My primary use for POVray is to render an architectural (Chief Architect) CAD



After trolling through the list I find no consensus, and supposedly
knowledgeable retailers are just as bad if not worse.



and 128bit available now, but what is the best bet? Is it worth it?

My computer is a Quad core on XP Pro 4Gb RAM 620Gb HD, Decent Gigabyte MB, and
needs a reasonable video card.

It seems there are two main types of card in the moderate range of say US$300.
Comments have gone before on this list about the video cards not really doing
much for the rendering time well now is the time to come out of the closet and
see the Duo and Quad 128bit cards that are available. Is this still true?

For example:

Thre is this kind with 512Mb of RAM for games for example:
GIGABYTE NX96T512H GeForce 9600GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E 2.0 x16 dual DVI-I / D-sub
HDCP 65nm w/ZALMAN FAN
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_Overview.aspx?ClassValue=VGA&ProductID=2774&Product

And the CAD based cards:
LEADTEK QUADRO FX 330 64M DDR PCI-E
http://www.leadtek.com.tw/eng/workstation_graphics/overview.asp?lineid=2&pronameid=134
Described as: 12Bit SubPixel, 128Bit PGPipeline


Or another slightly out of the price bracket but just up from the 64Mb above at
128Mb : is the same thing more or less with more RAM.
"Leadtek" Quadro FX 560 128MB DDR3 PCI-E VGA Card
http://www.leadtek.com.tw/eng/workstation_graphics/overview.asp?lineid=2&pronameid=268
More info about this card below:
The price jump to 256Mb of RAM is double! It is Close to $750:

Now will someone please tell me the real needs, compatibility, and the
compromises and the best bang for the buck?

Many thanx,

Captron

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