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NicoAdri
10-18-2006, 10:31 PM
hi

I've just got a job which might require me to work from home from time to time doing some 3d rendering (architectural). I'm ready for a new PC and I'd like to get hold of either a PC or a laptop that will be more or less capable. Is there a huge difference between what a standard PC graphics card can do and say one of the Nvidia Quadro cards? There seems to be a big difference in price!

I won't be spending all my time on the new machine doing graphics so I can't justify spending loads on a native OpenGL card but on the other hand I don't want to have to twiddle my thumbs for hours on end waiting for a scene to render.

Is there a web resource for making such a decision. Had a look at the OpenGL site and there's not much to go at there.

I'm a novice renderer at the moment but would like to have the option of getting into it if the price isn't too high.

Hope you can advise.

TIA

Nicholas
lots
10-19-2006, 12:37 AM
Actually all of Nvidia's cards are OpenGL capable. Of course different versions of the cards support different versions of OpenGL (latest being 2.0). For the most part, a mid to high end gamer card will be plenty. The people who should invest in a Quadro should be the ones that can make a return on the investment in a relativly short amount of time. On top of that, not all software takes advantage of the Quadro's "edge". So you should look into that as well.

To put things more into perspective, the true power of the Quadro series of cards from nvidia (and similarly the FireGL from ATI) is the drivers. For the most part, these cards are almost identical in hardware to thier consumer, gamer oriented cousins. This is why tricks such as sofmodding the gamer version of the cards into the pro version of the cards exist. In most cases, the advantage of the "pro" drivers that these cards use is not worth the sometimes $1000 price difference. Of course thats my opinion, and others may swear by a Quadro. But if you look at the big picture, many people on these forums produce great work on what would be considered under powered machines.

So to reitterate :P Gamer cards have drivers that focus on games, Pro cards have drivers that focus on 3D applications. Hardware wise you're buying the same card, for the most part. Most of the time gamer cards are specced higher, though.
maX_Andrews
10-19-2006, 04:42 AM
Also, what is your budget?
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10-19-2006, 04:42 AM
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