Graphics Card Dilemma

# 1 28-08-2003 , 10:34 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2003

Posts: 6

Greetings.

I'm learning Maya in school. I ask my teachers (who are also freelancers), as to which card do they use, and they all say GeForce. They say the extra money dosent' commensurate with the performance gain.

Is that true ?

I was considering a Quadro fx 2000 or Quadro fx 3000.

I do small freelance jobs now.

I visited the link posted on another thread on this channel:

https://www.3dchips.net/content/review.php?id=63&page=27

It said the Quadro Fx cards are the best for Maya 5.0 but its not for 4.5 (I think its the hardware rendering).

So what exactly is the high price for ? Is it that the rendering is done faster ?
Isn't the rendering Processor dependant ? If so how would a graphics card help ? and if its hardware render, isn't software render the eventual final render ?

Please let me know I'm really confused here!

I have a Pentium IV 2.4B
512 MB RAM.

Thanks

da Champ

Quote

# 2 28-08-2003 , 04:35 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Aug 2003

Location: California

Posts: 164

The GeForce fx line is pretty lame actually. Not THAT much more powerful the than thier previous line of cards.

I'm Runnning:

Windows 2k pro
Amd Athlon XP 2100+
on a Chaintech Apogee Mobo
GeForce 4 Ti 4800 SE 8x AGP 128 Mb edition
1 gig of p2100 ram
an 80 gig hd and a 120 gig hd
dvd-rom
cdrw 32x12x40
onboard sound
onboard NIC

etc. i run Maya VERY smoothly ESPECIALLY in comparison to what i use at work >_>

At work i run out of memory often( have only 512 @ work), the processor is supposed to be faster than mine but runs kinda poopy(is a pentium 4 2.2, and the GFX card is a New Geforce FX and my older GeForce seem to out perform it). Oh and i use XP pro @ work but almost lost ALL my work one day when it restarted then told me it could not find "C:/WINNT/SYTEM32/COMMAND.SYS"
and that it could not startup windows >_>.... i hate XP but i have no choice at my work.

I run Maya AND Photoshop AND IE AND mp3 player all at once while working both at home or at work. i get WAAAAAY better performance at home.

I reccomend saving your money and getting a GeForce 4 ti 4800.
and get more RAM make sure it's not 133 you want the PC2100 stuff and above. if your current Ram is the 133 type upgrade.

Last edited by 3dgurl; 28-08-2003 at 04:39 PM.

Quote

# 3 28-08-2003 , 04:42 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2003

Posts: 800

Nice system user added image

Although you really need an ATI Radeon 9800 bought from aria.co.uk stating in the notes i sent you user added image

That way we both make out like bandits user added image

Also the graphics card... Why do people feel so compelled to buy a mega expensive graphics card just for Maya?

The best thing you could do would just get a fast processor and use software rendering, it looks 10 times better than Hardware anyways...

Last edited by Zyk0tiK; 28-08-2003 at 05:26 PM.

Quote

# 4 29-08-2003 , 02:42 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Aug 2003

Location: California

Posts: 164

hehe my vid card cost me 80$ US =P

i need a beefy vid card for battlefield 1942 and hl2 NOT for MAYA ;P

Quote

# 5 29-08-2003 , 10:20 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2003

Posts: 1,254

Exactly! I have a 'compromise' card myself (Gainward ti4600 on a P4 2.26 etc) and it's a best of both worlds thing as far as I am concerned. I want a gaming card that runs Maya well. I wouldn't buy an ati card, in fact I wouldn't use one if you gave me one for free - hate their stuff, hate their drivers, but that's a personal preference thing, and unless I wanted just a Maya box, I'd want a card that made a decent effort at games as well.

Quote

# 6 30-08-2003 , 12:51 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Jun 2003

Location: Sweden

Posts: 571

I use an ATI Radeon 9700. I've never been loyal to any company, I'd stick to whatever works best at the moment. I love my ATI, it runs maya very well, it runs games even better. As for drivers, they are pretty good, far better than they used to be.

For high-end work with overlay planes I'd go for a Quadro FX. The high-end cards provides alot of memory usually and some hardware acceleration features that aren't available for consumer cards. Also their drivers are optimized towards 3d programs rather than games.

There was a thread here recently linking to a large comparison, check it out. Also, unless you do a large amount of hardware rendering (unlikely, if you do, you'd know), it's in the viewports you will notice the increased speed. The main maya renderer and mental ray is completely independent of graphics hardware.

Björn 'santa' Fredriksson

<A href=https://www.bjornfredriksson.com>Site Online.</A>

Check out our 1on1on1 battle for the SandCrawlers.

Quote

# 7 30-08-2003 , 03:06 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2003

Posts: 800

"I'd want a card that made a decent effort at games as well."

Are you crazy sir? The Radeon 9800 is the most powerful graphics card out at the moment, NVIDEA doesnt have a thing on them, ATI are taking the games world by storm!

Quote

# 8 30-08-2003 , 10:26 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2003

Posts: 1,254

No, I am not crazy - not agreeing with you is not a clinical indication of insanity, as far as I am aware. I don't like the driver setup and customer support provided by ati, and professional reviews tend to indicate performance is not as cut and dried as you suggest.

The quote you took from my post actually refers to either the card you advocate or an Nvidia one; it is up to people what they buy. I was merely stating my preference, as you had already done. I was not suggesting ati cards did not perform well in games.

I was actually making the point that an all rounder card (from either manufacturer as per personal preference) is better if you want a PC for more gaming as well as Mayaing, and agreeing that a specialist card is better if you are building a Maya focused machine.

Quote

# 9 30-08-2003 , 12:44 PM

Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2003

Posts: 1,033

I smell a fight coming on.....Maybe that is enough said about ati vs nvidia

It's Dr. Know, Not Darknow

Quote

# 10 30-08-2003 , 07:56 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Feb 2003

Posts: 1,254

I don't think anyone is stupid enough to fight over which graphics card they might buy. Not all disagreements over products have to be a fight and this isn't one as far as I can see.

Quote