[MW Forums]

ART VPS has introduced a beefier card to speed ray-tracing on Macs and PCs. more

[LeoO]

Wow, a $5,000 graphics card? I wonder how it would handle Doom3 and the like...

[tabasco_hot]

Besides the huge price tag I've never seen this card tested independently anywhere against more popular professional 3D cards. Which makes it look more like a Myth than a reality.

[bigh]

From their website, a single card only contains 8 processors. You have to get two cards to enjoy 16 processors. Lessee... that's $11k.
And I agree with T-hot... their site doesn't exactly inspire confidence. I'd have to see some independent numbers before buying.

[Peter Cohen]

In reply to:

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, a $5,000 graphics card? I wonder how it would handle Doom3 and the like...

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It'd be useless. This is a dedicated-function piece of hardware, designed for one specific purpose: To accelerate ray tracing speed in supported 3D rendering applications by using a plug-in. It'd do absolutely nothing for a general OpenGL-based game like Doom 3.

[HiRez]

It may seem like a lot of money, but it still may be a lot cheaper than buying render farm components if the speeds are anywhere near what they claim (and it's more compact and power-efficient). For most people doing real production on Maya, that price point shouldn't be too much of a barrier. Looks interesting, although a 4-processor "starter" card for around $1,500 might be a nice option for those indies who can't afford that kind of cash outlay.

[minderbinder]

So "only" 8 processors gives you (assuming they are telling the truth) 35 times faster rendering than software.
At 5K, isn't that still way cheaper than buying 34 more G5's?

[Peter Cohen]

The card referenced in the article is a new card, not the 8 processor model cited on the Web site.
The 35x speed increase noted by the card's manufacturer refers to this new 16 processor model, not the older 8 processor models.

[Schneb]

Obviously, he was being sarcastic.
I'm sure the folks at Pixar and the like would like this card. I'll bet many of the 3D artists out there would like to eventually get themselves to real-time ray-tracing within this decade.