512mb graphics card

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does this look any good?
Depends on what you're going to do with it. Gaming, eh. Modeling, good. CAD-work, definetly.
didn't know there was a 512mb graphics card even if it is on the expensive side
Sure there are. There's not a lot visible in the market, because most people don't need those kinds of boards and even fewer can afford them.

Specialty hardware can get pretty wild. Some leading manufacturers, like 3Dlabs, ATI-Corp, eVGA, and PNY, will make custom cards for anyone with the bucks. Of course, if the card is going to require development and software work, you pay for that, too.

The thing to look at right now, if yer into big bucks and big power, is having some of these suckers in PCI-Express with a dual link.
 
lol if only i could afford it, maybe at the end on the month, i would be using it for some autocad2005 and flashmx and a whole lot of gaming, i think i'll wait for 512mb to be released main stream, dont wanna break the bank and PCI-E is a definite as soon as i can get it with amd
 
higher memory cards are for OpenGL Acceleration, though in general usage, nVidia 6800 series is coming with 512MB, as when they'll come out, there wont be any change in the chip design, just a new version will pop out with 512MB.
 
just a new version will pop out with 512MB.
Yup...that'll be insane..but yeah that card you linked to is for high-end 3D developers and such...you didn't think they would render movies like Final Fantasy with a GeforceFX card did ya :p That particular card would probably be good just at 3D modeling programd and CAD and stuff like that already mentioned. Doesn't mean it would necessarily handle 3D games because that would take a different architecture, drivers, DirectX compatibilities, such like that. It might not have the 'instructions' to tell it how to draw the graphics of games ya know? But is built to draw lines and wire mesh screens and then fully render out those created images.
 
like Final Fantasy with a GeforceFX card
I'm not taking a shot at ya, but they often actually make those films with a lot less.

See, the creators run high-end machines with a more-or-less minimalist perspective view, knowing what their tools do and how things are going to turn out. It's the same way a filmaker takes shots of a movie, knowing that once he's done editing and adjusting the color and speeds, things will look different.

Then, once they've finished a set of frames (about 30) they throw it all into a compile dump, which chugs away overnight. An array of machines running multiple graphics processors churn away at the data, producing (the next day) the completed stack of frames, fully animated and rendered at movie-quality.

The frames are then reviewed and either accepted, or re-run the following night. It's a long and hard process. Much of "Toy Story" was compiled on machines running cards you could buy for $50 bucks today. They just weren't machines you could build with on the fly. It's not really practical to have a full-production view, in real time, anyway.

If you want a prime example of the outcomes of these processes, you can view the Extras on the Shrek movie DVD. They show (in the bloopers section) several night's worth of compile screw-ups, with collections of "rejected" screen material where shots were setup with faulty settings.

If you ever get a chance to visit the Dreamworks or Pixar studios, their workstations are a trip!...but looking around the corner you see a Matrix world of little machines that do the actual rendering work.
 
I'm not taking a shot at ya, but they often actually make those films with a lot less.

:feeling like a deer in crosshairs: lol well thanks for not taking that shot. They might have used lesser cards, but as you put it, they use a compilation of many computers to do the job....which would be equal to one amazing graphics card I.E. the 512mb wildcat graphics card. My point is they don't simply sit there with a homebuilt computer and a graphics card me and you can get ahold of easily and make a 3D rendered film with it was all I was telling him, and to clarify what exactly these cards are for and why they are priced at $1000+ :D
 
They might have used lesser cards, but as you put it, they use a compilation of many computers to do the job....which would be equal to one amazing graphics card I.E. the 512mb wildcat graphics card.
There's actually a lot more that goes on besides just the g-card boards. The last time I was in touch with someone at Pixar, they were running an MPP setup full of geforce-3 Pro 128's.
 
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