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Best Cards for Video Editing and 3D Model Creation

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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I'm new here, so Hi All! ^__^ I was hoping someone here could help me out with a hardware question. I'm working on upgrading a home built system I put together last year. I built the system with the intention of using it to create 3D characters and produce a home-made animated series. The graphics card I purchased at the time, despite the manufacturer's assurance to the contrary, does not support this and was apparently better suited as a gamer's card. My OS is Windows XP Home Edition with 2 service packs installed. The programs I am running are Milkshape 3D, Poser (the latest edition) and Adobe Premiere 7.0. I have 1024MB of RAM and a 2.4GH Intel Pentium 4 processor.

Due to various finacial constraints, it has taken me quite a while to finally be able to afford to buy a new card. Still, I don't have a whole lot of money, but I can afford a fairly decent card with what I have. If anyone here has some suggestions on a fast card with at least a 256 memory capacity that can handle what I need to use it for without crashes and freezing and I can purchase for $300 or less (even if I have to go to eBay to get it that cheap), I would be forever grateful. Thanks in advance.

Graceria

Quote:
I built the system with the intention of using it to create 3D characters and produce a home-made animated series. The graphics card I purchased at the time, despite the manufacturer's assurance to the contrary, does not support this and was apparently better suited as a gamer's card. My OS is Windows XP Home Edition with 2 service packs installed. The programs I am running are Milkshape 3D, Poser (the latest edition) and Adobe Premiere 7.0. I have 1024MB of RAM and a 2.4GH Intel Pentium 4 processor.
I'm curious. My understanding was that 3D rendering like you're talking about is done purely by the CPU. (Because graphics cards use lighting models that render fast, where as studio rendering and animation requires much more realistic lighting models, like ray tracing.) Is this no longer true?

And on a similar note, what graphics card did you originally buy?
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Graphics card Expert

Read my 6600GT SLI review at www.sysopt.com/features It not only shows the 6600GT in SLI mode stomping the 6800GT, but it also shows the 6600GT beating its big brother in single mode for some OGL benchmarks. Who knew!

Now, the 6800GT is also a fine card and beats most of ATI's cards in OGL. But comparing it to the cheaper 6600GT, the 6600GT looks like more bang for the buck.

And two 6600GT's in SLI are just plain over the top, KILLING the 6800GT!
Graphics card Expert

I haven't looked into the architecture, but it appears that one of the parts not "cut in half" for the 6600GT is the part responsible for its good Open GL performance. And the 6600GT is clocked higher than the 6800GT.

You'd think the 6800GS would be the best of both worlds then, ignoring the pixel pipelines and looking at core speed and memory transfer rate. But I haven't tested the 6800GS, so I really can't say.
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