe a HD4600) to me and the Quadro FX580 sounds like an 8600GT (or 9500GT). As far as far the processor is concerned, the V3750 should be quite a bit more powerful than the FX580. But if your application needs more than 256MB of memory or accesses the memory often, then I wouldn't be surprised if the FirePro falls behind.

 

[jandlecack]

Normally you want more VRAM in a rendering card. Think about it this way; the higher resolution, the more complex, the more textures etc. you use in your graphic, the bigger the framebuffer will become and thus occupy more VRAM. As soon as your card is out of VRAM, guess where the excess is going to be stored - your main memory Which needless to say is a performance killer. So you could have the first 10 minutes of rendering achieve 30%, and the next 10 minutes of rendering achieve 5%.

 

[wwswimming]

i use the Sapphire 3870 for 3D Max & similar programs.

if you're not going to buy a "workstation" card (where they guarantee the
drivers), it's good to get a card that's been out about a year to allow the
drivers to be perfected.

at this point, i would say the 4850 series cards (for $100) & the 9800
are a good way to go.

a card with a 256 bit bus & 512 MB RAM.

 

[sgrinavi]

Originally posted by: jandlecack
Normally you want more VRAM in a rendering card. Think about it this way; the higher resolution, the more complex, the more textures etc. you use in your graphic, the bigger the framebuffer will become and thus occupy more VRAM. As soon as your card is out of VRAM, guess where the excess is going to be stored - your main memory Which needless to say is a performance killer. So you could have the first 10 minutes of rendering achieve 30%, and the next 10 minutes of rendering achieve 5%.

The card has nothing to do with the renderings in 3dsMAX. That is all done with the CPU.

The video card delivers viewport performance. If you are editing in a shaded viewport with some large textures then more VRAM is better.