ATI FireGL V7600 Video Card-Working and Gamming??

[Narendra]

Hi I'm in the process of building my new system,I want to advance in the 3D and video editing field,even though I am pretty much a noob in both areas I want to invest in a system that I know will be able to cope with workloads in the future.The problem however is that im a serious gamer , and I want to know if this card is any good for gaming.Im getting a 24" LCD which I think is 1900x1600(cant rem the exact figure from the back of my head 🙁).Or do you guys have any recommendations Ill be glad to hear them.

Thank You
Narendra.

 

[boner]

mmmmm.... yeah

 

[babybudha]

I wouldn't invest in a V7600 unless you were serious and hardcore into CAD/3D creation/Simultion. These cards are meant to be super stable and accurate in there calculations. But I don't think they are very good for gaming.

I would just stick to:

1) Good Quad processor
2) Decent Videocard (ie. ATi 3870 or Nvidia 8800 GTS)
3) Lots of RAM! (At least 4Gbs)

 

[brownlove]

No Ma'am (I'm assuming you are female from the name. Please forgive me if I'm incorrect). This is not the right video card for you. If you want a "serious gamer" video card, you've got to buy one that's optimized for gaming. Usually, the specs for these cards are the same or similar as the professional (workstation) class cards, just less expensive. The workstation/professional graphics cards seem to be optimized for certian 3D, CAD, and graphic engineering applications. The high powered gaming cards can handle the same workloads, and provide you with a great gaming experience. I had the same question as you some time ago. From my research on several tech websites, I learned the biggest difference was in the cards BIOS and drivers. Imagine this: the same chips on the video card, just programmed and marketed differently. The manufacturers and distributers can sell to different market segments at different price points. Hope this helps a bit. I'm just skimming the surface, but if you check out some of the other tech sites, you'll read the same stuff. Get a Radeon HD 3870. The card you want is over 2x as much. You shouldn't be disappointed.

 

[bdcrlsn]

The AMD/ATI FireGL and nVidia Quadro cards are designed for mainly workstation use, such as CAD and 3D animation programs. Some of those cards don't even support DirectX, so it would be your best bet to use a Radeon or GeForce card, which are designed for games.

 

[babybudha]

Here is a nice little review on the ATi V7600.

http://www.hothardware.com/articles/ATI_FireGL_V7600_512_MB_Workstation_Graphics_Card/?page=1

Shows what I expected. They are very specialized for workstation apps, but mediocre in gaming performance in respect to their price.

I would get a 8800 GTS 512Mb, or a ATI 3870. The 8800 GTS would be better for high rez gaming (ie. 1900x1200), and when you AA for increased visual gaming quality, but I think I read somewhere that the Ati architcture works better for workstation apps (not 100% sure though).

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

That review actually shows that the FireGL is competant at gaming, with it performing well against the GTS, in fact it was so interesting that it did so well that it was worthy of passing along to other people in PMs when it first launched. Their test (be it a small one) shows that the FireGL (HD2900Pro based) does remaing competative with it's Geforce Gaiming rival the GTS-320, performing basically the same as the HD2900Pro does;

That being said, the main thing to remember is that the heavy lifting is still mainly done by CPU/Memory/HDD, and if you look at the results of the first workstation test (which is a work-unit/time test, not fps), it shows that the actual output performance is very much unaffected by the graphics card where the GTS outperforms the Quadro, the main thing that the workstation cards help with is the viewport acceleration for previews etc, and they add a few tweak features in the drivers including support for higher levels of AA. This will not affect final output quality or speed.

The 8800 GTS would be better for high rez gaming (ie. 1900x1200), and when you AA for increased visual gaming quality, but I think I read somewhere that the Ati architcture works better for workstation apps (not 100% sure though).

I wouldn't put the GTS-320 in there for high res gaming, maybe the GF8800GT/GTS-512 and HD3870, but not the GF880GTS-320 which just dies as if jumping off a cliff once you kick in the AA/Res, which is the same that the HD2900Pro-256/V7600 would experience though, so it's not like either are really suited for high end gaming.

As for the last comment, that does seem to be the case for pretty much the first time in a long time (long have the Quadros reigned unchallenged), however it's still a here/there kinda of things with both doing things a little better than the other. The main thing is performance/value is hugely in the new HD series of FireGL's favour, but there are still alot of reasons to buy a Quadro, especially for certain apps that play favourites, and also for some driver tweaks that favour one or the other in some apps.

At some time you have to decide what you need, and IMO unless you absolutely need a workstation card, then getting a solid gaming card saves you money and usually gives you more stable gaming performance (if you thought driver support / bug fixes for gaming cards was slow, just wait for it to come to official workstation drivers).

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Some of those cards don't even support DirectX, so it would be your best bet to use a Radeon or GeForce card, which are designed for games.

They all support DX. There is not a single card out there that doesn't anymore.

However their drivers may not be as optimized for DX as their gaming counterparts. However remember that there are still some workstation apps that are either OGL & DX, or even DX only, despite that most are still OGL.

The main concern here is whether the card need their driver tweaks to make them game well, and if so are they included in the workstation driver package.

The best solution is the SoftGL and SoftQuadro options, but they are still very tricky right now, and unless you know why you need them, not worth the hassle.

 

[aznstriker92]

Man don't you guys know that the higher end workstation cards are super powerful? I think when people deve. games they use workstation graphics. For like the crysis trailers weren't they done with workstation graphics? I mean it looks like the Very High setting with really smooth framerates.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Azn, that's not correct.

Crysis was developed primarily on X1900s and GF8800s. Most of the heavy lifting in developing the game is the developers using massive CPU power to either emulate future supported features/effects or performance.

The thing is seeing that the FireGL and Quadro cards don't come out (even from the plant) until long after their gaming counterparts, you will pretty much never see games developed on workstation cards for the heavy lifting, the workstation card will be used for modeling, but most of the game development will be with the highest end gaming cards they can use.

 

[aznstriker92]

My apologies. I heard that from somewhere and didn't know it was wrong. Most reviews of High end workstation cards where people buy them claim to get crazy frame rates in games.