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INTEL i7 Core Question
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:08 pm
by grupo4
This is a topic question for those using an i7 coro or i7 core Extreme
I've seen on the Benchwell page that the i7's (overclocked) are perfoming even better than some of the 2X Quad Xeons configurations (and they are way cheeper) and I imagen they are not just faster for rendering, even for the workflow and scene setup since you can find 1600HZ RAM speeds scorting the i7's (the fatsest RAM for Xeons is 800Mhz).
But what happens with the graphic card? I visited some manufacturer sites during the weekend (Dell, Alienware, ebay) and found that all the i7's are configured with NVIDIA GeForce cards (that are not recomended by neither NVIDIA or Autodek for use with Autocad and 3dsMax). Is anybody working with and i7 core with Quadro cards (F4800 or FX 5800)?
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:28 pm
by ivox3
hey grupo ..
I'm going to speculate here and say that there's probably not a lot of people sporting higher end quadros like FX4800 or FX5600's with an i7 920. Maybe the 965 ... Rich boys and girls...
Reason being: Its the price point. Even though the performance is outstanding, ..the price point of the 920's is driving the market. The idea is that you can (in a very budget oriented way) buid an i7 920 setup and grab an 8800/9800/gtx 260+ card and not break the bank plus directly compete with the 'older' dual xeons(5000/7000 series). I think it's unlikely that someone picks up a 920($225-350) and then suddenly shells out a couple of grand for a quadro. Not to mention, ..that the performance reports from higher-end quadros vs. GTX 285 aren't justified by the expenditure.
Just my take ..
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:35 pm
by grupo4
thanks IVOX, I got your point.
Not to mention, ..that the performance reports from higher-end quadros vs. GTX 285 aren't justified by the expenditure.
Do you have a link to check this?
On the other part how de 9800 gtx card performs with #ds Max and other demanding software?
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:02 pm
by ivox3
The performance reports are directly from users, ..in particular Rhino users from their newsgroup.
You have to remember that for each geforce card there's a Quadro card that's identical, but is unlocked and it's drivers are optimized for cad or OGL.
So why not use a Geforce and unlock it using something like RivaTuner and turn it into a Quadro? Not all cards can be done, .. but many can and many here have done it.
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx ... 539&pgno=0
As far as 3DMax, .. I have no experience. Others can probably comment/help...
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:09 pm
by Leonardo
ivox3 wrote:The performance reports are directly from users, ..in particular Rhino users from their newsgroup.
You have to remember that for each geforce card there's a Quadro card that's identical, but is unlocked and it's drivers are optimized for cad or OGL.
So why not use a Geforce and unlock it using something like RivaTuner and turn it into a Quadro? Not all cards can be done, .. but many can and many here have done it.
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx ... 539&pgno=0
As far as 3DMax, .. I have no experience. Others can probably comment/help...
Ivox... have you tried it?
Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 11:50 pm
by ivox3
I did, ..but I had a crappy card at the time. I will be doing it to a gtx 260 though -- as soon as I get it.
I believe Tyrone Marshall from here has done it ....
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 12:30 am
by grupo4
Great Link. Leonardo at the end of this article you will find some experiences of people who did try.
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:23 am
by polynurb
Leonardo wrote:ivox3 wrote:The performance reports are directly from users, ..in particular Rhino users from their newsgroup.
You have to remember that for each geforce card there's a Quadro card that's identical, but is unlocked and it's drivers are optimized for cad or OGL.
So why not use a Geforce and unlock it using something like RivaTuner and turn it into a Quadro? Not all cards can be done, .. but many can and many here have done it.
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx ... 539&pgno=0
As far as 3DMax, .. I have no experience. Others can probably comment/help...
Ivox... have you tried it?
yeah i did that years ago with the 6000 series.
turned a gforce 6800ultra into a fx4000 monster using nvstrap in rivatuner.
But this DOES NOT WORK ANYMORE on any geforce since 7000 series. Nividia is now using hardwired protection The only hack left is one to enable maxtreme for 3dstudio, but that is fast in d3d anyway...
Radeons can still be modded.. i am still on a 1800xt/fgl 7300 .. but i want to switch to nvidia .. to much driver issues.. sad thing because ATI hardware is really top.
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 3:15 pm
by Leonardo
I have a 6600 GT...
I imagine these are compatible?
but when I go to rivatuner there is a billion different downloads, and I have no clue what I need

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 4:02 pm
by polynurb
hey leonardo,
i did this mod on an agp card.. and it is too long ago.. don't remember all details..
but this is the place to look for help:
http://forums.guru3d.com/forumdisplay.php?f=18
and these threads might point you in the right direction:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php ... ost1636176
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php ... post800764
just register there in order to search the forum for "6600 softmod" or so.. you'll find the answers..!
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:42 pm
by Leonardo
Thanks... I was looking on my own, I think I got it working!!
So far it seems to run just fine... If I run into any problems I'll check those sites

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 7:49 pm
by polynurb
..good to hear..
the best way to verify if it really worked (not just registering Quadro in system) is to run SPEC benchmark before and after the mod.
http://www.spec.org/gwpg/downloadindex.html
its a heavy download, but a good tool to determine the overall speed,
as it contaions all major cad/dcc application.