Shader model is the rendering bit of the GPU (I think) and it calculates the color of the pixel. I think in your context, shader model is referring to DirectX and OpenGL support, which is important as older cards may not support newer versions of the OpenGL which may be required by Maya or other graphics apps.

Subpixel precision... not sure what it means in this context, but it has to do with using parts of a pixel to make images more precise. Its sort of hard to explain, but if you have used Vista with a LCD monitor, you should notice fonts have a multicoloured look to them. Thats becuase of subpixel rendering, and it makes the fonts look sharper.

Aantialiasing depth (wrong term?) is very important in the display quality of shaded models. The higher the depth, the more precise the colour of a pixel is going to be when its displaying a line or edge, so the smoother and more precise the display is going to be. However, it won't help in the quality of a rendered image, unless you are using the hardware renderer.

As for filtering I suppose you mean bilinear filtering? If so, it means the ability to smooth a texture when it is applied on something that is either larger or smaller. Essentially, it makes the texture smoother and less pixelated.


As for which card is better, it is hard to say. I imagine that the FX 1700 is for 'large' jobs since its memory is twice as big, so it would make up for the lack of bandwidth by not needing to fetch data from the computer's physical memory so often.

The FX 1500 will be excellent for 'smaller' jobs I think cause it has way higher bandwidth. The only problem I see with it is that its DirectX and shader model versions are older, so software support, especially with software released in the next few years may be problematic. DirectX 9.0c is basically dead anyways, Microsoft is pushing v. 10 with Vista.

Of course this is my opinion, but I hoped I helped.