Do you NEED Quadro/FireGL for 3D?

M

MoreDents

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 9, 2008
Messages
294
I keep hearing you need Quadro or FireGL to really take advantage of 3D programs like Maya, etc. But is it really worth it?

Will this suffice? (this was recommended)
ATI Radeon 4870

Any other suggestions for around that price?

It's for my friend (3D modeler, After Effects, and semi-gamer) and we need it ASAP and are in a dire situation.
Thanks! :D

It's for this system:
Core i7 920
X58 mobo
6GB DDR3
750W
Vista 64
 
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...but to put it in perspective, a softmodded 8800 GTX (using Quadro drivers, showing up as a Quadro card) would be faster than a 4890 in 3DSMax or Maya.
 
Thanks for the replies

1)
Hmm, seems like people want me to softmod. Is it stable?

2)
And, does the ATI Radeon 4870 have FireGL capabilities?

3)
Which one would be better if I don't go the softmod option?
ATI Radeon 4870 or GeForce GTX 260

The point of this thread is because we want to replace our $440 FX1700 that we just bought...Too expensive and not up to par
 
Yes, softmodding is stable, though you may have to try a couple of different driver sets initially to find something that works well. Once you do you should not have any problems. At very least I never did back when I was doing it.

Everything I can find suggests a FX1700 is basically an 8600 GTS... which is an utter piece of trash card, so no wonder it's working badly for you. What I would suggest you do is pick up an 8800 GTX used for $90-100 and softmod it; that would give you the rough equivalent of a Quadro FX 5600 if I'm reading the comparison charts over at TechARP correctly. An 8600 GTS has a truly pathetic 32 stream processors... an 8800 GTX has 128, and 4x the number of TMUs and ROPs to go with them. It should be more than 4X faster as it also has a FAR wider memory bus (384 bits to the 8600's 128 bits).

Unfortunately I don't know enough about the current state of softmodding to tell you if a GTX 260 is even moddable -- perhaps someone else can chime in there. If it is moddable, so far as I can tell it would be equivalent to a Quadro FX 4800. I also don't know about the Radeon 4870 or any other current ATI solutions -- the 4870 doesn't have official FireGL capabilities, if that's what you're asking.
 
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MoreDents said:
Thanks for the replies

1)
Hmm, seems like people want me to softmod. Is it stable?

2)
And, does the ATI Radeon 4870 have FireGL capabilities?

3)
Which one would be better if I don't go the softmod option?
ATI Radeon 4870 or GeForce GTX 260

The point of this thread is because we want to replace our $440 FX1700 that we just bought...Too expensive and not up to par
Click to expand...

not sure about the current generation but I can attest to a 3850 and a 8800GTX working well, actually the 3850 1gb does better as an OpenGL card then a gaming card
 
silent-circuit said:
Unfortunately I don't know enough about the current state of softmodding to tell you if a GTX 260 is even moddable -- perhaps someone else can chime in there. If it is moddable, so far as I can tell it would be equivalent to a Quadro FX 4800. I also don't know about the Radeon 4870 or any other current ATI solutions -- the 4870 doesn't have official FireGL capabilities, if that's what you're asking.
Click to expand...

There is more info in an older HardOCP thread, here. Among other things is this quote: "The last working soft mod with the GeForce is the 6800 series. After that nVidia blocked the hardware in the silicon."

Since the Quadro FX 4800 costs $1600, it should not be surprising that nVidia has felt highly motivated to prevent a $200 card from competing with it.
 
evilsofa said:
There is more info in an older HardOCP thread, here. Among other things is this quote: "The last working soft mod with the GeForce is the 6800 series. After that nVidia blocked the hardware in the silicon."

Since the Quadro FX 4800 costs $1600, it should not be surprising that nVidia has felt highly motivated to prevent a $200 card from competing with it.
Click to expand...

...but that thread is outdated; check the TechARP article here -- http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=539 (Mega666 posted the original link, I am just reposting).

The methods have changed; older softmods worked at a driver level, but newer ones are lower level and thusly harder to block.

The 8800 GTX is known to be softmoddable via RivaTuner, and considering the method used (a boot strap that changes the hardware identification codes) it is theoretically possible that it would work with a GTX 260 as well.

I wish we could get someone in the thread with a 260 to test, because there's zero risk with the procedure, it's easily reversable, and it'd be pretty clear one way or the other after they ran a couple of benches. At very least it would be quickly obvious if it wasn't going to work because Nvidia had figured out how to get around the bootstrapping method.
 
evilsofa said:
There is more info in an older HardOCP thread, here. Among other things is this quote: "The last working soft mod with the GeForce is the 6800 series. After that nVidia blocked the hardware in the silicon."

Since the Quadro FX 4800 costs $1600, it should not be surprising that nVidia has felt highly motivated to prevent a $200 card from competing with it.
Click to expand...

like said above RivaTuner changed that, now there does seem to be a few programs that don't like it (read show the same performance mod or unmodded) but I can attest to the two cards I mentioned working.
 
if you hate money its worth it. assuming ur not big business who could really careless about the diff in price
 
silent-circuit said:
The 8800 GTX is known to be softmoddable via RivaTuner, and considering the method used (a boot strap that changes the hardware identification codes) it is theoretically possible that it would work with a GTX 260 as well.

I wish we could get someone in the thread with a 260 to test, because there's zero risk with the procedure, it's easily reversable, and it'd be pretty clear one way or the other after they ran a couple of benches. At very least it would be quickly obvious if it wasn't going to work because Nvidia had figured out how to get around the bootstrapping method.
Click to expand...

The softmod will work as long as there is a Quadro equivalent of that card you're modding. It looks you should be able to mod a GTX 260 to a FX 4800.
 
There is a big driver issue between the 4870 and the firepro cards, the fire pro are quite a bit faster, along with being more percise in rendering.

Not sure if the ati cards can be soft-modded also.

The real issue is that the consumer drivers for the 4800 series have none of the enhancements or optimizations for the professional level software.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_firepro_v8700&num=1

A softmodded 8800gtx is probably the cheapest way to go for good performance.

Browsing the guru3d, doesn't look like they have the 4870 softmod working yet also.
 
if you value your time, and you do alot of work, yes.
you can get away with the 8800gtx if it is modded.
 
You will having nothing but headaches with ATI when using Maya.

You will be better getting a 9800/8800@1GB.

I was using a Quadro(Med grade), the only good Quadro's are the Highend. and thats at least $1500.

Just get a Geforce.
 
Sigh...softmods aren't nearly as good or doable as they used to be. If its too good to be true..it is.

I was using a Quadro(Med grade), the only good Quadro's are the Highend. and thats at least $1500.
Click to expand...

Totally not true by the way. Mid level ones where you can find good deals on ebay and other places (eg. a 1700 for 200-300) are totally worth it for 3d artists.
 
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