HD4870 512M or HD4850 1GIG ??????

[simaken]

I just upgraded my PC from a P4 3.4 to a Q6600 and I am now looking to upgrade my video card. I got right now a 7800 GT OC. I use my system mostly for 2D/3D work.(photoshop,real flow, XSI,3dmax, etc...)
I have seen a serious difference when I change my processor but this is my questions....

1.Am i going to see any difference when it comes to rendering if I change my video card?
2.If I am going to see better performance, am I better buying a 1GIG video card (HD4850) instead of a 512M that just got out(4870).

Again, I am using my system mostly for 2d/3d applications and undecided between the HD4870 and the HD4850. Waiting for your advise.Thanks in advance.

 

[paq7512]

If you get a ati firegl or nvidia quadro, you will see a difference. There will be no difference with the ATi cards you listed.

 

[simaken]

that's what I was thinking but wasnt sure. A image render test before the processor change took 4 minutes to render and now the same image takes 28seconds. The cleck at the store was telling me that it would make it even faster but I decided to wait and ask.Thank you so much for you reply.

 

[chris312]

In 2D/3D work as you described, the video card's only job is to display the interface and render the working model. It doesn't do anything to help render unless you're doing some kind of CPGPU type craziness.

I would recommend a 512mb 4850 at the most. Your 7800 really should be good enough though.

 

[IH8U]

Well, the FireGL's are $900+, and the Quadro is $850 (all PCI-X 2.0 x16). For rendering I'd go with the ATI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195063
(these are a dual slot too)^
here is the Quadro: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133218
(single slot)

P.S. as you can see, these will probably cost as much, or more than the rest of your build.

 

[simaken]

I am already thinking about saving the money instead.Thanks again for all the quick response.

 

[Noya]

What about one of the cheaper professional cards?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195009

 

[doomsdaydave11]

Yeah, unless you are doing some serious, serious (serious) 3D work, then upgrading from an 7800GT should make virturally no difference. Concentratie on loading up on RAM/CPU.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I agree, go with either ATI FireGL or Nvidia Quadro. I work for a school district, and one big project I was on was to pick out video cards for a thing we do called project lead the way. According to documentation about some of the Autodesk software, like autocad, inventor, etc, some of the documentation seemed to suggest that the gamer cards will give you lines and different things sometimes. I too was considering the gamer card for price, but we saw that and then heard information that sometimes the gamer cards don't render things as thoroughly as the Quadro or FireGL cards, so sometimes you may have to waste time rerendering things. I think if you are looking for a card for primarily using autodesk products, the FireGL or Quadro is going to run you more, but would probably be a better investment than say a 4850. As someone suggested, maybe go with a cheaper low end quadro, and then use the rest to get more ram.

 

[samuraiblade]

how much ram uhave atm , if its only 2 gig , upgrade that , will see a better gain.

 

[HAMMERRR]

better softmod the card; ie. nvidia 8800gts 320 (selling for 80EUR second hand) can be modded to a quadro counterpart, which costs €400-500.

Te only thing you pay for if buying a quadro/firegl is software. These cards make full use of opengel in 3d environments+ are mostly way slower than their newere gamer-counterparts. So, u pay bigger money for a slower card... lol...

see http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=539 for info on softmodding the cards.

ur 7900 can be softmodded also, and it will gain you helluva lotta speed in realtime rendering, but it wont cost you a thing, and since its a softmod and not a bios flash, its harmless too; cant possibly go wrong

Lemme know if u used my advice and what ur speedgain was ^^

 

[hengehog]

Just to say that at present you cannot mod HD4XXX cards as the script has not been released yet.
However, if you run 3DS or Inventor, then a standard graphics card will do fine as these have the ability to use D3D.
If you require Open GL, suggest either getting HD3870 & modding to V7700 or buy a genuine Quadro FX580 or FireGL V5750 - either is pretty damn good.
V7700 obviously does the business proper like (see guru3d.com)

Russ (X2 4800@3.1GHz/6800 ultra @ Quadro FX4000 + Phenom X4 940@3.6 GHz/HD3870@FireGL V7700)

p.s. the 6800 Ultra is actually quicker than a true FX4000 due to having full 16 pipelines & running faster core & mem clocks