Hi there,

Firstly I apologise greatly if you’ve seen this thread too many times but after the research I have done on the internet not one review will ever conclusively give an answer to this question, and each reviewer usually says one is better than the other at what they are designed for.

My question is, is it worth paying for the Quadro 4000 (Im looking at using it for 3ds Max Design, Revit Architecture, AutoCAD) or for a GTX 580. The GTX 580 can come in models with VRAM of 3GB. The Quadro although is has drivers written only for the CAD type use. This is what confuses me because many say the speeds for rendering are much better than the GTX series. Although some people will say I’ll get exactly the same performance.

So rendering wise in 3ds Max, is the Quadro worth the drop in money? Or is the GTX 580 a better choice to go with? Which do you think is better for the programs I listed above (absolutely no gaming)?

Kind Regards,

Jack.

Do you plan on using Adobe CS5...or better, down the road?

3ds Max 9 thru 2013
Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit OS SP1
Dual Intel® Xeon® 6 core X5650 @ 2.67GHz CPU 36GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000
450GB HDD (x3) and 2TB HDD

3ds Max 2012 Certified Professional Models to Motion

Well for the University degree Im looking at doing (Bachelor of Architecture) they do not currently use CS5, nor do I have any knowledge on the actual program. So I have to say no. Down the track in 2-4 years possibly depending on the requirements and whether its beneficial, by then though Id have upgraded. So no need for thoughts on CS5 at the moment.

Ulrich9 12 April 2011 11:00 AM

So rendering wise in 3ds Max, is the Quadro worth the drop in money? Or is the GTX 580 a better choice to go with?

rendering has nothing to do with GPU unless you are using Iray or another GPU renderer. just get the 580 3GB

3Ds Max 2012+Sp2 +SAP, Vray 2.2, Photoshop CS5.1
OS - Windows 7 Pro x64 Sp1
sys1: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB 1600mhz DDR3 Ram, MSI GTX 580 (3GB) (295.51), OCZ vertex 2 120GB SSD, Wacom Intuos 3
sys2: i7 2600k (OC to 4.2GHz), 16GB 1600mhz DDR3 Ram, MSI GTX 560 (1GB) (295.51), wacom bamboo

Companioncube 13 April 2011 01:39 PM

Ulrich9 12 April 2011 11:00 AM

So rendering wise in 3ds Max, is the Quadro worth the drop in money? Or is the GTX 580 a better choice to go with?

rendering has nothing to do with GPU unless you are using Iray or another GPU renderer. just get the 580 3GB

Rendering has nothing to do with GPU?
What decade is this? GPUs now have quite a bit to do with Vray RT, Quicksilver, and iRay renderings. Anyway, I agree with the GTX 580 3gb recommendation...if you can find one. EVGA has one coming out soon. I use a Quadro FX3800 at the office and a feeble 1gb GTS 250 at home...and can’t tell the difference with Max. GTX cards are the best for the buck imo.

David Arbogast
Interior Design and Architectural Visualization

3DS Max 2011-64 | Windows 7-64 | Vray 2.0
I7-975 3.33 gHz Processor | 12 gb Memory

it looks like the price difference is less than $200
the quadro 4000 runs about $800
and the GTX 580 3gb i found, “palit geforce GTX 580” will snag $630 out off your wallet.
the quadro suppose to have a better framerate for 3dwork than the gtx, but with all the bugs in max2012 and all the post in this forum about lag, who knows

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

Good points made, overall I do think the GTX 580 is the better option, especially since this won’t be a computer made for intense work, just the assignment stuff. Cheers guys!

Rendering has nothing to do with GPU?
What decade is this? GPUs now have quite a bit to do with Vray RT, Quicksilver, and iRay renderings.

GPU based renderings are very poor in quality compared to standard offline renderers like mental ray.

I haven’t tried VRay in a while nor its RT version. I could be wrong there. Back in prior to VRay 1.5 days, mental ray was undisputed king of the hill. Imo, it still is. Also could be wrong now.

it looks like the price difference is less than $200
the quadro 4000 runs about $800 and the GTX 580 3gb i found, “palit geforce GTX 580” will snag $630 out off your wallet. the quadro suppose to have a better framerate for 3dwork than the gtx, but with all the bugs in max2012 and all the post in this forum about lag, who knows

quadro 4000 has 256 cuda cores. gtx 580 has 512 cuda cores. I really wont go further into it, as I assume everyone knows how to multiply by 2.

I’d suggest getting gtx 570 (448 cores), or even gtx 560 (384). Chance that you will need more than 1gb of video ram are astronomical if you’re not working for pixar. Chances that you can tell the difference in speed b/w gtx 560 and 580 in Max are also astronomical. Chances that you notice difference in their price? Those are actually not that bad.

p.s. I never used revit. I dont know why you’d want to use it if you have max, nor what GPU does it like. If you know how to use Max, you dont need any other 3d app- just my opinion.

EoDEo

Ideas drift like petals on the wind. You have only to lift your face to the breeze.

For better rendering, get multi cpu than gpu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny5Sgqfpguw