Graphic card recommedation please.

[West1000]

Hello,
I am currently investing in a new computer to be used for rendering. I have decided to save some money and go for a slower processor and increase the ram.

Quad core 2.2GHz
5 gigs of ram

Becuase I am saving money on the PC, I am going to purchase a good graphics card. Does anyone know of any good rendering graphics cards which are affordable? Do you think it is smart of me to get comp with 2.2GHz quad with more ram versus a 2.4 or 2.6 GHz with less ram(and cost a lot more)?

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Graphic card recommedation please.

First off, to V-Ray your, graphics card won't matter bc we're not using any of those resources. Your graphics card will affect how you work in SU, so thats really where its going to make a difference.

Second, unless you are going to be using a 64bit operating system, then you will not be able to use all 5 gigs of ram. Even using a 32 bit operating system will require making some changes in order to even use 3 gigs.

Going with a 64 bit OS is a whole other can of worms (not bad, just different), so you should look into all of those issues before making the decision.

Thirdly, get the most with what you can afford. Memory is going to be very important, so making sure that gets covered is a good bet. Especially when having a quad core machine, not having enough memory to support those cores is a bad idea.

HTH

[West1000]

Re: Graphic card recommedation please.

Thank you.

[dalomar_cg]

Re: Graphic card recommedation please.

Oh, I should add...even if you're running a 64 bit system, SU will not be able to use all 5 gigs if you have it in there. At most SU will only be able to use about 3.2-3.6 gb on a 64 bit machine bc SU itself is still a 32bit application. Also, I'm not 100% sure on this, but how much ram SU can use beyond 2 gb (32 or 64 bit) may be limited because SU may not be compiled with LargeAddressAware (I haven't found anything that points to the answer being yes). So you may only be able to get 2.2 - 2.6 gbs out of it anyway.