NEW GRAPHICS CARD

[megacal]

Odeas,
thanks for recommending those cards...just not sure how to set it up for Octane to use one
and the display use the other as Jaberwocky says below.

You can just dedicate one of the cards for rendering and one for just screen display.In which case the card used for rendering would just use it's cuda cores and the memory on that card.

So if for example you decided to use the 430 for rendering it would use all 2mb of ram and the cuda cores on just that card.

-Jaberwocky

[tehfailsafe]

You just have to plug in both cards to the motherboard.
Then connect your monitor(s) to the card you don't want to render on.

That way this card gets used for displaying your GUI / octane, while the other card is 100% available to do all the octane calculations.

[megacal]

Thanks, tehfailsafe, for explaining it...I just found [url=http://octanerender.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=3428&start=0] a neat little diagram from a previous
thread [/url] on the setup, but your explanation helped a lot. (not sure why I can't make a link to the thread)

Glad it wasn't bios settings or something complicated.

Found this deal for a eVGA GeForce 7200 GS Graphics adapter - 256 MB - DDR2 SDRAM for
$15 after $20 rebate at Fry's. It only needs a PCE1 slot.

Do you think that would be adequate for the display?
If not I'll go for the GT430 Odeas recommended.

[Odeas]

Eeek! 7200 GS is a bit past its sell by date.

Plus there are other cards cheaper or around the same which would offer a much better choice:

Cheaper: $9.99 After Rebate: Galaxy 210 512MB: http://www.frys.com/product/6363561?sit ... IN_RSLT_PG
• Much better perfomance over the 7200 and a bit better than the 8400.

Same: $14.99 After Rebate: ARCADE FX 8400GS 256MB: http://www.frys.com/product/6459012?sit ... IN_RSLT_PG
• Slightly faster clocks but the 210 is the better card still imo.

More: $29.99 After Rebate: Galaxy 9500GT 512MB: http://www.frys.com/product/6287800?sit ... IN_RSLT_PG
• Double your original price (and triple the 210) but about 2-3x the performance of the 210 also.

Other cards may be available at different places at different prices but I just checked Fry's cos thats the site you referenced.

I'd steer clear of the 7200 though for sure!
The 210 isn't much of a gaming card but with a GTX 460 sitting beside it you'd of course use that for games.

[megacal]

Wow! $10 for a decent display card....amazing.

Thanks for the great info...I thought the 7200 could use a PCE1 but looks like
it needs a x16 slot, too.

The 210 would probably do fine for me.

[dia]

Hi i order octane render last night i have followed it for a while and now its time to make some changes in my workflow and i think it will suite me well.
Iam going to spend like 1200 euro on new graphic cards,, today i have a geforce 275 gtx

So my questions is because iam not the best man on computer tek.
I have three pci express ports on my motherboard i have never used more than one card so where should i install them?
(i have upload pic of my motherboard.)

Is there something that i should think of ?

/DIA

[Odeas]

A card that uses x16 can be put into x8 for example, it just slows down the speed of the card slightly, which in this case as a display card won't make a bit of difference to you.

So your setup would be:

A motherboard with 2 PCIe lanes.
Nvidia 210 • With monitor plugged in.
Gtx 460 • Nothing plugged in.
A good brand power supply with 2 PCIe Connectors at around the 500-600w area. (2 for GTX460, 210 doesn't require any)

In Octane's options you'd just set the 460 as the only card to use leaving the 210 displaying everything nice and smooth

[Odeas]

Dia the 3 white PCI lanes are all 16x capable although you'll only get 2 double width cards in there (GTX4xx or 5xx series for example).

Unless you can find 3 super fast single slot cards then really your looking for 2 cards (one in the bottom slot, one in the top - the middle one is covered by the bottom card!).

2x GTX 590's are going to be the fastest setup at the moment.
They'll say they're 3GB but they are in fact 2x 1.5GB modules so you'll be be limited to 1.5GB of RAM for Octane.

For a larger memory you'd want 2x 3GB 580's, which would give you 3GB of ram however this is a slower solution.

GTX590 is 1024 Cuda Cores (as its infact 2x GTX580's on one card with slightly lowered frequencies)
GTX580 is 512 Cuda Cores.

If you can keep your scenes within a 1.5GB limit then 590's are your choice.
If you can't then your gonna have to go for 580's.

[dia]

Thanks man Well i need the memory so it will be two 580 then .

Really appreciating your help .

/DIA

[Odeas]

Just remember to get the 3GB versions