I haven't really started experimenting with cloth yet. Only some minor experiments...
I have gone through 2D fluids and i guess it's about as heavy.
the result was slower running of course but it was more then bearable. Plus, I remind you your PC is much better in almost, if not every aspect.

I advise you to go through the basics and only when you start going through all the heavier options you will see whether you need to spend more money on it.

I really doubt it, its hardware at the end of the day.

thats funny that article, I always find that ATI's have problems, little niggling graphics ones with Maya, were as Nvidias run fine. Suppose it all depends on the model really. (that is with gamer cards not pro ones like in that test)

That sounds like a good plan. My luck I will get a new card then the new Maya will come out and that card will be incompatible with the new version..

One other thing.. I have an older PC.. it's a poor brand and lower resources and power.. but I am wondering if I could use it in network to aid in rendering? do people do that at all? Or at the very least I may just use it in tandem with me newer computer for browsing and stuff to free up my Maya machine.

I doubt it will be incompatable, ive got a Gforce 4000 on my old desktop that still runs the latest maya fine.

Your second question, yes I would do that with it, thats what I do with my old desktop.

Yeah.. that page on the Maya site that said which cards were compatible seemed to support what you are saying about the little problems..

I wonder how workstation cards and game cards differ? More to research! :zzz: It never ends. :D

Think its mainly in the firmware and the support for them

Workstation cards optimise for OpenGL performance instead of DirectX, unlike gamer cards. They also have really neat features like anti-aliased lines and better 3D/2D performance, and they should have more reliable components.

I think NVIDIA has a huge 50+ page white paper detailing the differences and the pros and cons on their website. You might want to look at the Quadro product pages, there might still be a link to it.

Wow.. great info TheArchitect.. that antialiased lines bit sounds interesting.. that could make a big difference on your working environment.. very cool!

Would a workstation graphics card be compatible with my system?

????

Probably but have a proper look into it, motherboard etc etc etc

you never know haha.. just want to make sure. Thought you might needa PC built specifically for them or something..

I'm reading about them on the Nvidia site.

Dont waste money on a Hardware (Workstation ) Card.

Todays Game cards are not that much different for running Maya, the only real time you see a difference is at render, but its seconds and minutes or hours.

Stick with a good "Games" card and a nice chuck of RAM and Maya will whistle dixie forever.

On the x86 v x64 question. I have ran both on my PC, with a x64 OS and theres not much diference, it loads faster, but beyond that theres no real difference that you will notice. I was on Vista x64 for a while, but was fedup with Vista taking 1/2 my RAM just cause it wanted to (I run with 4Gb). I prefer x86 OS and x86 Maya, thats personal, as XP still runs faster on my x64 than Vista x64 does, but thats just Vista... :)

Its all swings and roundabouts tbh, just make sure u have a good porcessor and a good chuck of RAM and Maya will work away nicely.

Thanks, R@nSiD. You can't beat real world experience!

Just found this.. this article talks about how you can turn a cheaper graphics card inot a high performance card just by modifying the software.

You cna turn a GeForce into a Quadro just by modifying the software..

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.../05/10/0521223