graphics cards again...

# 1 19-07-2007 , 12:30 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: Plattsburgh New York

Posts: 1,222

I know this gets asked a lot just have a quick question

My computer:
Dell Dimension 9150
375Watt power supply (or so I gathered from random information)
Radeon X300 SE 128MB Hypermemory
1Gig ram

would it be wise since I'm having problems with maya 8.5 to upgrade my card, even if it's just to a Quadro FX 1400? It is on the maya graphics card recommendation chart but I just want to know if this is going to help at all, or if I'm going to get the same glitches I'm getting now. I'd like to invest in a better graphics card, but not one thats not going to benefit me. Or one thats going to break the bank. I don't have a ton of money to throw down. If it's better to save up until I get more money I can try to see what I can save. I just have some extra cash flowing in from last weeks paycheck and then this weeks paycheck will be a little more I can spend but not much. Only about $300-$400max

Sorry for asking yet another graphics card question on the board. If this isn't a good choice please let me know. I've basically stopped using maya the past couple of weeks because of slow and glitchy graphics card issues.

- Mike

https://rhetoriccamel.blogspot.com

Last edited by Rhetoric Camel; 19-07-2007 at 12:33 AM.

Quote

# 2 19-07-2007 , 02:40 PM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

Posts: 6,287

Before you do, update the driver...

_J

Quote

# 3 19-07-2007 , 09:03 PM

Registered User
Join Date: May 2004

Location: UK

Posts: 1,991

Probably not relevant for you here but here's a general tip from experience for people buying graphics cards and power consumption:
Try and find out the 12volt ampage requirements of the card and check out what your power unit it capable of. I had a 500 watt power unit that I *thought* would be plenty for a Sapphiretech Ultimate x1950 pro card. The card recommended over 20 amps of power and in theory my power unit could handle that (33 amps total). As it turns out however many power units split the power across two or more 12 volt 'rails'. This meant that my card had 17amps on one rail and 16amps on the other giving a total of 33 amps. The problem being that if it is split then the excess doesnt get used - e.g my card was pulling only 17amps from 1 rail and was unable to use the other ampage on the other rail. So it turned out my dual rail power supply was insufficient and I found a super cheap 550 watt power unit pumping out 36amps through a single rail user added image

Anyways thats what I learned a little while back user added image

Examples of bTraffic - a traffic animation tool for Maya
bFlocking - a tool for Maya 8.5+ to generate flocking and swarming behaviours
Jan/Feb Challenge 2007 Entry and W.I.P
May/Jun Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Mar/Apr Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Jan/Feb Challenge 2006 Entry and W.I.P
Nov/Dec Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Sep/Oct Challenge 2005 Entry and W.I.P
Jul/Aug Challenge 2005 Entry
www.flash-fx.net

Quote

# 4 23-07-2007 , 11:46 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2004

Posts: 408

Yea some people are lucky, they have rails specifically devoted to graphics cards, which provide ample juice.

Quote

# 5 24-07-2007 , 02:35 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: Plattsburgh New York

Posts: 1,222

I updated the driver seems to be working a little bit better. from what I heard upgrading a graphics card in a dell is a pain in the butt anyway. so I guess it's better to just leave it the way it is. maybe save my money for a computer that will be used for nothing but maya..

- Mike

https://rhetoriccamel.blogspot.com

Quote

# 6 24-07-2007 , 09:54 PM

Lead Modeler - Framestore
Join Date: Feb 2003

Location: UK

Posts: 6,287

I have two guys in my office running Dells, one has the top of the line FX card in his, he installed it without a prob...

J

Quote

# 7 30-07-2007 , 06:59 AM

Subscriber
Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: Plattsburgh New York

Posts: 1,222

apparently even with updating my drivers with my current graphics card I can't use the hardware render, I get a warning basically telling me that my graphics card is insufficient for the hardware render user added image

maybe I should re-install 6.5 because I could use the hardware render with that. Although I have become a fan of some of maya's new tools. hmmm decisions, decisions...

- Mike

https://rhetoriccamel.blogspot.com

Last edited by Rhetoric Camel; 30-07-2007 at 10:19 PM.

Quote

# 8 07-08-2007 , 05:57 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Apr 2007

Posts: 144

My two cents:
If ure gonna be working on heavy scenes buy an expensive card.
If the scenes are gonna be light to med heavy cheaper nvidia gaming cards are smooth.
I've been using low to mid level gaming nvidia for quite long with no probs in maya or max.
If I had more money I'd invest in quadcore processors.

Quote

# 9 07-08-2007 , 06:34 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Dec 2006

Location: Plattsburgh New York

Posts: 1,222

I'm not that major into maya yet to be too worried about heavy graphics, although it would be nice to have. At this point though I just need one thats supported by maya 8.5 because my ATI isn't supported... I don't believe any ATI is supported. I can't do hardware renders, and things that are there disappear and if I extract faces and turn x-ray off I can still see through to the other side and it gets confusing when trying to work.

- Mike

https://rhetoriccamel.blogspot.com

Quote

# 10 08-08-2007 , 08:25 AM

Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2006

Location: /dev/null

Posts: 891

Rhetoric Camel > 'I don't believe any ATI is supported.'

Well the ATI FireGLs are officially supported, as are the Quadros. Nothing on Radeons at the moment and it is still saying that GeForces are officially not supported.

Heres a link to Autodesk: Link

C. P. U. Its not a big processor... Its a series of pipes!

Quote

# 11 09-08-2007 , 02:08 AM

Registered User
Join Date: May 2004

Location: UK

Posts: 1,991

well I've used a Radeon 9700 and an x1950 pro with maya so far and they are both ok.
The only thing that you sometimes have to do is disable triple buffering. Also the high quality viewport settings dont work as expected so you need to play with the settings for that.

Si

Quote

# 12 09-08-2007 , 11:54 PM

Subscriber
Join Date: Jan 2007

Location: Frankfurt

Posts: 216

i don't know if you can pick it up in newyork, but you should be able to, the newest issue of 3dworld. it has an extra mag accompanied about upgrading your station. the pros and cons of consumer and pro cards. aswell a test about pro cards.

greets

Quote

# 13 10-08-2007 , 02:27 AM

Moderator
Join Date: May 2005

Location: Manchester Uk

Posts: 6,300

Originally posted by t1ck135
well I've used a Radeon 9700 and an x1950 pro with maya so far and they are both ok.
The only thing that you sometimes have to do is disable triple buffering. Also the high quality viewport settings dont work as expected so you need to play with the settings for that.

Si

Originally Posted by

Cheers Si, i'll give that a blast. Being wondering that as my uni workstations got dual 1950's and its a bit buggy