Cadalyst - July 2008 - (Page 31)

firstlook 3D output connector with quadbuffer support is built into the card as well. You can drive four 3D displays with the multiple graphics The ATI FireGL V8600 is a high-end graphics card with 1 GB of cards installed. onboard memory and stereoscopic 3D display capabilities. Although I typically expect faster graphics cards in this particular graphic cards of this size and power to system. The 1 GB of onboard membe on the noisy side, I was pleasantly surprised that the V8600 didn’t add sig- ory will appeal to users who deal with large models or graphically demanding nificantly to the overall system noise. applications, which, when combined I fired up AutoCAD 2008 with the latest service pack and updates applied with the good performance, will make this graphics card a good choice for and configured it to run the Cadalyst many needs. C2008 benchmark. My usual proceThe ATI FireGL V8600 has a manudure is to first test several iterations of facturer’s suggested retail price the benchmark using the native Auto(MSRP) of $1,899, but I found lower CAD OpenGL drivers, but in this case street prices though a Google search. the test wouldn’t run under the most Warranty coverage is for three years currently available ATI drivers. I moved and covers repair and replacement. on to the native Direct3D drivers, Enterprise-class support is provided for which completed the fastest iteration the V8600, including direct toll-free with a C2008 total index score of 246 phone and e-mail access to a dediin 78 minutes. Next, I ran concurrent cated workstation technical support sessions of AutoCAD 2008 with each team. running a separate instance of the As with the V8650 graphics card, C2008 benchmark, my usual method of testing multicore processor systems. the ATI FireGL V8600 is a bit expenThe combined C2008 total index score sive. Although the performance numbers are good, I do have some confor the V8600 was 428, with a comcerns about OpenGL compatibility, pletion time of 101 minutes. Using Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 with at least as far as AutoCAD 2008 is concerned. Also, accelerated drivers the latest service packs and updates for Autodesk 3ds Max will be a welapplied, I ran the MAXBench4 benchcome addition to the available driver mark using both the native OpenGL support. and native Direct3D drivers. At the time of testing, no accelerated driver for 3ds Max was available. With the ATI FireGL V8650 OpenGL drivers selected, the ATI The ATI FireGL V8650 is a beefy, fullFireGL V8600 produced an averaged length graphics card with a thickness high/low score of 90.49 on the bench- that requires the availability of two mark. Changing to the native Direct3D slots and two supplemental power drivers did, as expected, provide better feeds to function. The V8650 features performance, with an averaged high/ 2 GB of GDDR4 memory and unified low score of 241.50. shader architecture that incorporates I ran the full SPECviewperf 10 320 processing units. The V8650 probenchmark with the ATI FireGL V8600 vides full Shader Model 4 support for and obtained the following scores: vertex and pixel shaders, and it can 45.61 for 3dsmax-04, 42.41 for catiadrive a dual-link DVI-I output at reso02, 52.79 for ensight-03, 251.86 for lutions as high as 2,560 x 1,600. It has maya-02, 35.27 for proe-04, 78.67 for HD component video output, but the sw-01, 31.32 for tcvis-01, and 49.78 V8650 lacks the HDMI support found for ugnx-01. in consumer-level graphics cards. A The performance numbers were connector is provided for stereoscopic generally very good, though I’ve tested 3D display capabilities. Display port July 2008 cadalyst www.cadalyst.com 31 http://www.cvis.com http://www.cvis.com/nexus http://www.cvis.com/nexus http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - July 2008

Cadalyst - July 2008 Editor’s Window CAD Central FIRST Robotic Beasts Draw Students to Engineering Power! Speed! Action! — Mighty Mobile Workstations are Packed and Ready for Adventure! Vico Virtual Construction Suite 2008 AMD ATI FireGL V8600 and FireGL V8650 — 1-GB and 2-GB Graphics Cards Gaining Independence and Influence The Current State of MCAD Rewriting the Rules of PDM BIM Goes Residential CAD Cartoon Issue Indexes Pleasures of Customization

Cadalyst - July 2008

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