Found out the difference between cards - nVidia's Quadro line, and ATI's FireGL line, that is.

Here's the deal - consumer cards (and I'm using a GeForce 8800 in one computer, and a 7900 in another) draw the entire screen all at once. When anything changes on the screen, the WHOLE THING is redrawn. This is why they work so well with games, and not AS well with CAD type applications, or generally stuff like Photoshop and the like.

Quadro and FireGL cards "segment" the screen. Each "element" is its own thing the either needs or doesn't need to be redrawn. Picture the 4-panel display of most 3D apps. Each panel is its own screen, as is the tool bar, the menu bar, the CURSOR, object menu section, the timeline at the bottom, etc. Every CHUNK is its own layer. When you move the cursor around and do nothing, it's only redrawing the sursor itself as its own layer. When you move something on 1 panel, it's only redrawing the panel.

Mudbox can edit meshes in "layers" you don't actually see - it's designating THIS MESH a layer to the Pro card, which is why it can keep track of it so well.

It almost never has to redraw the menu bar, the object list section, the materials section, the tool bar, etc. JUST the panel being used/changed is ALL it has to think about which is why it goes faster for CAD/3D software - basically most software used by those of us on Rendo.

These cards to NOT handle games well - why? Well, it has to redraw a HUGE screen as your Mana/Power/Health bars go up and down, while your radar screen is movigng around to show you enemies within sight, etc. Too much info all at once - get it?

So, basically, if you NEVER run games on your computer, and only plan on making your 3D images, and video and photo/image editing, I'd invest in a QuadroFX or FireGL card.

If you play games - especially newer VERY graphics intensive games - get consumer cards.

Mudbox will be limited to something like 3 layers is my drawback...

Hope this makes sense-
-Lew ;-)