NEW GRAPHICS CARD

[megacal]

Do you guys use PassMark to compare cards?

It doesn't give a score on each
version (ASUS vs eVGA vs Palit, etc) or model (1gb vs 2gb), but seems to
at least give a good way to see where it falls on the scale.

Saw another site that compares the specs, but the PassMark page makes it pretty easy.

What do you think? Was going to post it for others who are bewildered by the multitude of
choices.

[tehfailsafe]

Just bought a 1.5gb gtx580. Here's my findings using the standard trench scene to benchmark.

Code: Select all

Direct Lighting - 1000 samples
GTX 470 SC        cuda 3.2	10.18 Ms/s	  19.42 FPS	0:58
2x GTX 470    	 cuda 3.0	14.02 Ms/s     26.74 FPS	0:42
GTX 580 stock	  cuda 3.2	13.98 Ms/s	  26.67 FPS	0:42


Pathtracing - 1000 samples
GTX 470 SC     	cuda 3.2	2.32 Ms/s	4.45 FPS	4:18
2x GTX 470	     cuda 3.0	3.91 Ms/s	7.45 FPS	2:30
GTX 580 stock  	cuda 3.2	3.20 Ms/s	6.11 FPS	3:03

[Odeas]

Hmm.. The passmark site shows a GTX580 being quicker than a GTX590 which makes no sense unless the application is not taking advantage of the 590's dual gpu setup (which is 2x GTX580's underclocked slightly).

Nice comparison tehfailsafe, the dual 470's actually work out a cheaper buy than the single 580 and are 22% quicker by your pathtracing samples.

[tehfailsafe]

Though, to note, the 470s were OC'd and the 580 is out of the box.
I'm sure I could crank up the 580 a bit and make up that difference.


That said, I sold my 2 470's to buy the 580 and am extremely happy with it.
The 580 runs 10c cooler, much much quieter, should hold it's value longer ( after Kepler comes out, im guessing any 400 cards will drop dramatically ), and I can fit 4 of them in my case. I can't fit 8 470s...

[megacal]

The passmark site shows a GTX580 being quicker than a GTX590 which makes no sense

-Odeas

Yeah, that is bizarre....maybe typo?

Well, I bit the bullet and got the parts today...about 2x more than I had planned, but life is short
and petrol is getting more expensive together with milk, bread, etc.

Hope to have time tonight to put it together....the guy at Fry's says it only takes him about 20 min
for the hardware.

The Galaxy 210 515mb deal was up, so I got the 210 1gb instead, which after rebate is still
only $24 vs $29 for the 515mb after rebate.

But for now I'm keeping the GTX 460 and see how Octane runs on it.

[megacal]

OMG! It didn't blow up when I turned it on!

Just now loading Win7 64...then will load Octane and
try to render a scene...~6hr from now if all goes well.

Thanks again Odeas, Jaberwocky, & tehfailsafe for coaching me through
the whole thing...your suggestions and feedback were indespensible.

Later...
so near yet so far!
The new machine is working great!
...installed drivers for the GTX460 for Octane, and for the Galaxy 210 for the display,
installed Octane beta 64, but am getting an error when I try to start Octane....I started a new thread about it
so others can find it if they have the same problem.

[megacal]

Hey guys!

Yahoooo! Octane is up!

Had to get an ethernet card ($22) to make it happy.

Just tried to render a scene from Carrara....probably too big....
says it's using the 210 instead of the 460, but at least it's
working.

Gotta go to work, dang! Will work out the kinks later.

Happy camper.

[megacal]

Just an update,

the cards are working great, Octane is totally awesome!!!

Worth all hoops I had to jump through. Am just learning how to
light a scene with an HDRI....the realtime rendering is just amazing.

Hope to be posing renders this weekend.

Thanks for all the great help mates!!

[yoyoz]

The passmark site shows a GTX580 being quicker than a GTX590 which makes no sense

-Odeas

Yeah, that is bizarre....maybe typo?

Same way GTX 260, 275, 280 and 285 are rated faster than the 295. IMHO those benchmarks are completely irrelevant.

[dia]

Sure this have been asked before but can i have one 580gtx 3gb and one 275 gtx 896mb installed at the same time and get better performence in Octane ?