Originally posted by: EliteRetardAnother question, will a dedicated GPU like an 84/8600 or 93/9600 help with things like photo/graphics work and 3D rendering etc or do I need a "workstation" graphics card?
a graphics card with those GPU's will help some for photo & graphics work, and
for viewing what you're going to render.
and for playing it back when it's rendered.
workstation graphics cards used to cost 400% more just for a guarantee of
no "driver hassles". in the most recent design, they seem to have lowered
their prices some.
i run 3D Max and Maya with a 7600 GT and it works fine, though it's
under-powered for large scenes. the last time i used an ATI FireGL
("workstation card", on a dual Xeon) was in 2004 - it ran good, too.
i suggest buying a normal gaming card that is highly rated & known to
be reliable - that has been out at least a year so that other people have
had the chance to be a guinea pig for the driver glitches.
in other words, tempting as it is, not the 4850.
of course, the 4850 is SO tempting that, if i get one of those instead of a
38X0, (for example) i would just test it with various Max configurations
(e.g. the material shaders assoc. with Mental Ray, which do display
in 'real time' in the Materials window) as soon as i get it, so i can take
advantage of the 15% off return policy, if there's a glitch.
the main idea, exercise the card right away, so you don't get to day
31 - outside the return period - and find out that Maya's IPR (instant
render window)(for example) doesn't get along with your new graphics card.
