Display preferences (Direct 3d)

[tricky]

We have just changed the graphics cards in our workstations to Nvidia GTX480 cards with 1.5GB ram. We are running Windows 7 x64 and have installed the latest drivers from the Nvidia site. We are using Max 2009 x64.

I wondered if anyone could give me tips on how I should have the display drivers configured to make best use/performance of these cards. At the moment, I have left them at the default settings, but I am noticing a few visual issues, such as dialogue boxes disappearing and viewports not refreshing properly until I hit F3 a couple of times.

I attach a screengrab of my setup.

Not sure if it is relevent, but I have told Windows to optimise my computer for best performance, so all the aero type nonsense is switched off.

Tips would be much appreciated.

[super gnu]

ahh the dreaded "dialogue boxes dropping behind viewports" issue.. had this a dosen times over the years.. sometimes its caused by a bad driver revision... but the last time nothing we did fixed it (were 8800gtx's iirc) until somebody relised it was the logitech wireless mouse drivers causing it.. updated them, and the problem went away.. wierd huh?

not saying thats your problem, but worth checking... was a while ago so xp64.

[tricky]

ahh the dreaded "dialogue boxes dropping behind viewports" issue.. had this a dosen times over the years.. sometimes its caused by a bad driver revision... but the last time nothing we did fixed it (were 8800gtx's iirc) until somebody relised it was the logitech wireless mouse drivers causing it.. updated them, and the problem went away.. wierd huh?

not saying thats your problem, but worth checking... was a while ago so xp64.

Yes, we have had this problem time and time again for the last 10+ years! We have moved over from ageing ATI FireGL V7350 cards. They cost us a small fortune when we had our workstations built, but we managed to get a driver setup that was reasonably stable (even that wasn't perfectly smooth considering they were £1000 cards!). Now with Windows 7 and Vray RT, we have decided to move over to a more current Nvidia-based gaming card. I guess I hoped it would be pretty straightforward with modern drivers and operating systems, but it seems not.

My machine is as 'vanilla' as possible - just the bare essentials, so I can't think what other drivers might be interfering.

Another issue I've found with these Nvidia cards is that they have no OpenGL capabilities. We are noticing real problems with modelling in Autocad because of this - Direct3D just cannot handle accurate wireframe modelling very well at all. Construction lines jump all over the place!

Bugger.

[super gnu]

im not sure what you mean about no openGL capabilities? i dont have a fermi card, but i have a gtx285, and it does opengl fine.. not as fast as a pro card, but not unusable...?

[tricky]

im not sure what you mean about no openGL capabilities? i dont have a fermi card, but i have a gtx285, and it does opengl fine.. not as fast as a pro card, but not unusable...?

It just seem to be in there as an option within AutoCad - only Direct3D. I will double check.

[tricky]

Yep - no option to select OpenGL in Autocad - just Direct3D.

[super gnu]

owww thats sneaky.. -hmm probably an nvidia trick for selling pro cards.. a little flag in the driver perhaps. or maybe its Autodesk.. running away from opengl as fast as they can..

i remember a few years ago we had the autodesk dev team (or part of it anyway) over to show us their roadmap and ask our opinions.. needless to say i enjoyed that, but i dont know if they did.. but thats another story.

anyway, i remember asking about some feature of opengl in max (virtual viewports iirc.. a great feature, which to my knowledge never made it into the direct3d driver in max..maybe its there now..) and the response of the autodesk viewport guy? opengl? does that even still work? we didnt update it for years... this was only a couple of years after direct3d became the preferred (microsoft dollars?) viewport choice despite (at the time) being inferior..