so i was wondering what graphics card i should use for blender, the gtx 480 or a nvidia quarto?
P.S if u think of another one, post it please!

On blender website

http://www.blender.org/features-gallery/requirements/

Production specs for Hardware
64 bits, Quad core CPU 8 GB Ram two times 1920 x 1200 px Display with 24 bit color 3 Button Mouse + tablet Open GL Graphics Card with 768 MB Ram, ATI FireGL or Nvidia Quadro

I personally think that the consumer grade cards are good enough.

What are you planning to do in blender first.
Modeling, any old card would do.
Rendering animations is a bit more time consuming as the detail increases.
Ocean wave and blowing hair physics into movies and other animated charactors etc take a bit longer with a lower end card. you will still go from a to b though.
This simple little low detail animation spinning below was about 100 frames and took about 5 minutes before it was done.
I only used every 4 frame to create the final gif.
split the windows and either side open the text editor.
click the "help" tab,
 drop down to where it says system > benchmark> draw.
with my gts250 says "- Simplistic almost useless benchmark:"

guess it depends on what you use blender to do.

ok sorry for the slow reply but thanks

daviangel

clo007

Quadro cards are basically the same as the consumer cards but with better quality drivers. I know over on XS boards some modified the Quadro drivers for pretty much all 200 and 400 series cards so you may look there.

If you are buying the card out of your own pocket, don't spend the money on a Quadro card. It is not worth is.

NO!
Pro cards actually do hardware buffers and double sided lighting so they aren't the same. Having said that most people won't notice difference and on a hardware level maybe it's not much difference since I remember or know people used to hack normal cards into quadro's pretty easy using bios hack so you can use quadro pro drivers.
But yeah I wouldn't spend $2000 for one of these cards myself. If I was that good at 3D stuff I'm sure I could get a job doing it and my work would pay for it LOL!
Also, if you don't mind a 2nd hand Quadro there are always all kinds of them being sold on Ebay since when a movie studio finishes making a movie or something they give away or sell all the computers they used which usually includes a bunch of Quadro's or ATI firegl cards.

p.s. Also heard there was a problem with the 400 series gamer cards and Maya and some other 3D programs but don't know what that was about. The older 200 consumer cards didn't have any problem so you might want to ask on blender forums about people using Blender with 400 series gamer cards.

rhussain

Quadro is always the way to go if you plan on doing 3d for a living. If you plan on just fooling around in 3d or just do it for fun as a hobby any of the latest consumer gaming cards nvidia or ati (amd) will do just fine. You have no reason to fork over $1000 to $4000 on a new quadro unless you work in the industry of animation, 3d, photography, or film.

I have a Quadro on the pc listed in my mod rigs at the left. I use this card for extremely precise and detailed production work in film, vfx and 3d. A quadro will allow you to handle massive scenes with millions of polygons without viewport lag, etc. You can preview 8k or higher textures on models in realtime without any lag, and if you have a compatible monitor a quadro will allow you to do 10bit color and unlock extra features of professional apps. The quadros are very similar to the geforce cards in terms of hardware however a quadro is extremely power efficient and optimized to run 24/7 on full load without any visual artifacts or issues. This is why they cost so much.

You two may want to go read the review I linked.

http://www.cgarchitect.co...eviews/Review076_1.asp

I have said this before and I will say it again you will get more for your money in CG using gaming gpus, as for shaders there are modded INI driver files to use quadro/Tesla drivers on thier Geforce Counter parts, sometimes they even offer a better gaming experience. But for the price of a workstation card for what your getting, its not really worth it at all when if you get an ethusiast gaming card or cards, you get alot more performance, and swapping out drivers ini's will fix the shader issues. All a workstation card is really is this. Lower power, lower clocks, many times on a different pcb for more video ram.
 
Those features come in handy if, your doing scientific simulations, long long work load times that directly use the gpu, and the person behind the computer, or the IT guy that put it together knows nothing of airflow. You can keep ethusiast cards very cool if you know what your doing. My GTX 480's do not hit or go over 70c average 65-68c for loads that last 1-2 days of none stop use/stress.
 
Sorry but workstation cards are just pissing money away unless your a scientist, and really need the extra video ram. More and more companys are moving to enthusiast gaming cards... Why cheaper, faster, more cost effective over the workstation counterparts.

Now go run some benches on that OC and post some screenies.
I am not doubting you, I just want to see your card in action.

Dude, just get a 460 1GB,And some good ram, troubleshot till ya get a solid GPU driver that works and plays nice with your whole system setup. Dont waste your money with Quadro with Blender, unless your getting paid.
 
An awesome site for Blender training:
http://www.blendercookie.com