256 MB VRAM (Video RAM) is recommended for Mechanica? @_@
That sounds very strange. As far as I know, all but a small fraction of
VRAM is mostly just used for textures in contemporary 3D games. Aside
of that, only a few megs so are required for the image framebuffer. CAD
applications don't use textures at all, so unless something new has
happened on the 3D front that I haven't heard about (which I don't
exclude at all), then I would assume that Mikos 128 MB VRAM is actually
way overkill.
I do however agree that 1GB of RAM is more or less required. I've got 2MB
on my current work rig, and I'm up there using it all most of the time.
This is one of the reasons why we consider a 64-bit upgrade. We could
use all of 4GB or more.
It might also be good to mention that the Radeon is to the FireGL like the
GeForce is to the Quadro - they are essentially identical except that the
drivers differ a tad bit. And the difference typically show in CAD
applications. In order to "encourage" professionals to pay three times
more for their hardware, the gaming varieties (Radeon, GeForce) lack
some hardware support and features.
I recall that my old GeForces used to suddenly lose the 3D acceleration
when rendering multiple windowed OpenGL sessions simultaneously, for
example. And my current FireGL T2 is twice as fast in ViewPerf than
an old Radeon 9600 Pro I tried, despite the fact that it is the same
silicon...
So Miko, you would probably be much helped by another 1GB-stick of
RAM or so, plus changing the vidcard to a FireGL or Quadro. That aside,
an Athlon XP at 2.45GHz is an awesome CPU.
That sounds very strange. As far as I know, all but a small fraction of
VRAM is mostly just used for textures in contemporary 3D games. Aside
of that, only a few megs so are required for the image framebuffer. CAD
applications don't use textures at all, so unless something new has
happened on the 3D front that I haven't heard about (which I don't
exclude at all), then I would assume that Mikos 128 MB VRAM is actually
way overkill.
I do however agree that 1GB of RAM is more or less required. I've got 2MB
on my current work rig, and I'm up there using it all most of the time.
This is one of the reasons why we consider a 64-bit upgrade. We could
use all of 4GB or more.
It might also be good to mention that the Radeon is to the FireGL like the
GeForce is to the Quadro - they are essentially identical except that the
drivers differ a tad bit. And the difference typically show in CAD
applications. In order to "encourage" professionals to pay three times
more for their hardware, the gaming varieties (Radeon, GeForce) lack
some hardware support and features.
I recall that my old GeForces used to suddenly lose the 3D acceleration
when rendering multiple windowed OpenGL sessions simultaneously, for
example. And my current FireGL T2 is twice as fast in ViewPerf than
an old Radeon 9600 Pro I tried, despite the fact that it is the same
silicon...
So Miko, you would probably be much helped by another 1GB-stick of
RAM or so, plus changing the vidcard to a FireGL or Quadro. That aside,
an Athlon XP at 2.45GHz is an awesome CPU.
