What are the top Animation design graphic cards?

[Fighting HM]

I am building a high end computer to be used for 3d/2d animation creation. Any ideas on what the best graphic cards for animation creation are?

This is what I have so far:

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe nForce4 SLI (Planning on useing SLI)
AMD 64 x2 4400
2 GB PC 3200 RAM
160GB SATA Seagate Baracuda
300GB SATA Seagate Barracuda
Sony DRU 810a DVD Burner
Koolance PC3-720sl Cooling Case
WIN XP Pro

Not looking for a total high end but somthing really good 400 dollar range. Any other input would be appreciated.

Thanks...

 

[MiranoPoncho]

Depending on the codecs used, I'd reccomend either the evga 7800gt or thr gtx if you can find it under or neat 400. Either way, You could either try to purchase that or an x1xxx series radeon, As for thier avivo and native .h264 decoding.

 

[sandorski]

NVidia Quattro for Workstation, 7800GT for Animation/Gaming.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: sandorski
NVidia Quattro (sic -- probably meant 'Quadro'... 'Quattro's are Audi sports cars ) for Workstation, 7800GT for Animation/Gaming.

There's the ATI FireGL line as well for workstation use.

But honestly, almost any high-end 'gaming' card today (like a 7800GT/GTX or X1800XL/XT) will blow away any 'professional' card except the current generation of Quadros/FireGLs in raw horsepower. If you just want to screw around with Maya or 3DSMAX, a recent 'gaming' card should work fine.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: sandorski
NVidia Quattro for Workstation, 7800GT for Animation/Gaming.

I would agree, NVIDIA's OpenGL drivers are the best out there. For just over $400 you could get a GTX.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: sandorski
NVidia Quattro (sic -- probably meant 'Quadro'... 'Quattro's are Audi sports cars ) for Workstation, 7800GT for Animation/Gaming.

There's the ATI FireGL line as well for workstation use.

But honestly, almost any high-end 'gaming' card today (like a 7800GT/GTX or X1800XL/XT) will blow away any 'professional' card except the current generation of Quadros/FireGLs in raw horsepower. If you just want to screw around with Maya or 3DSMAX, a recent 'gaming' card should work fine.

True, but generally speaking, as Wreakage points out, Nvidia is the better choice. That said, I use a 9800Pro with Maya and it works well, though I'm not a heavy user.

 

[gsellis]

This is all conjecture until you throw out what application. In general, it will be the Quadro or the FireGL, BUT different vendors have different needs. It could be a Wildcat even.

With animation packages as with video editors, the card is only as important as the vendor says it is. My video editor wants an ATI PCI-e card with 256MB for the whole package to run 'as designed'. Avid Xpress wants a Quadro. Some of the others don't care or want OpenGL 1.2 or DirectX 9.0b support.

IOW, pick the package first, then build the hardware to suit.

Edit- btw, two copies of Animation:Master (not multithreaded) open building a TGA animation sequence while I am typing here. When am I going to get off my butt and replace those WindTunnel fans with quieter 60mms...