graphics cards

[kitchenlifestyle]

I am upgrading my 4 yr old Alienware 17 with an i7 because i can only upgrade to the Nvidia 880 without killing my machine. 

This will bring me from 2 gb dedicated to 8 gb.  So the question is, will i feel a big enough difference with this upgrade or am i throwing good money away and need to upgrade in a year anyway? 

 

**note:  use a LOT of imported custom materials

 

option 1:  Dell Alienware Nvida Geforce 1080Ti   (it is still an i7 or the new i9 )

option 2: just upgrade to the Nvida Geforce 880 for $400

 

 

[TheKitchenAbode]

Not sure that is worth the upgrade. I'm assuming your current graphics is the 780m, the 880m other than more memory is only on average about 15% better performance wise, that would be hardly noticeable. The increased memory would help but the benefit would depend on what you are doing. Regular plan and vector views do not use a significant amount of video memory unless you have a lot of active windows, if you are using CA version 10 and the new PBR feature then the extra video memory will be appreciated.

 

If you can swing it with say option 1 you are going to see a really big difference right across the board, CPU, Graphics, Disk performance and everything else you do..

[Renerabbitt]

28 minutes ago, kitchenlifestyle said:

I am upgrading my 4 yr old Alienware 17 with an i7 because i can only upgrade to the Nvidia 880 without killing my machine. 

This will bring me from 2 gb dedicated to 8 gb.  So the question is, will i feel a big enough difference with this upgrade or am i throwing good money away and need to upgrade in a year anyway? 

 

**note:  use a LOT of imported custom materials

 

option 1:  Dell Alienware Nvida Geforce 1080Ti   (it is still an i7 or the new i9 )

option 2: just upgrade to the Nvida Geforce 880 for $400

 

 

If you're intended upgrade is simply graphics and this machine is used primarily in an office than I would strongly encourage purchasing the Gigabyte Aorus 1070gtx egpu for around $600(if your laptop supports it)...it has served me very well for graphic intensive programs, otherwise I would take a look at some of the other laptop upgrade threads. 

[rlackore]

The 880M itself is pretty old (2014) - $400 for 4-year old tech seems steep. Chief recommends 4gb dedicated GPU memory, so upgrading from 2gb should make some kind of difference. I'm no expert, so I like going here to get a quick read on GPU comparisons.

[kitchenlifestyle]

My gut tells me you are right that the $400 for the older graphics card would not be worth it, even coming from the 765M.  I was hoping to hear the dedicated memory upgrade would do the trick as both machines are i7, just 4 generations apart and my 16 gb ram is plenty adequate. 

 

I am in x10.  Standard and vector views are smooth, although it slows significantly if i detail more than 5 rooms in a plan. My issue is when creating large layouts with tons of materials and cabinet details.  Most of my projects are very custom and layouts can go up to 25 pages with multiple camera angles.  Ray-tracing takes around an hour to produce anything decent. 

[TheKitchenAbode]

When your machine gets to be 4 generations old then a new machine is in order. The performance difference will be 3 - 4 times what your current system does right across the board, and you will likely get this for less than your current system cost when it was brand new. It would not be so bad if the video card you would be using to upgrade your existing system would be transferrable to a newer system say a year down the road, but that 880m is already outdated and the $400 is gone.

[Chopsaw]

Sounds like you would benefit from a faster processor.  Look for one with a high clock speed and balance that out with the number of cores and your budget.  In chief only raytracing will be able to take advantage of the extra cores.  Everything else is purely clock speed.

[kitchenlifestyle]

Thank you for the honest advice.... Decision made!

[RodCole]

If ray tracing is something that is important to you, then I would suggest that you check out Octane Render.  It only works on later NVidia GPUs though, so if you are in the market for a new card then now is the time to check it out.

 

A free trail is available from Otoy.  You can use Blender for the file conversions if you need to.  Blender is a free program and does a good job of file exchanges.

 

Edit:  Probably won't work on your current card, or the 880 for that matter. But you can read up on it and check out the gallery while you are at it.

 

[kitchenlifestyle]

Thank you!   Alienware 17 r5 en route now!