Best 3DS video card?
8 messages in this thread
I am posting this message for a friend who is expanding his drafting practice,
moving to Pentium PCs with AutoCad 13 on Windows, maybe WinNT. He also plans to
use 3DStudio to demonstrate his renderings.
Which video board and accelerator would you suggest as the best use for a new
system, and the best screen resolution? I know that he's looking at several
different monitor sizes, and wants to make sure that he gets the best bang for
his buck. I recently saw the Top 10 Accelerators list in the Sept issue of PC
World, but I'm concerned that 1024×768 and 800×600 resolution won't be enough.
If you were setting up a system from scratch, what would you choose? Is
1600×1280 necessary?
Looking in the $2-300 and the $4-800 range, depending on the features (useing
the cheaper card in his home system and maxing out on the system at the office,
unless there's a happy medium where we can put the same card in all machines
that will deliver the performace).
I would appreciate any help. Thanks. —M3
Hi M3,
Didn't I just see you in the AutoCAD forum… <g>
Just wanted to say that if your friend is thinking of going to 3DS MAX, that he
should also look into the ELSA GLoria. The GLoria is like a WINNER 2000PRO/X
with the addition of 3D hardware acceleration thanks to a GLINT chip.
Basically that means that you get 2D performance in NT from the Vision968 chip
and 3D performance from the GLINT, ie: no sacrifices… 🙂
Sincerely,
Tom
Tom, could you go into a little detail about the Elsa card you are talking
about? I'd like to know which Glint chip you are using, the maximum color
depth, resolutions and scan rates, RAM requirements, and any co-processor
support for rendering other than rasterization, say for transformations and
clipping.
Thanks much,
-Alan
Hi Alan,
The 3Dlabs chip we are using is the latest available, the 300/SX. I need to
put together the technical information on the GLoria anyway, so if you can wait
a bit, I'll post/upload some complete information.
Not to leave you hanging… the GLoria always has 8 Mb DRAM, and can have
either 4 or 8 Mb VRAM. Sooo, top resolutions and color depths are:
GLoria-4: 1600x1280x16bpp @ 80 Hz
GLoria-8: 1600x1280x32bpp @ 80 Hz
If you drop to 1600×1200, then the refresh rate on both of those jumps to 85
Hz.
The board does not have a geometry engine on it. Any work that is not done
either by the Vision968 or the GLINT chip is done by the host.
I hope that helps. Like I said, I will try to put all the information together
and get something uploaded, but there's a developer conference this weekend and
part of next week, so if you don't see before Friday, then it will be at least
another week before I can get it done.
Sincerely,
Tom
Thanks for the info, Tom!
So your 8Mb version supports full True-Color, eh? I wonder what the rendering
speed hit is compared to say, 16bpp dithered to 24.
-Alan
Hi Alan,
The rendering speed for the GLoria is basically the same for 16bpp dithered and
24bpp.
Sincerely,
Tom
Sounds great Tom.
Thanks very much,
-Alan
Hi, Tom —
>> Didn't I just see you in the AutoCAD forum… <g>
Multitasking, you know…
Thanks for the information — I'd like to get more info on
your cards, HC, specs, etc. I'll e-mail you my address.
I've heard plenty lately about the GLiNT, but concerned that
in the near-med term it may be supplanted by other 3D chips,
in terms of power/performance and price point.
Thanks for your help. —M3