Radeon 4870x2 vs firegl v8600

[somepoolhustler]

I am an architect and am building a new render system, I know that the firegl cards render quickly but they do cost huge amounts of money. I also do some casual gaming but not too much anymore. My question is a price based one, a good firegl card will cost at least 1000 for the type of renders that I do, and will have 1 gig of video mem, how would its render performance compare to 2 4870x2 in crossfire which have 4 gigs of memory and a faster speed while being cheaper? I suppose the comparable nvidia cards could apply to the question, quattro vs geforce

 

[cjl]

The FireGL will absolutely destroy the 4870x2 for the professional, OpenGL based applications.

 

[somepoolhustler]

I mainly run 3d max, Autocad, and Photoshop which I believe all can be run in direct3d, is it better to run these programs in OpenGL if possible and use a FireGl card?

 

[mcnuggetofdeath]

the 4870x2 is clearly going to be cheaper for the hardware you get. So assuming the programs can be rendered in D3D, then grab the 4870x2. OpenGL isnt so vastly superior to D3D that it warrants being used when D3D is available. Especially considering the price difference.

 

[somepoolhustler]

cool, thanks for the help

 

[Zenthar]

Most rendering programs like 3DSMax and Autocad benefit a lot from "workstation" cards and not much from "mainstream" cards. I doubt the 4870x2 would yield any benefits.