Would be grateful for graphic card upgrade suggestions

ravells · November 2011

Hi Everyone, first post!

I currently have a computer with the following specs:

 [FONT=&quot]Windows 7 Home Premium Edition SP1 (Build 7601) | Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 | RAM : 8192 MB DDR2 Dual Channel | 2 X NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 | DirectX Version : 11.0 | MB: ASRock : N7AD-SLI[/FONT]

I am thinking of upgrading my graphics card to a budget of about Â£300 (although I can go higher if the benefits are really great).

The problem I have is that because I'm using 2 GeForce 250s I have no idea whether that is better / faster than, say, one 560, (looking at the little comparative speed bars on NVidia's website compares one for one) or whether other makes of graphics card give more bang for my pound.

Also, I'm at that dangerous level where I know enough to know that there may be other components in my computer like the processor speed which might put a limit on how much of an improvement a new graphics card would be anyway. So I'm not sure if, for example running off and buying a GeForce 590 or something for a fantastic sum of money will actually deliver any real benefit.

In terms of use, I don't play games much anymore (but would like to have the option of doing so when I wanted to) but I do 3d modelling work, typically in Vue, Bryce and City Engine, all of which can really cane the system when rendering. I currently use 2 monitors and if I upgrade would like the option of going up to 3 monitors.

Many thanks for all the suggestions and help in advance!

Ravs

Straight_Man · November 2011

IMO, upgrade whole system for true 3-monitor system and rendering enough to support that.

Lesseee...

Quad channel, DDR3 main RAM supporting motherboard, and mobo that will support heavier 3D rendering AND display it as one monitor displaying render control info and two showing render project progression will demand lots of data. Quite a few folks here support CrossFireX use for motion rendering and editing, and they also sometimes render motion 3D stuff-- but rendering for shape alone is just rendering, and motion is rendered-frame-progression-data-flow stuff as to system requirement analysis.

Huge amounts of RAM, both as to GRAM and main system RAM, is one subset of a heavy-duty renderer's need set in his work system. The more that detailed texture is needed in rendered result, the faster the GPU if huge GRAM (like a GB or more on each graphics card) is also supplied.

I will let others talk about what to get if you get just a graphics card and as much of the fastest main system RAM as your board will support and/or you can afford. My point here is that to get leaps of rendering speed and capacity of display, you need maybe 8 cores rendering per stream of completed rendering-- that implies a complete system rebuild, and a topic generalization somewhat to this thread.

John.

ravells · November 2011

Thanks Straight Man, that was a really helpful primer on what I need to aim for generally in terms of optimising my system requirements! I'm just thinking now about whether I should upgrade the mobo and get some DDR3 RAM.

primesuspect · November 2011

If you're doing 3D modeling, your best bet is to look towards NVIDIA Quadro or AMD Firepro. Right now, a very sweet spot for price/performance is the AMD FirePro V7900.

What software are you using specifically?

ravells · November 2011

Hi primesuspect:

I'm using Bryce, Vue Infinite and City Engine for rendering. Thanks for the tip! I checked out the Firepro V7900 which is Â£680 on Amazon (gulp). Do you know how much of a performance improvement I will see or how I could go about finding out? I'm just not sure whether the better (and more expensive) cards get, the less incremental performance improvement there is.

Would be grateful for graphic card upgrade suggestions

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