Video cards (2)

[lennart]

Any suggestions??? I bought a Voodoo 5 5000 w/64 megs of ram , only to find out that it didnt support Open GL in windowed mode...
I was thinking of getting the Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 64MB
but i wanted some feedback on how it runs maya. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
-Vash

oh by the way, im running windows 2000 and have 128 megs of pc133 ram... i know, i should get more....

Edited by vashino on 12/17/01 05:07:35 PM.

[lennart]

ok. thats cool

[hella356]

You'd be better off with a SoftQuadro-ed GF2 or 3.

[lennart]

In reply to:
You'd be better off with a SoftQuadro-ed GF2 or 3.

GeForce eh. They run Maya well? Whats a SoftQuadro-ed?

[hella356]

Well, GF2 or 3, I'd stay away from the 1st GF series. You will get differing opinions on what runs Maya better, a GF2 or 3 but they both work well. SoftQuadro is a program that alters the drivers so GF cards are identified by the system as Quadro cards, the nVidia higher-end OpenGL cards that are based on the various GF chipsets. They run programs like Maya, 3DSMax, etc., much better than any consumer grade cards. SoftQuadro allows you to use a relatively cheap GF, GF2 or MX, GF3 card as a legit OpenGL graphics card that approaches and sometimes even exceeds the performance of expensive cards like the FireGLs and Wildcats for a fraction of the cost. While they aren't the best in absolute terms they are very good for a small amount of $$. They are also more useful as a general all-around card since they work great with DirectX and thus are cool to have if you also happen to like playing games and other such non-work type things on your machine.

[lennart]

Niiiice. Thanks--I think ill look into a GeFoce 2 or 3, it sounds good. Do you happen to know if the board ram makes a difference?

[motalgo]

In reply to:
Niiiice. Thanks--I think ill look into a GeFoce 2 or 3, it sounds good. Do you happen to know if the board ram makes a difference?

A/W on the website site:
"There are many cards based on GeForce256, GeForce2 and GeForce3 chipsets. nVidia and Alias|Wavefront do not recommend these cards for use with Maya 4.0 as you may experience various refresh, display and stability problems and inadequate performance.
We suggest you choose from nVidia's workstation cards instead, such as the Quadro DCC or the Quadro 2 family (Pro, MXR, EX) which are much better suited to highend 3D packages such as Maya."

Zeni

[motalgo]

Hi Hella
Great news for me.
And where can I get the soft ware "SoftQuadro?".
Also what perpormance to expect with Maya4, MAX4 and 2D appz like AE, PhotShop?

Thanks

Zeni

In reply to:
Well, GF2 or 3, I'd stay away from the 1st GF series. You will get differing opinions on what runs Maya better, a GF2 or 3 but they both work well. SoftQuadro is a program that alters the drivers so GF cards are identified by the system as Quadro cards, the nVidia higher-end OpenGL cards that are based on the various GF chipsets. They run programs like Maya, 3DSMax, etc., much better than any consumer grade cards. SoftQuadro allows you to use a relatively cheap GF, GF2 or MX, GF3 card as a legit OpenGL graphics card that approaches and sometimes even exceeds the performance of expensive cards like the FireGLs and Wildcats for a fraction of the cost. While they aren't the best in absolute terms they are very good for a small amount of $$. They are also more useful as a general all-around card since they work great with DirectX and thus are cool to have if you also happen to like playing games and other such non-work type things on your machine.

[archone]

Zeni,

Which one of these boards is the fastest in the GEForce Quadro 2 family:
Pro, MXR, EX or Quadro DCC?

To get max speed, I should get a video card with 64mb DDR RAM and possible overclock?

I was visiting www.tweakhardware.com and they have a guide on converting GEForce to Geforce Quadro. But, GEForce 3 was not mented. Is there a way to do this or is that hack only for GEForce 1 and 2 stuff?

Is it the Geforce 3 that can be use RivaTuner (2.0 RC8.2) to become Quadro DCC?

Thanks for any info.
--Sir Gareth

In reply to:

[quote]
In reply to:
Niiiice. Thanks--I think ill look into a GeFoce 2 or 3, it sounds good. Do you happen to know if the board ram makes a difference?

[/quote]

A/W on the website site:
"There are many cards based on GeForce256, GeForce2 and GeForce3 chipsets. nVidia and Alias|Wavefront do not recommend these cards for use with Maya 4.0 as you may experience various refresh, display and stability problems and inadequate performance.
We suggest you choose from nVidia's workstation cards instead, such as the Quadro DCC or the Quadro 2 family (Pro, MXR, EX) which are much better suited to highend 3D packages such as Maya."

Zeni

[woody7]

In reply to:
Which one of these boards is the fastest in the GEForce Quadro 2 family:
Pro, MXR, EX or Quadro DCC?

The fastest "Quadro 2" is the Quadro 2 pro. Faster still is the Quadro DCC, which is based on the GeForce 3 and might be called a "Quadro 3" if Nvidia kept its naming consistent. The EX is the weakest Quadro 2, and the MXR is a bit faster. Both are designed for twinview cards.

The only Quadro's available as retail items are from Elsa (as far as I know.) The Gloria DCC is quite nice, but expensive.

I don't know much about GeForce hacking, so someone else will have to answer that part of your question.

[cedric-beltrami]

get a visontek quadro2 pro online for 280,..
its a better deal than paying 700 for a gloria DCC,

In reply to:

[quote]
In reply to:
Which one of these boards is the fastest in the GEForce Quadro 2 family:
Pro, MXR, EX or Quadro DCC?

[/quote]

The fastest "Quadro 2" is the Quadro 2 pro. Faster still is the Quadro DCC, which is based on the GeForce 3 and might be called a "Quadro 3" if Nvidia kept its naming consistent. The EX is the weakest Quadro 2, and the MXR is a bit faster. Both are designed for twinview cards.

The only Quadro's available as retail items are from Elsa (as far as I know.) The Gloria DCC is quite nice, but expensive.

I don't know much about GeForce hacking, so someone else will have to answer that part of your question.

[motalgo]

In reply to:
Zeni,

To get max speed, I should get a video card with 64mb DDR RAM and possible overclock?

I was visiting www.tweakhardware.com and they have a guide on converting GEForce to Geforce Quadro. But, GEForce 3 was not mented. Is there a way to do this or is that hack only for GEForce 1 and 2 stuff?

Is it the Geforce 3 that can be use RivaTuner (2.0 RC8.2) to become Quadro DCC?

Thanks for any info.
--Sir Gareth

Acording to the documentation of RivaTuner it can convert Geforce3 to QuadroDCC. If you don't have the Tuner get it from here http://www.nvworld.ru and see the html file within it.

Zeni

[archone]

Zeni,

Thanks for ALL of the GREAT info! It seems that it would be more useful to convert a Geforce 3 to a Quadro DCC just using software!!!

Power and Ease! Have you done this? Does it work well?

One last item, Do you happen to know whether or not the Geforce 3 Titanium can be "Quadro-ed" as well? There is the Ti200 and Ti500.

Do you know what type of board that would create? Or, would it still be the Quadro DCC but faster just the Geforce 3 alone? So, the Geforce 3 Ti500 would make the fastest Quadro DCC around?

Does this sound reasonable? Do you have any other thoughts/facts?

Thanks again for your help!!!
--Sir Gareth

In reply to:

[quote]
In reply to:
Zeni,

To get max speed, I should get a video card with 64mb DDR RAM and possible overclock?

I was visiting www.tweakhardware.com and they have a guide on converting GEForce to Geforce Quadro. But, GEForce 3 was not mented. Is there a way to do this or is that hack only for GEForce 1 and 2 stuff?

Is it the Geforce 3 that can be use RivaTuner (2.0 RC8.2) to become Quadro DCC?

Thanks for any info.
--Sir Gareth

Acording to the documentation of RivaTuner it can convert Geforce3 to QuadroDCC. If you don't have the Tuner get it from here http://www.nvworld.ru and see the html file within it.

Zeni

[/quote]

[1000101-]

I have softqaudroed with good results a geforce3 ti500. THe actual card is a visiontek 6964. its nice and fast

That Ole Russell

[archone]

That Ole Russell,

Thanks for the info!!! That sounds excellent!!!

BTW, Are you running Maya 4? If so, is the your "Quadro DCC (Geforce 3 Ti500)" display clear and crisp? Quick Refresh Rates? Any problems?

I am probably going to a Get a Geforce 3 Ti500 and SoftQuadro it into a Quadro DCC!!! For about $300, how could you go wrong!!!

Thanks to everyone else for there input too!!!
--Sir Gareth

In reply to:
I have softqaudroed with good results a geforce3 ti500. THe actual card is a visiontek 6964. its nice and fast

That Ole Russell

[1000101-]

I'm running maya 4; and my Quadro DCC is pretty crisp and clear at 1600x1200; which is a first as far as geforce cards go. The only problems you'll have with it is windowed openGL in windowsXP. Its buggy enough to lock the system; but then; you shouldn't be running maya 4 on windowsXP now should you? ;> I'd recommend 14.81 detonator drivers (avail www.nvidia.com under software partneres page; just click alias); though I'm currently running 23.11 without troubles; I have some friends who have text disapeer in hypershade.
Milliage may vary.
Win2k is rock solid and fast; and fairly good feedback. I'm pleased with the purchase.

That Ole Russell

[morganulang]

I'm very new to this
I think I did Softquadroed ok but
How do I check to see if what did worked?

Thanks!

In reply to:
I have softqaudroed with good results a geforce3 ti500. THe actual card is a visiontek 6964. its nice and fast

That Ole Russell

[archone]

Cube-DCFanBoy,

Here is one my thought. Download a benchmark such as SPECViewPerf v6.1.2. Run it on the Geforce card you are going to SoftQuadro to set a baseline. Then, do the SoftQuadro operation and then run the Benchmarks again. Now, you will be able to see the diffence exactly on your system. Also, you will be able to compare with others to see if you are on the mark.

SPECViewPerf v6.1.2 has a number on benchmarks. If you are worried about Maya 4 performance, use the "AWadvs-04." This simulates Alias/Wavefront types of applications. The others are not bad either.

If you go to http://www.nvidia.com and look at the quadro line of workstation boards. You will be able to find some SPECViewPerf v6.1.2 benchmarks for thier products.

Does that help? I hope so!

---

I have one thought to throw out to all, Do you think it would not make much differenct whether I would use a Geforce 3 Ti200 or Ti500 to become a SoftQuadro "Quadro DCC" card??? The reason I ask is, that a Geforce 3 Ti200 is about $150 and a Ti500 is about $300. According to Tom's Hardware Gude, the Geforce 3 Ti200 had a base score of 75 and 100 for the Ti500 (in a round up article).

I want a card that will work very well with Maya 4, but without going crazy! But, if for $150 it does not make much of a difference, I do not want to throw money away.

Also, I realize that the Quadro DCC can be bought for about $750, so regardless I am still ahead. But, if Maya 4 is so demanding, then I would not want to waste $150 for Ti200 when the $300 Ti500 woud be right!!!

Do I sound like a mad man or what????

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
--Sir Gareth

In reply to:
I'm very new to this
I think I did Softquadroed ok but
How do I check to see if what did worked?

Thanks!

[quote]
In reply to:
I have softqaudroed with good results a geforce3 ti500. THe actual card is a visiontek 6964. its nice and fast

That Ole Russell

[/quote]

[morganulang]

thank you thank you....

In reply to:
Cube-DCFanBoy,

Here is one my thought. Download a benchmark such as SPECViewPerf v6.1.2. Run it on the Geforce card you are going to SoftQuadro to set a baseline. Then, do the SoftQuadro operation and then run the Benchmarks again. Now, you will be able to see the diffence exactly on your system. Also, you will be able to compare with others to see if you are on the mark.

SPECViewPerf v6.1.2 has a number on benchmarks. If you are worried about Maya 4 performance, use the "AWadvs-04." This simulates Alias/Wavefront types of applications. The others are not bad either.

If you go to http://www.nvidia.com and look at the quadro line of workstation boards. You will be able to find some SPECViewPerf v6.1.2 benchmarks for thier products.

Does that help? I hope so!

*************

I have one thought to throw out to all, Do you think it would not make much differenct whether I would use a Geforce 3 Ti200 or Ti500 to become a SoftQuadro "Quadro DCC" card??? The reason I ask is, that a Geforce 3 Ti200 is about $150 and a Ti500 is about $300. According to Tom's Hardware Gude, the Geforce 3 Ti200 had a base score of 75 and 100 for the Ti500 (in a round up article).

I want a card that will work very well with Maya 4, but without going crazy! But, if for $150 it does not make much of a difference, I do not want to throw money away.

Also, I realize that the Quadro DCC can be bought for about $750, so regardless I am still ahead. But, if Maya 4 is so demanding, then I would not want to waste $150 for Ti200 when the $300 Ti500 woud be right!!!

Do I sound like a mad man or what????

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
--Sir Gareth

[quote]
In reply to:
I'm very new to this
I think I did Softquadroed ok but
How do I check to see if what did worked?

Thanks!

[quote]
In reply to:
I have softqaudroed with good results a geforce3 ti500. THe actual card is a visiontek 6964. its nice and fast

That Ole Russell

[/quote]

[/quote]

[senshi]

hey pal, in my honest opinion, buying a GeForce 2 Ultra would be your best buy right now

Unless you use 3D Studio Max in it's Direct 3D driver acceleration mode, you will not use any of the GeForce 3 (DCC's) new features such as per pixel shading and vertex shading since they are DirectX 8 features.

It is true however that the GeForce 3 (& DCC) cards have more efficient memory bandwidth using LightSpeed memory architecture, but I seriously doubt that would provide any considerable increase in speed especially considering that modelers work in wireframe mode most of the time.

The GeForce2 Ultra (which is faster than a GeForce 2 Ti ) has a higher raw Texels/s through put than any of other nvidia cards (even the geforce3 Ti500) and a respectable memory bandwidth of 7.6 GBytes/s compared to Geforce3 Ti 500 8 GBytes/s

Overall I think the best buy here is a GeForce 2 Ultra

and if you're a gamer and have your heart set on a geforce3, then buy the ti200 model, as the geforce3 ti500 model will only provide marginal gains due to its' increase in speed in memory and gpu but even that's not hugely increased. IT does not justify the $150 increase in price.

geforce 3 ti 500 500 mhz memory 240 mhz core

geforce 2 ultra 460 mhz memory 250 mhz core

as you can see, unless that new lightspeed bandwith creates miracles, you are better off with a geforce 2 ultra or even a geforce 2 TI...