CGTalk - 6600GT for 3D?

six feet under

11-21-2005, 12:27 AM

I have a compaq computer with onboard graphic card that is too slow to use for 3D.

So I want to buy a PCI Express graphic card. I know 7800GT is nice and fast...but it's 300+ dollars. I've seen 6600GT for 100+ buck, and I wonder if it'll be 'okay' for 3D use, since I don't play much games? I rather put the extra 200 buck toward upgrading memory and stuff. What do you think? Does 7800GT really make that big difference than 6600 in 3D? I am rather new to video card market :)

thanks

JazzyAnimator

11-21-2005, 12:48 AM

I bought a 6600GT for the same reason. The 7800 was not out yet, and the 6800GT was still too expensive for my need.

I don't go in the millions poly range very often, so the viewport performance is definitly good for my use. I do kinda want a better one now though since I've been using the Activeshade in 3D Max since I've gotten better at lighting.

Depends on how detailed your models/poly count goes, and your animation. (What exactly are you needing it for? You said you wanted more ram also.) GPU's won't do much for rendering, but you will definitly notice a jump in your viewport performance vs. your integrated video cards (they are almost always crap.) Getting more RAM never really hurts, but if your viewport is taking forever to update go ahead and get the Gfx card. Might wanna look into the 6800GT, they are cheaper now that the 7800 is out.

six feet under

11-21-2005, 01:08 AM

Hi

Mainly I need a new card because as you point out, the onboard graphic chip is crap. I loaded a 40K model, and my computer pretty much blank out the entire screen with white color, cant' handle a 40K model.

I don't go near a million polygons either, I also try to optimize my model as much as I can :)

I will get at least 2gig of RAM for sure. GPU is good for viewport redraw speed but not render, so that is why I am wary of over-upgrading the video card more than my need.

I see, so you'd recommend a 6800GT. Just check the price, it's about 200+. I'd look into that for sure.

Thanks!

nsa

11-21-2005, 01:53 AM

More RAM fixes everything.

Yellwmonky

11-21-2005, 08:30 AM

I just purchased a 6600GT and I'm more than happy with it. Again, it does matter what you're doing but for about a good ratio of us, 6600GT is plenty i believe. I used to have a 9600pro and hated every minute of it. One big bonus from having the card was image planes in Maya. This whole time when i would zoom too close to the model my image would distort. Now with my 6600gt I can zoom as close as I want to my reference photo without distortion. this whole time I thought it was software.... needless to say, i'm happy with my purchase.

lots

11-21-2005, 02:59 PM

There's always the 6800GS.. its a $200 part

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