Graphic card for a rendernode

[zeronove]

I'm going to build a cheap and fast rendernode so I'm thinking about i7 920 a bit overclocked
I would like to have some suggestions about graphic card; for workstations I usually buy Quadro but, for a rendernode, even the entry level model seems to be a waste of money!

So, which is a good and cheap Geforce enough for a rendernode?

Another question is about the OS? I'm running xp64 right now but, currently, does it make sense to buy a so old OS? is it Vista 64 stable enough? any issue related to mixing both OS, Vista64 and xp64?

Thanks in advance

[themaxxer]

in my rendernodes I've installed very cheap geforce cards for about $30. I am waiting for a mainborad with vga onboard, but there's still no option for i7 yet.

the OS... hm I would wait for the new windows 7. I have installed it on a rendernode, and it's really fast and stable. the release is announced this year.

best regards
themaxxer

[Chris-C]

I personaly would go for the cheapest graphic card you can find. When it its going to be a rendernode it doesent have anything to say. I would use xp 64-bit, its a good platform and its very stable and have good performance with common cg apps

[andrewjohn81]

just to make sure people don't confuse Chris's post.
Cheapest video card yes....BUT make Sure it doesn't use shared memory.
Also, make sure it has a decent reputation. Video card drivers can cause lots of crashes due to So many reasons.

As those of us who have Quadro cards and use the performance drivers know....You pay for decent drivers, not just the hardware. Sometimes you have the same hardware, but one card ends up being so much better than another.
Reason?...Drivers (disclaimer: in most cases)

[Chris-C]

just to make sure people don't confuse Chris's post.
Cheapest video card yes....BUT make Sure it doesn't use shared memory.
Also, make sure it has a decent reputation. Video card drivers can cause lots of crashes due to So many reasons.

As those of us who have Quadro cards and use the performance drivers know....You pay for decent drivers, not just the hardware. Sometimes you have the same hardware, but one card ends up being so much better than another.
Reason?...Drivers (disclaimer: in most cases)

So true, Nvidia and Ati seems to have the best drivers after my experience. Its always a good thing to "google" the card before you buy it ofc

[zeronove]

As those of us who have Quadro cards and use the performance drivers know....You pay for decent drivers, not just the hardware. Sometimes you have the same hardware, but one card ends up being so much better than another.
Reason?...Drivers (disclaimer: in most cases)

as side note,
do you find an nVidia performance driver for 3ds max 2010?
...maybe I'm wrong but it seems that nVidia stopped its development, till know I'm running my fx1500 with standard direct x driver

[andrewjohn81]

no performance driver that I've seen yet.

I haven't been able to switch to 2010 yet though. I'm still having some super buggy issues. For one, I can't get the Q key to switch to only "rectangular marquee selection". I put the keyboard shortcut to that, and now it doesn't do Anything.
But I Never want the hotkey to cycle through all the selection modes. Ask me how often I use the circular marquee. Ha

Also, we use nPower and they still have too many bugs in this version to switch. I can hardly open Any of my old files yet. Until then....I'm stuck in 2009 land.