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Here some test, for now no texture, only a lot of polygon:

Video Card for testing selected with Nvidia Control panel (Display > Setup multiple displays), it wasn't necessary to physically remove one or the other ( \O/ ).
Both Video cards attached to the same monitor (Display port the Quadro, DVI the GeForce).
Scene City01-V1d.max from user tricota on EVERMOTION forum ( http://www.evermotion.org/vbulletin/sho ... hp?t=72251 ). All credits to him.
POLYS: 1.759.381
VERTS: 2.035.874
Opened the scene in Max, maximized the viewport and started the animation (500 frame). Taking the time with a stopwatch.

Fixed parameters:
CPU:i7 930
OS:Windows 7 64bit
System Driver: 257.15
Screen Resolution:1920x1200
RAM:12GB

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MAX Version: Design 2011

TIME: N/A error in viewport
Video CARD: Geforce GTX470
MAX Driver: Directx 9


TIME: N/A error in viewport
Video CARD: Geforce GTX470
MAX Driver: Directx 10


TIME: 12:21
Video CARD: Geforce GTX470
MAX Driver: OpenGL


TIME: 1:42
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: Directx 9


TIME: 9:07
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: Directx 10


TIME: 12:25
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: OpenGL


TIME: Performance Driver Not yet available
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: Performance Driver


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MAX Version: Design 2009

TIME: N/A error in viewport
Video CARD: Geforce GTX470
MAX Driver: Directx 9


TIME: N/A error in viewport
Video CARD: Geforce GTX470
MAX Driver: Directx 10


TIME: 12:29
Video CARD: Geforce GTX470
MAX Driver: OpenGL


TIME: 1:30
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: Directx 9


TIME: 9:12
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: Directx 10


TIME: 15:12
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: OpenGL


TIME: 1:22
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: Performance Driver 9.0 (WORKING ONLY AFTER DISABLING THE GTX470)

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There are a lot of conclusion for me (I know that is only one test, but...):
- I must try with other release of the Nvidia driver for the GTX470, because it's not acceptable that performance (the viewport was so broken that was unusable);
- The different Max version are not so different;
- the performance drivers are actually not usable in a configuration Quadro-Geforce for CUDA. They immediatly stop working after enabling again the GTX470.
- DIRECTX 9 with QUADRO is the only way to go.
- with my old Geforce 6800GT I have always worked fine.....
- Autodesk and Nvidia are playing some sort of dirty game with the driver of the gaming video card (or the GTX470 is too new and the driver are a mess).

Maybe tomorrow I will try with different version of driver (197.whatsover...)
Ciao
Luca

197.45 WHQL

Radiance

Test with the 197.45:

Fixed parameters:
CPU:i7 930
OS:Windows 7 64bit
System Driver: 197.45
Screen Resolution:1920x1200
RAM:12GB

--------------------------------------------------------------------

MAX Version: Design 2011

TIME: 1:36
Video CARD: Geforce GTX470
MAX Driver: Directx 9


TIME: 6:57
Video CARD: Geforce GTX470
MAX Driver: Directx 10


TIME: 12:32
Video CARD: Geforce GTX470
MAX Driver: OpenGL


TIME: 1:42
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: Directx 9


TIME: 9:14
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: Directx 10


TIME: 14:12
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: OpenGL


TIME: Not yet available
Video CARD: Quadro FX580
MAX Driver: Performance Driver


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With this release of the driver the viewport problem in Directx 9 was solved, and the Geforce GTX became usable. But not so different from the cheaper Quadro card.
The Quadro work very well with both the driver.
Next try with the new 258.49 when CUDA 3.1 will be implemented.

Ciao
Luca

Cool ! First of all thanks for the tests!

Seems that the GTX 470 performs a little better than the FX580. But considering that the FX580 is just an entry-level card and the GTX 480 is a high-end one, I'd say that the Quadro is much faster than the Geforce...

Buuuuut look at this:

Hi,

TIME: 70sec
Video CARD: Nvidia Quadro FX 4800
CPU: i7 920 @ 3.00GHZ
SO: Windows 7 64bits
MAX Version: 2009 x64
System Driver: 191.87
Max Driver: Direct X9 Performance drivers
Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1200
RAM: 12Gb

Not so good with this card, i'm surprised!! In user view, the all scene can be moved about 25 fps!

(taken from the forum link you posted)

We got a US$350 card that does it in 96sec and a US$1500 card that does it in 70s. We got a 30% performance difference for a 430% price.. Points for Geforce. But your time is strange, cause people with 9600GT and lots of Radeons did quite better. Also Seems that the Radeons with Catalyst 9.11 are doing really great, the best time was:

TIME: 43 sec
Video CARD: ATI sapphire 4870x2 1gb ram
CPU: I7 920 @ 2.66 ghz
SO: XP 32bit
MAX Version: 3dsmax 2009
System Driver: catalyst 9.11
Max Driver: Direct3D 9.0
Screen Resolution: 1920x1200
6 GB Ram

Do you think this is a good test for a "real world performance"? If so, the Quadro lost many many points..

Can you do this tests Radiance? Using your Quadro and Geforce?

Cheers!

Stretching this thread a bit further.
I have been using modo running on a FireGl 7700 for product shot development, but find it is slow in rendering, with a 'difficult' UI. octane seems like it would be worth a try but will not run on the ATI card. I have another system (lukewarm specs) that I could drop a GeForce GTX 470 (on sale right now) into. Would this single card in this older system compete well enough with modo to give me an idea whether I should invest further in octane?

pedrodeleo -> geforce is much cheaper from a performance point of view. it's basically the same chip with different drivers, and a different amount of memory. i'd choose a geforce over a quadro anytime, they are the same speed (if you compare the same generation / type cards) just a big price difference.

fred -> The GTX470 is an excellent card that has the 2nd best octane performance currently (the GTX480 is a bit faster). a GTX470 for octane is a joy to work with.

Radiance

The 470 is also a bit shorter than the 480 if you have a restricted case and also less power hungry -550W supply.

I'm leaning for the GTX 480, I guess in terms of Price X Performance, the GTX 480 is a big winner.

Radiance:
If you always choose Geforces over Quadros, why do you have 3 Quadro FX 3800 ? They perform much better than the Geforces you have?

I saw many people complaining about the performance of the GTX 480 in Maya and Max, they seems to be really buggy. Some of them posted in a topic I was discussing about these videocards in cgtalk and I told them to use the driver you suggested, the 197.45 WHQL. They might reply something soon..

cheers!

pedrodeleo wrote:I'm leaning for the GTX 480, I guess in terms of Price X Performance, the GTX 480 is a big winner.

Radiance:
If you always choose Geforces over Quadros, why do you have 3 Quadro FX 3800 ? They perform much better than the Geforces you have?

I saw many people complaining about the performance of the GTX 480 in Maya and Max, they seems to be really buggy. Some of them posted in a topic I was discussing about these videocards in cgtalk and I told them to use the driver you suggested, the 197.45 WHQL. They might reply something soon..

cheers!

Hey, we have many cards here in our office and i need to update my sig
my main office machine has 2x GTX480.
One GTX480 is about as fast as 4 of those older quadro FX3800's in octane render.

The only difference between quadro and geforce is drivers and max/maya are supported much better by the quadro drivers.
The best setup for a pro user is a quadro for display / modeling and a 2nd GTX400 series card (headless) in a 2nd PCI-E slot for octane rendering. That will give you lots of octane power and smooth modeling in max/maya while octane runs in the background on the GTX400, which is way faster for octane than an equally priced quadro.

Radiance

Radiance

Hey, we have many cards here in our office and i need to update my sig
my main office machine has 2x GTX480.
One GTX480 is about as fast as 4 of those older quadro FX3800's in octane render.

The only difference between quadro and geforce is drivers and max/maya are supported much better by the quadro drivers.
The best setup for a pro user is a quadro for display / modeling and a 2nd GTX400 series card (headless) in a 2nd PCI-E slot for octane rendering. That will give you lots of octane power and smooth modeling in max/maya while octane runs in the background on the GTX400, which is way faster for octane than an equally priced quadro.

Radiance

Radiance, do you have good performance in Max/Maya viewport with the PC that has two GTX 480?? I saw many people complaining about the performance of the GTX 480 in Max, saying that it's laggy and really worse than their old cards like 9800GT or 8800GT.

Which driver do you use? Any special one? Any unusual configuration?

Cheers!