Inquiring minds want to know….. So I have a quick question for the experienced minds out there…

I am preparing to do a rebuild on my quad-core system, basically with using it as a graphics workstation only in mind.

Right now, it’s my ‘main’ computer, used for everything from graphics to surfing the internet. I have Poser 8 installed on this machine, but it doesn’t really work reliably, or well. This isn’t any fault of Poser, it’s a fault of ME! I have a really, really bad habit of loading my ‘main’ computer up with – how to say it – a bunch of crap. You know, those little bits of software that look like they would be neat, then you use them once, and either uninstall them, or just let them sit there. The end result of course is a hard drive full of digital cooties that cause all kinds of issues.

Right now, I’m using my little HP laptop for my Poser work, but I’d like to take advantage of those quad cores on this machine. I’ll be getting another computer for ‘general purpose’ use, but this one will be for graphics only. I will be completely reformatting the C drive (320-gig), and will install Win7 64 bit.

But I digress…

My question is this:

What video card would you recommend / do you use for your Poser 8 or PP computer? I know the P8 or PP sysreqs recommend “OpenGL enabled graphics card or chipset recommended (recent NVIDIA GeForce and ATI Radeon preferred)”. Right now, I have an NvideaGeForce 7600GT. I plan on purchasing a new card (this one has a few issues even with Photoshop 7), and was just curious as to what the forum members are using.

My System:

Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q6600 2.4GHZ, 3.25 Gig RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT video card, two 320-Gig HDs Fatal1ty FP-IN9 SLI Mobo. (socket 775). 4 gigs RAM (MB is capable of 32G).

Thanks!

Rod

Attached Link: nvidia cards discussion

If you are going work station. Quadro cards may be your best choice. But a good gaming card these days pretty much does the same thing. Not quite but reasonable.

That link doesn't seem to be working.  I think it might be a double http thing, i.e., http://http.  Thanks for the great intention of info sharing, however; always appreciated, especially from more knowledgeable types.  Thanks again.

Maybe you are interested in the information tomshardware provides in the link.
www.tomshardware.co.uk/amd-firepro-v8700,review-31526-10.html
It's about the difference of an ATI workstation grafics card compared to a gaming model. Both cards are more or less the same reading their hardware. But they use a very different driver.
If money is not an isuue the workstation model seems to be the best choice for 3d apps. But they are slow if it comes to DirectX games because the driver is optimized for openGL.
I have an ATI  FirePro 8700. It's amazingly fast with Lightwave but not very good with 3dGames. On the other hand I have an ATI 5830 gaming card. It's good for gaming but only soso for 3d apps.

Regarding poser the 5830 gaming card is ok. I have the feeling that posers grafics engine has room for optimization. Especially if you use the posing or face camera it slows down incredibly. That happens with both of my cards. Seems to be a poser issue not a grapics card one.

Fixed that link to the Daz disussion:
http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=130635&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Quote - I have a really, really bad habit of loading my ‘main’ computer up with – how to say it – a bunch of crap. You know, those little bits of software that look like they would be neat, then you use them once, and either uninstall them, or just let them sit there. The end result of course is a hard drive full of digital cooties that cause all kinds of issues.

I try such stuff out in Sandboxie, which isolates the files and lets you control internet access.  A freebie (it gently nags you after 30 days to buy the Pro version):

www.sandboxie.com/

Poser doesn't use the graphics card for rendering, so it doesn't matter there. It might help a bit for the preview mode. A faster processor/multiple cores will help more than the graphics card.

The card you have is more then fine for P8+. I don't think you will see much difference when buying a new one. Poser is kind of outdated, even with the updates made in P8+, when it comes to OpenGL. It's still not using the full power and all features. That's why an 'older' still works fine with P8+

If you use Vue, Carrara and such then a new card will make a difference.