card for 3d modelling?

Hi

I'm buying a laptop to use for architectural design and need a good graphics card that can handle rendering but also will allow me to rotate rendered models and do fly-throughs without hanging.

I'm looking at some models with the ATI x1600, the ATI x1400, ATI FireGL T2, and the FireGL v5000.

Anybody can give me some advice? thanks!

 

You should consider the FAQ and post back. The GL cards are geared more towards what you are doing than the gaming cards which are made to pump pixels. They are more expensive though.

 

hi

i already did the faq and started a thread under 'which notebook'--but unfortunately i am not getting much help on the graphics end of things there.

i was hoping someone here had more specific experience on which card would work?


I need to know what I should look for as a minimum card...is there a big difference between the x1600 and the firegl t2 in the ibm t42p?

 

the x1600 is geared towards gaming, the gl is more for 3d modeling. also look into the quatro cards. I don't know if the quatro have a mobile card though

 

you can get the FireGL and Quattro cards in laptops but not really in the laptops you want unfortunately, the FireGL is available in the HP workstation and i believe in an IBM which doesn't fit your needs, and the quattro is available in those massive workstation things, one that comes to mind is the goboxx or whatever it is called at www.boxxtech.com

i think your minimum should be the X600 that is available on slightly less recent models, a few months ^_^, and X1400 which is a little better performer than the X600.

the FireGL will definitely perform better than a gaming card under demanding circumstances but it just depends on how demanding and large and complex the models you will be working with.

let me put it this way, Workstation cards - better performance when the demand is high, significant increase in cost

gaming focused cards, from my experience perform well enough for medium/high demand models animations, etc.

i say if a there is a model that better suits all of your needs and has an X1600 go for it, but i still believe X1400 can handle what you need to do.

 

i work as an architect too and currently using notebook with ati 9700 gpu. it is quite fast until you get into real details, than you have to start turning off layers. you should know that rendering process is not affected by gpu, that only matters while modeling. I will be getting sager 5720 with core duo and 7800gtx or x1800, when it comes out. 7800gtx should handle modeling very well as well as games which i am also into. otherwise get fire gl or quadrro and good proc.

 

The Dell Precision M70 has a top-of-the-line QuadroFX Go1400 256MB GPU, look into that. Should come in under your budget.

 

hey ChazMan here is a link to the original post, help!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=42517