[PyMOL] SUMMARY - nVidia Quadro FX 1400, FX 3400 and FX 4400

[Philippe B. <phi...@un...>]

Hi Folks,

Here are my conclusions about the nVidia graphic cards.

The benchmarks found on Tom's hardware web site show that the =20
performances of the AGP8x FX 1100 are about the same as the PCIe FX =20
1300. Taking that assumption I just took the average spec out of the 3 =20=

given on nVidia's web page (see LINKS below).

*** This gives the following table: ***

Graphic card		FX 4400	FX 3400	FX 1400	FX 1300	FX 1100
Bus type			PCIe		PCIe		PCIe		=
PCIe		AGP 8x
Perf(rel to 1100)	1.97		1.73		1.65		=
1		1
Price(rel to 1100)	2.95		1.8		0.8		=
0.5		1
Ratio Perf/Price	0.66		0.96		2.06		=
2		1

(FX 1100 costs about 780 Euros)

These numbers are probably not extremely accurate, but the tendency =20
shown in this table looks in pretty good agreement with the numerous =20
specs reported on hardware.fr (see LINKS below; unfortunately this =20
paper written in French, but charts and graphics are easy to catch).

They also look in agreement with the answers I got from our =20
crystallographic bulletin boards (see QUOTES below).

*** CONCLUSION: we'll go for an FX 1400 ! ***

*** ABOUT RivaTuner (suggested by Wang Chern Hoe): ***
I'll keep that trick for my personal record and use, but we don't want =20=

to use any dual boot solution in the lab (at least not yet). For a =20
whole lab solution I will agree with  Cameron (cm...@uc...) who =20
suggests to opt for a real hardware stereo card.
But for personal purposes I find interesting to turn a Geforce 6800 =20
into a Quadro and be able to run O, NOC and PyMol from the XP side, but =20=

I've read:
- this will turn it into a Quadro 540 but not 4400 (COULD YOU CONFIRM =20=

THIS, WANG ?)
- this could be done only on some graphic boards from UNIKA (without =20
any reseller in France I think)
- as asked Sabuj (sab...@va...) what is the magic =20
taht modify the pin connector for the emitter.
Wang could you tell us how physically the connection with the emitter =20=

is made ?

*** LINKS ***
BENCHMARK RESULTS:

FX 1100, ATIfireGLx2(t):
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040323/opengl-fx1100-x2t=20
-08.html

FX 1300, FX 3400, ATIfireGLv5100:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040816/opengl-pcie-14.html

FX 1400, FX 3400, FX 4400, ATIfireGLv5100:
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/560-1/comparatif-7-cartes-3d-pro-pci-=20
express.html

AND:

nVIDIA graphic cards specs AGP8x/PCIe
http://www.nvidia.fr/object/IO_11761_fr.html

*** QUOTES ***

[J Mesters; me...@bi...]
We have two FX1100 (128 MB ram) up and running just fine under linux. =20=

The speed for openGL applications is more than satisfactory. .../... =20
Only Pymol will benefit clearly from faster cards with more memory when =20=

rendering etc..

The Iiyama HM204DT is the best (reference class) monitor around with =20
142 kHZ and 200 Hz maximum! Great stereo quality.
If that is too expensive, buy the Belinea 108035 with 125 kHz and 160 =20=

Hz maximum for half the price.
---
[Doug Bailley; ba...@nc...]
Our "standard" linux workstation is as follows.

Dell Precision 370/380, Pent.4-3.6, 1GB RAM 120GB SATA, DVD+-RW, Quadro =20=

FX1400
NEC-Mitsubishi FP2141SB-BK 22" CRT
NuVision 60GX Wireless stereo emitter and glasses
RedHat Enterprise Linux WS.

For our usage, we did not see a significant difference in performance =20=

between the FX1400 and some of the 3xxx series Quadro products we =20
tested to justify the higher cost.

The NEC-Mitsubishi FP2141SB-BK 22" CRT is an excellent monitor. Cannot =20=

comment on any others as the NEC is all that we use.
---
[Kay Diederichs; kay...@un...]
.../...
a) the nVidia FX3450 is a bit expensive (=801300); you won't notice a =20=

difference to a card of less than half the price (FX1300) in O.
.../...
---

Thanks to all and to any other contributor that I would have forgotten,
Philippe

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Philippe BENAS, Ph.D.
X-ray diffraction facility manager
Laboratoire de Cristallographie et RMN Biologiques, UMR 8015 CNRS
Faculte de Pharmacie - Universite Paris 5
4, Avenue de l'Observatoire - Case 48
F-75270 Paris cedex 06
---
Office: +33.(0)1-5373-9831 (use ext. 9977 instead to leave a voice mail)
Fax: +33.(0)1-5373-9925
X-ray Room (rotating anode): +33.(0)1-5373-9977
X-ray Room (small molecules): +33.(0)1-5373-9679
---
Email: phi...@un...
Url: http://lcrbw.pharmacie.univ-paris5.fr/
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