Expert: Andre Hickman - 10/14/2007

Question
QUESTION: hello Andre,
i am doing 3DsMax course. i have a PENTIUM D (3.2) , 2GB Ram, INTEL 945 MOTHERBOARD. i am looking for buying a graphic card. plz guide me. i will be learning MAYA later.. plz suggest a card which support both softwares and improve rendering output. BUDGET<$150 (if this budget is not enough, plz suggest me price range) i am looking for nVIDIA

ANSWER: Hey Maneesh,

$150 is fine for a card...but your video card is really only for viewing in software, and speed regarding manipulating inside of the software. In essence your vid card only effects the "real time" processes of the software, and not necessarily the rendering.  To speed up rendering, you need to max out your RAM and processor speed.  If you were a production house, you would probably use what is called a 'render farm' for animations, which is a bunch of individual PC's networked together, with 3D max render capability installed on each.  You would send an animation to the render server, and then it would send out one frame to each computer and let that computer work on one frame, and then when it is finished, it would assign it another frame to render, and then save to a folder.  For instance, if you have an animation that is taking 1 minute to render per frame, and you had a farm of 5 computers, then you would be rendering roughly 5 frames per minute rather than 1.  If your farm had 30 computers, then it would be 30 frames per minute, etc...

So don't have the misconception that your vid card is going to do something to speed up rendering, or give a better render.  It only helps with real time elements.  I use an ATI Radeon 9600, but I know that they have gone to the X600 (10600) models and beyond.  They should be in your price range.  I don't care much for Nvidia chipsets, even though I used to sware buy it.  They started letting all these 3rd party companies produce and package cards with their chipset, and they obviously didn't care much about the quality, because everytime I installed one it would fry or short out.  So I switched to ATI and have been happy since.  My suggestion is GO WITH ATI.

Cheers,
Andre'

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: hello Andre,
As you advised me to go with ATI, and you have used them in real time, i m sure you know more about there performance. So taking your guidance in consideration, i will like to go for ATI. So plz send me details and price range of some of the best currently available ATI cards (in my budget range <$150).
and is ATI compatible with my motherboard? Intel(D945GCCR)
also , do i need additional cooling in my cabinet, with all these monsters inside it? {As i am from India, the climate here is always hot and always fairly above 35'celcius.... i don't have a AirConditionar)

Regarding your reply, as my motherboard is Intel(D945GCCR), i can add a maximum RAM of 2GB, i know graphic card don't speed up the rendering, so my question was "i need a better  output" , as i have heard that graphic cards helps in giving a more clear n detailed rendering output... And thanks for explaining the NETWORK RENDERING in detail :) from now i have decided that you will   be my PERSONAL TECHNICAL ADVISER :) i am very much satisfied with your answer and more over amazed by the quality of response  KEEP IT UP :)

Answer
Here are a couple of links to cards online.  Before buying, you need to verify what slot you are going to use (whether it is the AGP slot, a PCI slot, or the new PCI-e slot on your motherboard) then buy that type of video card. Also pay attention to specs such as on-board memory. You should be shooting for at least 512mb...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=32745

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=25718

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=32125

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=31016

Just go to www.tigerdirect.com and look through their video cards section. You can select cards based on price, memory size, type of slot etc. to narrow your search. They carry hundreds of Nvidia and ATI.  You can find them all over the internet.  Just make sure you get at least 512mb, and the more memory on the video card, the better.

As for cooling, I am not familiar with the conditions of your environment, and so you'd probably need to consult with environmental things with the manufacturer. However, I do know that the cards have built-on fans and heatsinks...