Graphics card and 3D Rendering

PearlJam said:
What impact does a GPU have on rendering say in Maya?
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GPUs are designed to do complex, huge matrix and vector calculations. These are heavily employed during 3D rendering, so it's kind of like comparing a Ferrari with a VW Beetle.

Even though the VW can be used for more general purposes, there is no comparison in terms of speed. :D
 
Valis said:
Have a look here: www.guru3d.com

Pretty good site on 3D rendering and graphics cards.
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Thanks, i checked the site but couldn't find exactly what i wanted to know.

TiredOfWaiting said:
GPUs are designed to do complex, huge matrix and vector calculations. These are heavily employed during 3D rendering, so it's kind of like comparing a Ferrari with a VW Beetle.

Even though the VW can be used for more general purposes, there is no comparison in terms of speed. :D
Click to expand...

Just to be clear, this is for designing 3D models, etc. and not for game rendering. Is there a huge difference between say a 8800GTS and the FX560 Quaddro? I am busy googling it, but would appreciate anyones input.

I am helping someone putting together a 2nd machine for rendering purposes which will mainly only do the rendering of the things she create in Maya
 
I stand to be corrected but from my experience the graphics card has no influence on rendering speed, calculations are done with the cpu. However the graphics card will come into play when you are designing and rotating, moving the 3D model. But when the environment is rendered that is the job for the cpu. If she is only rendering an expensive workstation card would be a waste of money IMO, but if she intends to do any creation of the models on that pc a workstation card is the way to go.
 
You see the problem with using a gaming card in a workstation environment is that the drivers are not optimized for OpenGL. Real world results from using a gaming card instead of a workstation card varies from program to program. For example, using my 7800gt gaming card whilst modeling in Rhinoceros I get several graphical issues like flickering cursors when I want to select an object. Using this same card with Alias StudioTools there are certain graphical features that would not display. Now my Quadro FX4500 shows none of these issues and the whole experience is a lot smoother. I also get more than double the frame rate in certain programs with the Quadro card. Of course the 8800GTS is a monster card and MIGHT get better fps than the entry level FX560 but you are not guaranteed that everything will display correctly. Looking at a review of the FX560 it seems to fare quite well against the heavier contenders http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/quadrofx-vs-firegl.html
Basically if I were you I would go with the Quadro card.
 
I have 8 machines being used for 3d creation with 3dsMax and they use either 6600's or onboard with no issues what so ever (all core 2 plus a quad)

Have upgraded gpu before but it makes no change, upgrade cpu and the difference is like night and day (from X2 to Core 2)
 
QX6700RULZ said:
I have 8 machines being used for 3d creation with 3dsMax and they use either 6600's or onboard with no issues what so ever (all core 2 plus a quad)

Have upgraded gpu before but it makes no change, upgrade cpu and the difference is like night and day (from X2 to Core 2)
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Thanks... i suggested the Q6600 to her, her current machine has an AMD 6000+, so that should at least make a noticeable difference
 
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