Hello everyone!I plan to purchase a new workstation tomorrow - to run 3ds Max 2011-2012 with V-Ray 2.0 and V-Ray RT GPU, Maya, AutoCAD 2D and 3D, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator… etc.
My scenes are above 10-20m polygons, I`m not making any animations and not using particles - my scenes are static, huge and detailed - I`m an graduate student of Architecture…

The Biggest problem for me is to choose one of them - Palit GTX 580 3GB or Quadro 4000 2GB, I know the GTX is better choice for GPU rendering - 1,5*Ram and 2*cuda cores of Quadro 4000… but how it is in viewport performance for static scenes with more than 10-20m or even 50m polygons? Did any of you know exactly with how many polys we can work fine in 3DsMax 2011-2012 with Quadro 4000 and GTX 580? I have to make my final choice tomorrow - so if any of you can help me, I will be veery happy!

GTX 580 is almost halve the price of Quadro 4000 - so it is the difference that will make me choice one of the computer systems I think of:

CPU:i7 3930K - 6 cores 3,2-3,9Ghz, and hope it will be overclocked to 4,6-4,8Ghz 24/7!!!
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100
MB: Gigabyte X79-UD5(s 2011 , X79 , DDR3)-
RAM: Corsair 16 GB kit 4*4GB 1600Mhz 4chanel
GPU: Palit GTX 580 3GB or PNY Quadro 4000 2GB
HDD: Corsair Force GT 120 gb Sata III - for win 7, 3DsMax, Maya… etc + working files
+
Western Digital 1TB Sata III 7200RPM - for storage
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos S 1100

OR

CPU: i7 2600K - 4 cores - overclocked to 4,6-5,0Ghz 24/7
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100
MB: Gigabyte Z68X-UD4-B3
RAM: Corsair 16 GB kit 4*4GB 1600Mhz dual chanel
GPU: PNY Quadro 4000 2GB or Palit GTX 580 3GB
HDD: Corsair Force GT 120 gb Sata III - for win 7, 3DsMax, Maya… etc + working files
+
Western Digital 1TB Sata III 7200RPM - for storage
PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
Case: Cooler Master Cosmos S 1100

They both are the same price - if they are with highlighted GPU

I`m posting the final configurations because I hope they can help any of you who have the same problem :D The first one is way better - but the prices have big role here :)

pp - Sorry for my English

Hey Adrio,

I bought my GTX 580 as an alternative to the Quadro series cards because it was cheaper and I don’t build scenes with massive amounts of polygons .  To be honest theres no way a 580 will handle 50m poly’s.  I have right now a character sculpted in ZBrush with 15m and I’m getting only 30fps in the shaded perpective viewport.  Then again my CPU is only an i7 860 so that could be the bottleneck.

If you could find a way to cut back on your polygons you may only need the 580 3GB but if you are sure the QUADRO will handle your scenes without lag then by all means get it.

I’m not that experienced in open world visualizations but in the character animation workflow it is always essential to optimize your geometry.

Also keep in mind - Even though some Quadros boast they can handle up to a billion poly’s, your CPU would choke far before you reached that level.

One of the other main reasons I didn’t pay the extra premium for a professional Quadro is that you are essentially paying for customized drivers, cooling and support.  This is what really limits the GeForce cards for working in 3D.  The high end gaming cards are very powerful (just look at the latest “Heaven” benchmark for visual prowess) they can produce in real time a far better level of effect than an actual render from a 3D app (that’s in my own opinion).

Anyway, the bottom line is, make sure that you are not paying heaps of dough on a card that will be limited by your CPU anyway.  Call NVIDIA if you have to - it’s a big investment that you will have to live with.

Let me know how it all works out.

EDIT:

Maximizing the perspective viewport brings my fps up to over 120....I KNEW my 580 should have been doing better!  Also enabling back face cull will help.

No problems.  I know exactly what it’s like antagonizing over components for a new workstation build.  But, it’s worth it when you get it right!

Good luck to you.

PS: I don’t use Max Design but I think most people find it much better than AutoCad so probably worth your time learning a few new tools.  The design prnciples will be the same anyway.

i just put together this rig

motherboard: ASUS P9X79 PRO
CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz (oc by a TPUswich on the mother board to 4.1Ghz
harddrive: Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW160G3K5 2.5” 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive
ram: 4Gx4 CORSAIR CML16GX3M4A1600C9
Power Supply: CORSAIR|850W TX850M R
fan: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011
graphic card: GIGABYTE GV-N580UD-3GI GeForce GTX 580

http://www.evermotion.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=46777
test rendering this scene at 4:16
oc 4.1Ghz 3:41

FPS test 246fps wire frame
97fps realistic + edged faces
http://www.2shared.com/file/pv8v2wuT/24_cubes_11520000polys.html

if you zip your scene i can benchmark it for you

Max 2.5 through 2012, win7 64bit.
GIGABYTE GV-N580UD-3GI GeForce GTX 580 3072MB
Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz
4Gx8 CORSAIR CML16GX3M4A1600C9