Hardware Q

# 1 08-07-2004 , 04:55 PM

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Hi all,

Wasn't quite sure where to post this one, so please bear with me user added image

After doing quite some time waiting for my box to render small animations, I've been thinking that maybe my 256mb Radeon 9600 might not be the optimal solution, so I've been thinking about getting a Quatro FX.

BUT, all I think I would ever be able to afford (can't even afford getting drunk right now user added image

) would be the Quadro FX 500...

So just wondering if anyone could tell me if it would be worth throwing in the extra cash, or if I should start on a hungerstrike until I can afford the FX 1100, or if there is a completely other thing I should do?

-Blomkaal

Liter is French for 'Gimme some ****ing cola before I break vous ****ing lips!"

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# 2 08-07-2004 , 05:01 PM

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I maybe should have mentioned above that the FX1100 costs about 3 times as much as the FX500 in the store I've looked at user added image

Liter is French for 'Gimme some ****ing cola before I break vous ****ing lips!"

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# 3 08-07-2004 , 07:53 PM

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I think you will get better performance for the $ if you invest in more ram or faster HD. Or maybe enven a second computer to serve as a render node.

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# 4 08-07-2004 , 08:00 PM

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hmm still a good graphic card would come prior if you ask me...

Im also lookin' for a new card and was searching somewhere in the corner of a quadro... don't know witch one would be nice for maya... so like blomkaal....Im also very qurious what is hot or not user added image

...

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# 5 08-07-2004 , 10:18 PM

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The thing that annoys me is how technology evolves and I can't keep up. When i got my new computer the 2.6GHz P4 was the shiznit, now it's like the average... meh.

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# 6 09-07-2004 , 02:03 AM

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your video card will probably be the most important part of the system. If your on a budget check out the ATI Fire GL line. You through tons of poly's at these baby and they still keep going. For reliability and support go for the Quadro FX. Not sure if getting 500 or 100 make a huge diff.

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# 7 09-07-2004 , 03:35 AM

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There is a big difference between the 500 and 1000 or 1100. Look for some benchmarks and you'll see. The 1100 doesn't come in too far behind the 3000 in a lot of tests. IF it was a choice of the 500 or 1100 i'd push to get the 1100. I can tell you though i'm still running a Geforce 4 4600 and i don't have any problems with Maya, even heavy scenes. Just to need to learn how to manage them.

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# 8 09-07-2004 , 06:57 AM

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hmmm I've looked and compared and I think I will go for the quadro fx 500... It gots everything that I need.... could I get something better less expansive than the fx500 ? its 259,- euro in my country...

...

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# 9 09-07-2004 , 09:52 AM

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Originally posted by Mantat
I think you will get better performance for the $ if you invest in more ram or faster HD. Or maybe enven a second computer to serve as a render node.

Originally Posted by

Box:
2.8 GHz P4
512 MB DDR (PC2700 I think, can't remember and not at home right now)
Can't remember anything about the HDD right now... Think it's a Seagate Barracuda 80 GB user added image

Yeah I've also thought about throwing a HDD in my old 800MHz Duron and use it as a render slave, but I just got out of the army and still live with my parents (at the frikin' age of 21 :angry: ) so I don't have too much room at the time...

Originally posted by mrmacca
There is a big difference between the 500 and 1000 or 1100. Look for some benchmarks and you'll see. The 1100 doesn't come in too far behind the 3000 in a lot of tests.

Originally Posted by

Yeah I just read the test on CGTalk and I don't think I would even consider buying the 3000 if I could afford it!

-Blomkaal

Liter is French for 'Gimme some ****ing cola before I break vous ****ing lips!"

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# 10 09-07-2004 , 01:06 PM

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512meg of ram is a serious limitation. Add 512meg- 1gig and you should see a big dif in rendering time.

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# 11 09-07-2004 , 04:04 PM

Kevin

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moving to tech forum...

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# 12 11-07-2004 , 02:43 PM

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Originally posted by Mantat
512meg of ram is a serious limitation. Add 512meg- 1gig and you should see a big dif in rendering time.

Originally Posted by

Yup. Upgrading your video card is only part of the solution. More RAM and a faster CPU would just about do it.

Dave Baer
Professor of Digital Arts
Digital Media Arts College
Boca Raton, Florida
dbaer@dmac.edu

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