Video Card Specifications and Blender

For a given video card price point there is a trade-off between the following specifications. Which specs will have the most “bang for your buck” in Blender?

  1. Amount of Video RAM (256MB or 512MB)
  2. Speed of Video RAM (1400MHZ, 1600MHZ, 2000MHZ)
  3. Core Processing Speed (540MHZ, 620MHZ, 680MHZ)
  4. Memory Interface (64-bit, 128-bit)

Here is a comparison chart link to some of the video cards I’m looking at. Which one would you buy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+4017+1305520548+1069609641+4801&StoreType=7&CompareItemList=N82E16814150229%2CN82E16814127284%2CN82E16814150230%2CN82E16814130290%2CN82E16814150258%2CN82E16814121069%2CN82E16814133198%2CN82E16814130311%2CN82E16814143112%2CN82E16814127319&bop=And

Anyone have any input on this topic?

well they are all identical accept for the clock speeds so i would go with the one with the highest clock speeds the 8600gts and just a note in nvidia naming schemes the gts is always better than the gt (save for the old 8800gts vs 8800gt) so i would go with the 8800gt and a higher memory bus is only good for high levels of real time anti aliasing for instance the 8800gtx has a higher memory bus than the 8800 gt the the difference is only noticable at high resolutions with aa and af on. But if i were you i would wait for a little while maybe a couple weeks until they get the geforce 9 series out because the 9600 is going to be a way better card than the 8600

the 8800 gt is currently the best “bang for buck” though for most blender work a mid->high range 7 series card is perfectly adequate

Thanks guys.

This is probably why the 8600 and 8800 series are so cheap now…

While searching the web I ran across this link from 2002: http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-3447.html

Technology has come a long way since 2002. I especially like this comment:
“get a Matrox G200 with 8Mb of RAM. also make sure you get at least a PII 200Mhz. They are rockin.”

nah the 8800 is not that much cheaper maybe on release it will be and then i will be in luck cus ill buy another 8800gt and run them in sli and lay down the law on almost any game save for microsoft’s newest benchmark test of course (crysis)

MorbidDog. Your gonna need a heft power supply to run two 880GTs!

For the price, the MSI 8600GTS is the best buy on your list. I have an 8800GT and an 8600GT. The 8600GT does well with Blender. The 8800GT…well…it’s awesome but also more expensive.

I bought this card http://www.ncixus.com/products/27328/88YFF6HUFEXX/Galaxy%20Technology/

It is GREAT!!! Right now it’s only $189 after rebate. I removed the HSF and scraped off the paste. It looked like they applied it with a caulk gun. I then put some Arctic Silver 5 on and it runs nice and cool 50 - 60 C after playing Crysis for an hour or two.

Phil