the place I currently work at is building a machine to specifically run Maya and After Effects. AE is a no brainer, but my concern is Maya. We will be making the purchase within 2 months and I need to recommend a suitable graphics card. I researched everything under the sun and found no reliable percentage that say " get this". While I am not looking for that, I would like to hear recommendations from professionals who use Maya and why.
T o help you out a little further, the machine will be built using dual 2.0Ghz 1 gig RAM and all the other staples. We don't have endless pockets, but I am recommending the graphics card and need to justify it's price. I am leaning in the direction of the Fire GL3+ and possibly a Wildcat. One limitation is that it needs to be a dual monitor. If I am going to do it, I might as well do it right?
The quadro4 900XGL takes the lead over even the mighty wildcat in all but 1 test here. It comes in somewhat cheaper though. Of course some people say the real world numbers don't add up. If nvidia isn't an option I'd go with the wildcat myself. But I'm a budget minded fellow so I'd rather the nvidia card; maybe spend the extra money on another gig of RAM or something. or some good solid RAID 5 goodness.
Well, I did look into the nVidia cards and to be honest they (the XGL 550 - 900 series) were all quite exceptional differing only in triangles persecond and memory.
Due to price, I have now been informed that the Fire and Widlcat cards are probably too steep for the time being.
Do you or anyone else out there know about the 550 XGL or the 750 XGL from nVidia?
750XGL is a serious contender to your list I can vouch for this. We had it running here without any issues, its performance really is value for money and pitted against a 6110 then it left it sitting in the stables. Now unless you need the extra lighting and genlock to the Wildact then its the way ahead. System spec's well you need to finally decide which way ahead and how much is to be spent on the rest of the nuts and bolts, but remember putting a fast engine into a good salon car does not always work!