Nvidia Quadro NVS - anyone?

[Scott D Davis]

I got a new computer at the office, and it has an Nvidia Quadro NVS video card. Anyone have any thoughts/advice/opinions on this video card? Its got a video cable that has plugs for 1 and 2, so I think it supports dual monitors.

Oh, the other specs: HP Compaq Tower, 2.8 GHz P4, 1 Gig of Ram.

First impressions: FAST!

[noah]

Scott,

I'm thinking about getting a Dell Precision workstation with that card as well as 2 GB of ram and Pentium 4 - 3 Ghz.

64MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro NVS 280, Dual VGA Capable

Do you still think that's a fast card? Any problems?

Thanks!

[Scott D Davis]

I have no problems at all with my laptop. It's been plenty fast, and has had little trouble handling our larger models.

[iru69]

Scott,

I'm thinking about getting a Dell Precision workstation with that card as well as 2 GB of ram and Pentium 4 - 3 Ghz.

We have that same Dell Precision 370 configuration (except we only have 1 GB ram). We use it as a general office computer, but we do have revit on it running in demo mode. I have to say, I'm fairly impressed with it considering it's really an entry level card (from what I understand, it's more oriented towards the 2D/multimedia market).

My primary workstation is the Dell Precision 360 P4 3Ghz 1 GB ram w/ the nVidia Quadro FX500 card (which unfortunately isn't currently available on the Precision 370) and it's definitely faster than the NVS280. How much faster is hard to gauge, but it will probably be most noticable if you use a lot of shadows - it takes a few seconds for them to appear on the NVS280 compared to almost instantly on the Quadro FX500 (if you want to tell me how to use the revit benchmark to compare the two, I'd be curious myself to find out). I'm not a fan of ATI, but the fireGL card they sell with the Precision 370 may be worth the extra few bucks (it's about equivalent in performance to the FX500).

Not that you asked, but if you plan on having the computer for more than a year, I would suggest considering a faster P4, which will make the biggest difference in performance. While 3GHz isn't slow, I think it's bottom of the line for a new computer (I've always been happy with a ~$1,000 workstation, but revit has bumped that up to ~$1,500). Unless you're already working on very large models where you know that you'll benefit from 2 GB ram, you might be better off going with a faster processor. I have yet to hit the 1 GB ceiling (as far as I'm aware of), while I hit 100% CPU utilization all the time. Ram is easy to upgrade at a later date, and much cheaper through an outfit like crucial.com. I'd be really interested if there's a differing opinion out there about the CPU versus ram issue.

HTH.

[Scott Hopkins]

My primary workstation is the Dell Precision 360 P4 3Ghz 1 GB ram w/ the nVidia Quadro FX500 card (which unfortunately isn't currently available on the Precision 370) and it's definitely faster than the NVS280. How much faster is hard to gauge, but it will probably be most noticable if you use a lot of shadows - it takes a few seconds for them to appear on the NVS280 compared to almost instantly on the Quadro FX500
Thats good to know that a better video card will draw shadows faster. I couldn't get a definitive answer from the factory on this one. Thank for the info!

[iru69]

I couldn't get a definitive answer from the factory on this one. Thank for the info!
Glad to offer my finding - however I want to caution that until an actual expert chimes in, it's not *definitive* - my files aren't large enough to make a difference of more than a couple of seconds, so the possibility exists that it's my perception or due to other system factors.

That being said, it makes sense - OpenGL, which is implemented through the graphics card, has the greatest affect on effects such as shadows. The speed of the graphics card affects the generation of real-time views and spinning around the model, etc.

To my great surprise, I only recently found out that a fast graphics card has negligible affect on rendering performance - that takes place almost entirely through the CPU (EDIT: at least for accurender - I don't know about every other render package out there).