Recommend a graphics card?

[Jimmy Brunger]

Then I guess you need a card that Apple certify as running those displays, aswell as one that meets AE’s recommended list. That said, AE doesn’t really need a wowzers GFX card..but some of it’s plugins do (Knoll Light Factory works super-fast with a decent GPU, Zaxwerks relies on fast GPU, etc, etc..maybe look at the plugs you use and see what they suggest?)

You can’t go wrong with a mid-high range Quadro though if you’ve got the money and CS3 looks like it will use it more the AE7 does.

*Production Studio Premium / *Combustion 3
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Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation / 110GB boot/80GB media/600GB RAID-0

[Jamesc]

I should point out that it’s a Dell system – not an Apple!

Running Windows XP Pro (must upgrade to 64 bit soon though)

I do use Maya and 3dsmax also.

I am guessing the best choice is whatever Quadro card slots in to my budget.

[Jimmy Brunger]

Using Maya aswell – Quadro sounds like a plan.

BTW, so did the Apples give the best results over Dell/HP or similar LCDs? I was thinking of doing the same thing actually, as I’ve heard the apples look great, but wasn’t sure how compatible they are with a PC. Any problems?

Another thing I wasn’t sure about when looking at an Apple display in the shop was the way text in the GUI, etc looks really jagged? The guy (who clearly didn’t have a clue what I was on about) said it was the coating or something! Eh? Or is that just the way LCDs rasterize text? Got me worried I have to admit after using CRTs for years. It looked pretty bad.

Oh – also, I’d double check with Adobe if the new CS3 products will be compatible with 64-bit XPPro. It only mentions XP32 and Vista32 in the bumpf. I’m amazed they haven’t gone 64 with their new apps to be honest, but if you can’t even use them with XP64 then it’s hello to Vista driver nightmares!

*Production Studio Premium / *Combustion 3
————————————-
Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation / 110GB boot/80GB media/600GB RAID-0

[Jamesc]

The Apple displays are beautiful – pretty much the best you can get.

Hideously expensive though – not value for money – but the best for sure.

Suggest you check pcpro.co.uk and go to the Labs section – they reviewed a whole load of them a few months back.

I didn’t buy them – they’re my monitors here at work – everyone is Mac apart from me.

I am surprised that they didn’t make them 64 bit – madness!

I expect that nVidia will be ok with Vista drivers – I hope…

[Jamesc]

Oh – and as for text etc – it’s fine.

It may be that Apples anti-alias all the text – where as XP doesn’t as default do this.

However if you go in to Display settings and find ClearType – you can turn that on.

It’s actually superior to the Apple anti-aliasing!

[Caleb Armstrong]

What kind of interface are you using?

Since I use my station for more than just graphics, I’ve been thinking about picking up a GTX 8800. Seems pretty powerful and suitable for all of my needs.