Graphic cards, OpenGL and DirectX

[David Saber]

Halo!

I'm gonna buy a new laptop so I was wondering what's the right graphic
card for me. I'm using XSI, Houdini and Zbrush mostly. So I have some
questions if you don't mind:
1) A co-worker told me some cards are more into DirectX and some other
are more into OpenGL, is that true?
2) Are these 2 standards into the hardware or are they only software based?
3) For 3d apps, what's more used, Open GL or Direct X?

Thanks : )
David

[Sebastien Sterling]

Nvidia seems to be the flavor in most places, i wonder if the difference is between their buisness range Quadro cards and there gaming range GeForce/Titan, the later which i imagine being gaming cards would have to be good at dealing with directX...

[Leonard Koch]

Opengl performance really isn't neutered in modern Nvidia cards and when it comes to dedicated graphics in a laptop, their GeForce M cards are the only option anyway.
They are good too.
The newest generation of mobile GPUs from Nvidia is much closer to their desktop counterparts than previous generations while also having excellently low power consumption.
If as a 3D artist or as a gamer you want to get a powerful laptop, you should buy a laptop with one of these 3 cards:
GeForce 960m cheapest option with good value.
GeForce 970m best value and not too expensive
GeForce 980m pretty incredible performance at a very high premium.
Don't buy a 940m or 950m, they are not worth it and are closer to integrated graphics than to other dedicated ones.

These days you also often have the option of getting laptops with SLI configurations (two cards).
So you can get a laptop with 2 960ms that has similar horsepower to one with a more expensive 980m.
I would advise against buying those kinds of setups for 3D artists, as most of our software can't make use of two cards (except for Redshift).

If you want to spend a lot of money, better get a 970m or 980m.

[Saeed Kalhor]

​

1) A co-worker told me some cards are more into DirectX and some other are more into OpenGL, is that true?

A very old and outdated fact, the new graphic cards supporting both of them well.

2) Are these 2 standards into the hardware or are they only software based?

They are into hardware, DirectX software is a framework to access it directly. So if you buy a dx10 graphic you will not have options of dx12.

3) For 3d apps, what's more used, Open GL or Direct X?

Most of them use OpenGL. The only software I saw to use DX is 3dsMax.

Go for a recent graphic like that Leonard said. And if you can buy a graphic with or more than 4 GIG ram, in the future you will be happy to use it for GPU rendering ;)

 

[Saeed Kalhor]

Oh i forget this, CUDA cores are very important for GPU rendering and simulations (dynamic and particles).

Try to buy a graphic with more CUDA cores, for example GTX970 has 1664 cores and GTX960 has 1024 cores so with GTX970 you will have around 40% more performance than GTX960 in rendering and simulations.

[Sebastien Sterling]

You probably where already considering this, but go with ssd for your hard drive, it will be worth it.

[David Saber]

Thanks guys for the informative discussion!
I'd like to purchase the ROG G752as soon as it's out:
https://rog.asus.com/446192015/g-series-gaming-laptops/asus-republic-of-gamers-announces-rog-g752-gaming-laptop/
, the cheapest version has the Nvidia GTX 965M, good choice?
Thanks,
David

[Saeed Kalhor]

2GB GDDR5 VRAM is a little limiting but for a laptop is a great choice.

And it's a great looking laptop 👍

[Angus Davidson]

There is the alienware one with the external GPU options. Havent had any experience with their laptops though. I suspect they are rather pricey

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[Martin Yara]

In my experience Quadros have better OpenGL performance, so if you buy a GeForce and the software allows you to choose between DirectX and OpenGL like 3D Coat, DirectX would probably be the best choice.

Another thing that I've noticed is that Photoshop CS6 GPU acceleration deactivates itself with GeForces. No problem with Quadros, or Photoshop CC.

As for which graphic card to choose, it could depend on what are you going to do with the card but in general, GeForces are the best choice in cost / performance.

GeForces are the best for GPU rendering (and obviously gaming), and Quadros would be better for real time viewer performance and real time shaders.

Programs like Mari and GPU renderers need a lot of Video RAM, but for anything else 2GB should be enough.

For game assets creation, almost any card nowadays is good enough. We are still using 1GB cards (GeForces and Quadros).

And another advice, be sure to have a lot of RAM (I'd recommend 32GB). Working with lots of big textures in Photoshop would easily eat all your RAM.

Martin

[David Saber]

Hey Sebastien, do you have an SSD in your laptop? What do you install in
it to speed up your work: Windows, 3d apps, or your 3d files? Or perhaps
all of them?