OTOY Forums

What's the thought on the GT240, I can run across the street to BestBuy they are only $80.

Are they decent enough to use with Octane

GT240 is'nt that fast...
maybe try to find a cheap GTX260?

Radiance

these threads are pretty getting mixed up..
I just thought to mention in case anyone is looking at those numbers I gave before that I made another scene today and managed to load 3.5 million polys in 32 bit with my pc specs. Just simple mats though no textures.
I dont know the reason for the difference but its good to know there's a little more space there..550mb filled by geometry.

what i need to get for the video card is the one that i can still use for maybe about 2 years more. and what is the best card you can recommmend that octane will be great working with

ok guys, i just checked my video card of the pc here at my company and its nvidia quadro fx 3500 with 256mb memory, is that enough for octane?
it 64bit window xp HP workstation. i cant install latest driver because it all handle by our I.T. but will let him know about octane. sure he will love it too. so is quadro fx 3500 enough? thanks

I am sorry the Quadro 3500 isnt a Cuda capable card.
Its based on the 7900GTX. You need at least a series 8xxx gpu.
There is a list in the GPU forum of Cuda cards with the less suitable ones noted.

You could keep the Quadro for display and add a gaming card for dedicated Octane use if you have another pci-e x16 slot. A GTS 250/1gb or GTX 260/896mb would do if you want to mind the pennies. You would still plug in you monitor to the Quadro and use it for CAD or whatever you do.
You will need to mod a recent Quadro driver (just add a few lines of text to a list) and install it manually to allow the gaming card to use the same driver as the 3500.
It *may* introduce some instability doing this across 2 cards that are a few generations apart.
Possibly the IT guy wouldnt like this idea either.
Although this would be the cheapest way its probably better to talk them into upgrading the 3500 - a fairly old card now -if possible.
A Quadro FX3800 would be pretty good for Octane at 192 cores and 1gb but its MRRP US$900. An FX1800 is a bit less at $600 but only 64 cores and 768mb. It would be 'ok', it depends how seriously you need to render. The display may lag a little for Octane with the 1800 too. If you are going to spend the money a 3800 would be the better proposition.
I guess you could reuse it in your next workstn update to please management.
HTH