SLI video in Max?

[timmatron]

Has anybody experimented with this yet? I'm just wondering if having 2 geforce cards would be equivalent or better than a single quadro card.

The quadros cost so much more, and it seems like lately the viewport performance in Max is lacking in the software, not hardware anyways. That will probably change in max 9 hopefully.

I am building 2 new workstations, and had ordered a couple quadro 1300's. But the 2 shops I wanted to order from are out of stock anyways. So that's why I'm now wondering if I could just go with the dual geforce/SLI setup and get equivalent performance.

[Syclone1]

AFAIK using 2 cards in SLI gives you no increase in performance in 3dsmax, the only place you may find the performance increase is in games.

-dave

[timmatron]

Yeah, thats what I was kind of thinking.

Then, next question...How do you think a geforce 7800 would compare to something like a quadro 1300?

[lukx]

Right now I have geforce 7900 GTX and before had Quadro 1100 FX. What can I say... I didn't noticed any difference expect 7900 was lighter for my wallet Well maybe 7900 is a bit faster anyway.

[jow]

Who about something like this bad boy...

http://misco.co.uk/productinformation/~110248~/INNO

[Syclone1]

Im running a 7800gtx at home and a FX1400 at work and I cant stand the 1400, my 7800 runs better IMO

-dave

[lukx]

form this "bad boy" you can't expect any speed improvement in viewports. All you can expect from it is a lot of heat and energy consumption . About geforce vs quadro I had in my history quadro 750 and 1100 as I said. What I realised it's not fair what nvidia is doing. Did anyone saw any professional test between quadro and geforce. I didn't. Nvidia is hiding it very well casue they want people still to pay super amount of money for nothing that special. Just few software unblocked things and alleged stability.

[timmatron]

Ok, thats good enough for me. I ordered the 7900GT card. I couldn't bring myself to order the GTX version not knowing if it would make a difference in Max or not.

Thanks guys.

[timmatron]

What I realised it's not fair what nvidia is doing. Did anyone saw any professional test between quadro and geforce. I didn't. Nvidia is hiding it very well casue they want people still to pay super amount of money for nothing that special. Just few software unblocked things and alleged stability.

Yeah I think you're right about that. The viewport performance in Max 8 is also so poor right now, it probably doesn't even matter how great your video card is.

[base2studios]

which drivers are you using for max? the openGL, D3D, or Maxtreme (for Quadro cards)?

[lukx]

when using geforce you will have better speed in viewports while using directx, with quadro opengl. About maxtreme.... it's a joke... when new max come, nvidia is always late releasing new drivers (usually 3 months or more plus there are always bugs.

[base2studios]

LOL...no kidding, lukx! I think they released the last version of maxtreme already after the new version of max came out! hehe...

I'm still using it, however, with my Quadro FX 3000 at work and it seems to work without issue for me. But I haven't been sure what to use on my 6800 at home. I'll take a look into the D3D and OpenGL again and see how they perform.

thanks for the info
ME

[jujubee]

With a 7800-7900, you'd probably get more 'bang' by adding additional memory. I know it has helped me a lot.

As for cards, DirectX 10 should be coming this winter so you may want to wait if you can.

[timmatron]

With a 7800-7900, you'd probably get more 'bang' by adding additional memory. I know it has helped me a lot.

How do you add more memory to a video card?

[jujubee]

You don't. You add more memory to your system (or get a new system that supports more memory.)