video cards

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for a good video card for rendering in lightworks.
I've followed a link to Archicadwiki where they have tested the nvidia Quadro FX range. I was looking at the fx 580 as an entry level card but then saw there is the Quadro fx 380 LP which is around $100 cheaper and not mentioned in the tests.

Can anyone please tell me if this card is worth buying and will still produce better quality then the gaming cards.

thanks for your help

[Laszlo Nagy]

When you are rendering in LightWorks, the process is mainly using the processor, not the graphics card. So you should have a 4-core or 8-core computer to achieve fast rendering. Just make sure you do not set Antialiasing to "Best" because then only one processor core will be used. With other settings, all of them are used.
The graphics card mostly counts when you are using OpenGL in the 3D Window.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply.
I'm not the most tech savvy person when it comes to how the Archicad rendering process is done. I've just recently ordered the Prof Rendering DVD so that should really open my eyes up.

I want to create more photorealistic renders so will the video card actually enhance the quality of the image in the 3d window prior to rendering in lightworks.

[Laszlo Nagy]

GRIMALDI wrote:
Thanks for your reply.
I'm not the most tech savvy person when it comes to how the Archicad rendering process is done. I've just recently ordered the Prof Rendering DVD so that should really open my eyes up.

I want to create more photorealistic renders so will the video card actually enhance the quality of the image in the 3d window prior to rendering in lightworks.

No, the video card will display pretty much the same thing in OpenGL in 3D regardless of how advanced the card is.
ArchiCAD's OpenGL implementation is not that sophistifated.
A better card can display things faster when you are moving around the model in OpenGL.
But even a middle-priced card has enough horsepower so you don't have to buy a very advanced one for ArchiCAD.

[Arcadia]

I just replaced my dual Geforce 9800GT's with dual Quadro FX 3700's. These are expensive cards but I found a couple really cheap on ebay;) They have the same sort of architecture as the geforce, same memory etc however I find them far more stable. I don't get any video card crashes any more when under heavy load. Trace and reference also works better. The refreshng of layouts is much better (ie with the geforce once the rebuild process had finished I would have to drag the page a little for the rebuilt model to show but with the quadros it refreshes instantly. Overall I would say it is worth having the Quadro's if you don't spend too much. And the biggest difference is in the 2d environmnent - the 3D window performs pretty much the same. And yes they make no difference in rendering - I cut my render time in half going from core 2 duo processor to an 8 core Core i7 920.