UPDATE:

Got & installed the GTX 970 yesterday and boy-oh-boy -- Day & Night. Easily handles real-time playback with pixel shading on and renders are FAST (compared to what I had).

Rendering to AVI with MPEG compression seems to proceed at about 1/3 realtime, which is amazing.

Because of this card, I will now never become a famous rock star. Before, while awaiting long renders, I would go out to my living room and play my guitar. Now there's no time for that!

Just thought I'd update the thread. Thanks, all, for the help. It would have been a heartache had I bought the wrong card.

Thank you!
Bud

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
iClone 6.21
Character Creator 1.2
3.07GHz Intel Core i7 machine running Windows 7 Pro (v 6.1.7601 SP1)
6GB RAM
EVGA GTX 970 (2 gig video memory)

This is a sickness on all of society. One night I had a craving for fig newtons. Just plain ordinary fig newtons. Went to the grocery store and couldn't find just a plain, ordinary fig newton! There were apple newtons, apple-strawberry, apple-fig, low sodium, low sugar, nonfat, blah, blah, blah.

I just wanted A FIG NEWTON. Like when I was a kid. And my mom would come home with them after Saturday morning grocery shopping. There was only one kind. With a cold glass of milk, they're great!

Try to find one NOW!

;-)
Bud (I feel your pain)

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
iClone 6.21
Character Creator 1.2
3.07GHz Intel Core i7 machine running Windows 7 Pro (v 6.1.7601 SP1)
6GB RAM
EVGA GTX 970 (2 gig video memory)

@Gerry,

Agreed.

That's why I continue to be a fan of AnandTech.com.

Here is their review of the GTX 980.  If you scroll down on this page, you'll see noise levels.

http://anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review/21

That was what really impressed me with that card; that it was that powerful AND was also one of the most quiet.  Since this was an early review, it was the Nvidia card only, but lot of times they'll also include cards from various other companies (EVGA, ASUS, PNY, etc).

One of my favorite things about AnandTech is they tend to combine analytical test resutls with personal opinion and observations.  They also sprinkle in some background information and industry insight.

Speaking of fan noise, for example, I remember one case where the one product was louder than another (probably a GPU), but the reviewer complained about the "pitch and sound" of the "quite" fan.  He'd actually opt for the one that was technically louder because it was a less annoying sound (to him).  They might also mention that some fans ramp up nice and gradually, while others go from a quiet idle to a loud wooshing very quickly, and that makes it more noticeable.

That sort of stuff you just don't see on the retail box.

Tom's hardware is also another popular sight.

---

iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

@justaviking,

Dennis, I agree with you on the noise issue. The problem is that the spec. sheets published on most online store pages don't contain the required information. To check the noise levels a user would either have to visit the makers site, or plough through a whole bunch of reviews and comparisons. :w00t:

After making a few choices on a price/performance basis it would reduce the research field somewhat - and that brings us back to the math genius or the dart. :crying:

Gerry

---

System: Win 10 Pro (21H2), Asus X99-E WS, CPU i7-5930K -3,5 GHz, 32 GB DDR4 2666-16 RAM, NVidia GTX 1080 Ti GPU - 11 GB VRAM(Driver Studio-536.99), Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB SSD, 6 TB HD storage.

One significant difference is how loud the cards are.  Many will differentiate themselved by their cooling approach.

One fan or two?  Fast spinning or slower fans?  Exaust out the back, or into your case?  How much control do you have over the fans?  How do they change speed in response to the work the card is doing?

I've become less tolerant of fan noise over the last few years.  I don't need a silent system, but I prefer it to be very quiet.  I'd rather have less noise than a 2% increase in performance.  That was one feature that really surprised me (in a good way) with the 980 reference card from Nvidia.

---

iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

Leaving aside the differences between AMD and Nvidia, and even the differences between a GTX7xx and a GTX9xx, just trying to pick a GTX980 looks like a nightmare. :crazy:

One online store that I use a lot has a total of 24 cards with the 980 GPU from 9 different companies, ranging in price between €539.00 and €659.00 (incl. 19% VAT).

They all have some things in common, such as RAM, connectors and CUDA cores. Differences are very apparent in things like Boost and Core clock speeds - and power consumption varies between 165 and 300 Watts. :w00t:

Trying to find a good price/performance deal out of the available permutations would require the services of a math genius - or a blindfold and a dart. :pinch::unsure::(

Gerry

---

System: Win 10 Pro (21H2), Asus X99-E WS, CPU i7-5930K -3,5 GHz, 32 GB DDR4 2666-16 RAM, NVidia GTX 1080 Ti GPU - 11 GB VRAM(Driver Studio-536.99), Samsung 850 Pro 512 GB SSD, 6 TB HD storage.

A very good choice for iClone!

I run a 770, and have NEVER had it slow down at all. In Pixel shader!

Maybe with bazillion lights in iC6......:P

Congratulations. A very fine choice.

Looking forward to your reports.

Yes, you should have no trouble at all using pixel shader.  I wonder what sort of iClone project it would require to bring that card to it's knees.

It might not make much difference in iClone 5, but should make a huge different in iClone 6, courtesy of the PhysX support.

---

iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

Hi All,

Thanks for all the great advice. After weighing the info here and at a post I had at blenderartists.org, it seems my best fit for both softwares (as well as others I run), in my price range, is the GTX970.

So I have one on the way from Newegg.

Will let you all know how it goes. I imagine I'll be able to run iClone 5.5 in pixel shader mode without any troubles once I have this puppy installed.

Probably my physics simulations will run better, too. Can't wait to try it all out!

Thank you all for the help!

Peace,
Bud

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
iClone 6.21
Character Creator 1.2
3.07GHz Intel Core i7 machine running Windows 7 Pro (v 6.1.7601 SP1)
6GB RAM
EVGA GTX 970 (2 gig video memory)

People are usually talking about more high-end Quadro cards such as the 4000. Years ago, OpenGL was the standard for high-end 3D systems. However, with DirectX having advanced so much, especially DX 11 and with 12 around the corner, software such as Maya now supports DX 11 as well . Games are more and more about visual quality not just FPS and this has pushed the card makers forward.

I'm no expert but that is my take on it. I always check various benchmarks. For video work check Cinebench. I use Sony Vegas for editing, which likes OpenCL (not GL). AMD cards were superior in that area for the longest time, but the new GTX 900 series cards have finally caught up.

---