Workstation graphics cards

[studioDIM]

Quadros are famous for their mixed wireframe on shaded acceleration.
Try the cards on a straight shaded view to check for real hardware performance.
Afaik, theres no better hadrware (but there ARE better drivers) to accelerate WoS...

Lele

[n6]

Since the GeforceII GTS (and maybe before) "standards" gamers 3d video card are in fact Quadros...
The same is true for ATIs and FireGL.

All you need to change your standard 3d board into a TRUE Quadro or FireGL is a soft mod that will unlock it...
Then you will be able to install MaxXtrem drivers for MAX and get something arround twice faster than before.

Check out the RivaTuner home page/forum or just do a Google search for softquadro or soft fireGL...

[tricky]

Blimey. Quite a poll towards the Nvidia 8800 GTX cards then.

Our machine builders are recommending the ATI FireGL cards for us as apparently ATI develop Ashli (?) which is the 3D engine behind 3DS MAX apparently, so you would assume it would be a better option.

Cost asside, and comparing ATI and Nvidia (both the workstation-class cards and the gaming-class cards) which would be better?

(BTW, whenever we go to an Autodesk product launch and there is a guy there from ATI (which there always is!) the ATI guy always says run MAX in DirectX mode rather than OpenGL. Wouldn't this negate the need for a workstation-class card which is biassed towards OpenGL performance?)

[dbuchhofer]

look at the numbers, look at the prices.. http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_11761.html

can't seem to find the site I had that had the 8800's full specs on it.. heh

[sv]

honestly, how stable are the GeForce 8800GTX 768MB graphics cards with drivers and 3ds Max?

im having some quotes put together, to go with 2x Xeon 5140's, so either the 8800 GTX or for £60 quid less, an ATI Fire GL V5200 256MB but with (3ds max certified drivers)

There is only £60 difference, but it's more about the driver certification rather than the money....

I hear great things from this thread about the 8800, but i also hear of blue screen crashes. And yes, it'd be to go with a multi-processor machine, running dual monitors.....

[joconnell]

Blimey. Quite a poll towards the Nvidia 8800 GTX cards then.

Our machine builders are recommending the ATI FireGL cards for us as apparently ATI develop Ashli (?) which is the 3D engine behind 3DS MAX

It is on its shite

Cost asside, and comparing ATI and Nvidia (both the workstation-class cards and the gaming-class cards) which would be better?

Nvidia have always had better drivers so they've been less problematic cards.

(BTW, whenever we go to an Autodesk product launch and there is a guy there from ATI (which there always is!) the ATI guy always says run MAX in DirectX mode rather than OpenGL. Wouldn't this negate the need for a workstation-class card which is biassed towards OpenGL performance?)

Yes indeed - max never had great openGL plus the rate at which ogl gets developed is quite slow compared to direct X. Originally max started out with software acceleration through heidi since openGL wasn't around on pcs and added in support for directx and openGL afterwards. It had and still has a lot of old geometry display libraries so it's just an old program. Open GL doesn't get upgraded as often as direct X so you don't get the frequent updates and speed benefits. Personally since max has such shit open GL I've never been impressed by a wildcat or quadro card - I bought a fireGL 1 a few years back for a grand when I was learning and I ended up replacing it about 6 months after with a geforce 2 gts since it was as fast but more flexible in 2d. The ati guys probably have a marketing relationship with autodesk so they keep turning up.

[DaForce]

SV:
I havnt had any problems with my 8800GTX in max yet.
The drivers are kinda crap but that mainly comes down to their support for games.. alot of them dont work or have visual problems or run REALLY slow. But most of the big name ones work fine.
Certainly 3dsmax works fine as well.. no problems yet.

[tricky]

Would the Maxtreme drivers work with an 8800 GTX, or are they really just for the Quadro cards?
We are now toying with getting dual (SLI) 8800GTX cards in our workstations, and wondering if Maxtreme would be the way to go.

[DaForce]

Nope maxtreme will only work on the "Pro" series of cards.. quadros..etc..
And AFAIK there is no way to softmode a 8800 into a quadro.

PLUS SLI has NO affect in 3d app viewport performance.

[tricky]

PLUS SLI has NO affect in 3d app viewport performance.

Didn't realise that - I'm still catching up with graphics card technologies! The reason we want two graphics cards in there is we want to be able to colour callibrate two monitors on one machine and this is the only way.

At the minute, we're deciding between a pair of FireGL 7200s, a pair of Quadro 4500s or a pair of 8800 GTXs.

[zeronove]

wincolor allows to load 2 icc profiles, one for each monitor, using a single graphic card

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/a...libration.html

a.

[tricky]

Will look into that, though I wonder if it is as reliable/accurate as a dedicated g-card per monitor?

[leotchest]

Hi Tricky - It would be great if you could share your final conclusion - what cards / drivers did you end up going for ?? thanks

[leotchest]

Heres what my supplier sez.........

The Quadro cards (and the FireGL cards) are generally not worth it for the extra cash for 3DSMax. 3DSMax doesn't support GSLang (it uses OpenGL or Direct3D), so it cannot benefit from the added GL instruction set supported by the Quadro and FireGL cards. The higher end Quadro/FireGL cards (such as the V7200) basically are the same as the higher-end GeForce/Radeon cards with the GSLang chips on them. The V7200 for example, is equivalent to an X1950XT. The V7300 is equivalent to an X1950XTX, and the V7350 is basically an overpowered X1950XTX. The Quadro FX4500 is equiv to the GeForce 8800GTS, and the FX5500 is equiv to the 8800GTX. There is an FX5500X2 which is equiv to 8800GTX in SLI, but at $5000+ it's ridiculously overpriced. If you base it on the Direct3D speed, the 8800 series cards will perform better than a V7200 would (and on par with the $2000+ Quadro cards).

So anyone arguing that the Quadro cards are worth the extra money when used exclusively under 3DSMax is quite mistaken. Where the difference comes in is when you start to use the professional applications which actually rely on the GSLang instruction sets. At that point, your render cannot exceed the frame buffer of your video card (so, say 768MB for the 8800GTX), else it will up and crash. This may be okay when doing something at 1280x1024 @ 16bpp, but you'll get huge problems if you try rendering for 1080p @ 32bpp, and it will most likely just crash every time you try to render a scene if you don't have a QuadroFX or FireGL card.

Basically, when making a decision on this, you would just want to look at the programs you intend to use. If you think you may start using one of the higher-end 3D animation/design programs in the future, get the FireGL now rather than spending $500+ on an 8800 now and then tossing it in the future. If you think it's unlikely, then just get an 8800 series for now

[g.ross]

Hi Tricky

Would love to know what was your final decision? We're going through exactly the same exercise.