CGTalk - Video card specs

ravioli_rancher

08-11-2003, 05:13 PM

I'm tyring to upgrade my current video card (Oxygen GVX420).

Does anyone have any experiencec with the Wildcat VP series.

I'm especially interested in the VP880 256MB. Looks great, but 3dlabs has a looooong history of exaggerating their board specifications. My GVX420. for instance was supposed to be fully OpenGL complient, but 3Dlabs ended up only using OpenGL extensions. So, naturally, the 420 can't handle Messiah:Studio (rev9a is sloooooow, and full of artifacts).

Please help. I've posted the question in the 3DLabs forum twice, never any response, and one of the posts seems to have actually been deleted.

If nobody is using the VP boards, then which GeForce cards are good buys right now?

Would you recommend the Quadro4 980XGL over an FX5900 (Like the Asus 9950 Ultra)?

Would a Quadro 750XGL be too weak?

I've owned Messiah:Studio for a year, and haven't done squat with it becuase I'm running it on trash.

Thanks for your help.

Nando

08-11-2003, 08:10 PM

ravioli_rancher,

I, recommend an nvidia based card preferably the FX5900 series.
I'm keen to the Gainward ones because they have better faster ram. You could go for a Quadro card but, I don't see a huge improvement for the price compared to a non-quadro card.
We have geforce ultra's, QuadroDCC's, XGL's, and Fx's, and well the Quadro based cards don't scream oFF the wall compared to the latest and greatest Nvidia game based card. Wireframe view is where Quadro's have an improvement by a smidgen though. ;)

Qslugs

08-12-2003, 05:01 PM

I am using a Quadro 2 ex that came with my computer. Its a 32 meg board and for the most part it runs messiah fine. Although it gets a bit slower when the armatures are present onscreen. Armatures are a new feature and I have no idea what is causing that problem yet. The rest of the program runs everythign fine. Either way, I am quite happy with the card, however I am assuming that any Quadro/Geforce card with 64 megs onboard might be a better solution though. Just for kicks you should try a real cheap geforce 2 based card to see how preformance is with a dirt cheap 64 meg solution. That would probabaly save you 400 dollars.

As far as quadro cards go, I know there are isses that when working with other programs like Maya where there are certain functions that are present in thoes cards that are not present in the geforce line. So if you plan on using the board with anything other than Lightwave/messiah or likewise and want descent preformance, it might be wise to invest in something that has more functions present in hardware.

I myself will be upgrading at some point to one of the newer quadro cards with 2 heads. That probabaly won't be till next year though.

ravioli_rancher

08-12-2003, 08:57 PM

Thanks for the advice!

I beleive I'll nab the Quadro 980 XGL. Then maybe I can finally make some use of Messiah.

Qslugs

08-13-2003, 04:36 PM

What other programs are you going to be running aside from messiah?

ravioli_rancher

08-13-2003, 07:48 PM

Qslugs,

Alongside Messiah:Studio, I'll be using LW7.5c, ZBrush, Photoshop, and Vegas 4.0. I also plan on picking up a copy of Modo when it ships.

Right now, the GVX420 works fine with everything except Messiah. But, with the new features slated for Messiah:Studio 1.5, I can't afford to stay away from it any longer.

Rather than risk anymore problems from 3Dlabs, I'll go with the industry standard.

Thanks again for your advice :) .

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