Most powerful single slot graphics card (on air)for 3DS Max?

[julianb]

Hi all,
I am in process of upgrading my hardware. What is the most powerful SINGLE SLOT graphics card that is NOT water cooled. It will be used exclusively for work in 3DS Max (not for gaming).
It has to be single slot because of space constraints in my PC case and it must not be water cooled because I don't understand anything from water cooling
NVidia or ATI- it does not matter. So far most of the reviews I found on-line focus on gaming tests and not productivity tests (like frames per second in 3D apps).

Any suggestions?
Thanks.

[jurweer]

I would recommend a quadro 2000 or 4000. (I don't know ATI though)
It is single slot and has specialized nvidia drivers for autodesk products.
I have a 4000, and am very pleased with the frame rate in maya.

[julianb]

To be honest I didn't even think of Quadro/ Fire GL cards. My main concern with them is their extremely high price.
Although if I manage to find one that's cheap and good enough I will buy it.
Thanks man.

[steveps3]

Obviously ATI won't work with Octane. It has to be a CUDA card.

[glimpse]

So You post a thread named "Most powerful single slot graphics card (on air)for 3DS Max?" - someone gives You a fair advise to buy QUADRO, and You say no..probably Next time You should write something like this:

recomend me CHEAP one slot grafic card - don't You think so? ( no offence =)

Anyway, If You don't want pricy Quadro, check this gtx ( I asume You might like those, as You have two of them (just dual slot models =) - this one is a bit thiner.

http://www.spotht.com/2011/01/kfa2-intr ... e-gtx.html

The reason why there's not so much of thin (powerful) gtx cards is the amount of heat they usually generate =) & thus majority of those sigle slotters are WCed models.

[julianb]

Thanks for the reply, man.
I am not looking for a cheap graphics card. I am ready to spend about 150.00-200.00 GBP for the single slot card. I wouldn't call that "cheap", considering it is only for viewport purposes (not rendering).
What I find expensive though is the Quadro 4000 by PNY which costs around 580.00 GBP in UK.
I guess I should have elaborated when I posted the thread, apologies for the frivolity.
As for your suggestion (GTX 460 Razor)- I was going to get that one but it's not available for UK.

[jurweer]

I got the 4000 on eBay, 450€.
Of course, that requires some luck

And to be honest, for a proper performance for high poly scenes unfortunately the options are limited (if not 'very'). The 580£ for a 4000 is a very good value/performance point compared to the 3000€ (if not more) for the quadro 6000.
Just a thought

[julianb]

I guess I will have to keep looking. Thanks for the info anyway man