ATI Video Cards 2

[RBasniak]

Hi everyone...

I really have to change my GF4 That problem with SW is terrible... I'm thinking in one ATI video Card, that I think is the $$best$$ choice except GF, am I right? I'm planning to buy a ATI RADEON 9600 128Mb, but there isn't any test with this video card in the SW Support Page, does anyone knows if is there any problem with this one and SW? Does anyone here use this card with SW? Please, any comment will be appreciated

Thanks a lot...
Rodrigo Basniak

 

[SBaugh]

Good point Nick!

For the time and money you will spend like Nick points out above you could spend that money on a card that has been approved by SW.

I have the Quadro 500 XGL and it works great for me.

http://store.yahoo.com/digitally-unique/vcqfx500blk.html

plus it's under $300.

Rocko pointed out a good point early in this thread:
Beware that SW is using Nvidia chipsets as the optimum for the software so who knows what that means down the road if you choose an ATI card.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
When in doubt, always check the help

 

[NickE]

Scott- I've been trying to get the same point across to the people who have had input on purchasing SW2004 and Cosmos w/ lotso the add ons (non-linear, flow etc...) Orignally they had spec'ed a minimum requirement PC (800mhz Celeron, 256M ram etc...) After much consternation I was able to convince them that to do Modeling (and complex FEA) A MUCH faster system was required, P4 3.0ghz 1gig, I'm only month out of solidworks essentials, no formal FEA training only some mat-lab kinetics FDM coding, and extensive experience w/ POVRay & Moray... I can easily hit the limitations of our system. SW is so dang powerfull it makes other modeling packages I've used seem like a T-Square and set of triagle and opaline pad... To take any reall value out o fthe power of the software (IMHO) a big machine is necessary so as to not always wait fo rit to catch up to you.

We currently have a gaming video card but I think today that I convinced the buyers to drop the 400$ on a 750.. (I know a 500 would work but $100 is a silly savings). One thing thou (actually thats the next thread)..... Fine meshes take time....




Nick
I love materials science!

 

[LoveAeris]

Somebody is missing a point!!!

I am NOT spending time for FireGL on Radeon at work. I have no interest to PC at work because IT controls fully. The time I spent was for home PC and it's my hobby. Therefore, saving time over money is out of focus. Anyway, the time I spent was about a few hours and some forks helped me here. I love Radeon as a gaming card and again, main purpose of the home PC is for game, not for work.

Radeon 9700 Pro is failed (Red) with SW certification because of disappearance of annotations on Sketch, which is completely acceptable for Home PC to me. I was happy with the failure, but now I understood FireGL driver can be loaded onto Radeon. I spent a few hours, but I wrote the procedure step by step for friends here who may want to do same thing, so it will take only 10 minutes. I picked up every single components for my home PC and the video card (Radeon 9700 Pro) was the best gaming card. Now the gaming card can do a lot more than the price and works as FireGL. Isn't it great?

I believe there are many forks here using PC mainly not for working and I do care about $ over time at home. (even a few dollars. If it's $100, I would drive a long distance.)

I don't care about the comment about the optimization with Nvidia chip set and Rearview because the situation won't stay forever. That is a true statement only for now. I didn't recommend Radeon for SW before, but if you already have Radeon and you don't mind to spend 10 minutes to load FireGL deriver, it's highly recommended.

If you are going to buy a new PC or Video card, define the usage wherether for work (SW) or game. If it's for work, the safest selection is Nvidia. If it's for gaming, Radeon with or without FireGL driver depends on the compatibility with games

 

[Mindnumb]

I agree with you Aeris...

I also use the FireGl at home. I have spent some time on it, but mostly on the antialiasing issue. (only works corectly on first document opened).

Well, on the quadro FX 1000 card I have at work, it does not work at all.

Ok, to the point... Know what you are paying for.

When you pay the extra cash, you do not buy extra performance or stability. You buy future developement of proffecional cards/chips, and drivers for professional applications. Maby also support to a certain extent. The reason that both gaming and proffesional features exists on the same chip is because it´s the most rational way for the chip developers to do it that way.

Not all have unlimited budgets when it comes to hardware. It is a wonderful chance to get great performance at low cost. You get the performance, but you dont get the support. When it comes to support, my experiences are not good. In cases where I have been entitled to support, My problems have NEVER been solved. Not once. Maby I´m a difficult customer, or just plain stupid, but the effort put into support by any company in the hardware business seems minimal nowadays.

I don´t blame ATi or Nvidia for doing it the way they are, the professional card business is wery lucrative, but it would be better if the professional cards were forced out of the market.

It would force the application makers to adept to the gaming standards and would push forward the standardisation of 3d applications and games. One unified standard would be best for all parts. It would make it easier to make both applications, games and hardware. Less application specific "fixes" would be needed in the drivers, and less hardware specific workarounds would be needed on the application side. It also would make it more difficult to pull the kind of trick solidworks/nvidia have done with the Realview feature.

This is all bad. It destroys the competition, essentially giving nvidia a monopoly situation on the solidworks application. Ati could probably very easy make similar shaders, or a "wrapper" allowing the nvidia shaders to run on ATI cards. (this have been done with most of the Nvidia tech demoes by ATI and vice versa) The cost or deals between solidworks and nvidia is probably preventing them from doing it.

So, help the community by using the softQuadro and SoftFireGl drivers ! And give a warm thoght to Unwinder (rivatuner maker) as you spin those 5000+ part assemblys !