VMD-L Mailing List

From: Edelmiro Moman (edelmiro.moman_at_gmail.com)
Date: Thu Feb 11 2010 - 06:03:47 CST

Hello,

Sorry for resurrecting this old post. I have to admit my questions
will be a bit off-topic this time, as they are not VMD-specific.
However, I have been googling a lot and I think it is time to have an
opinion from molecular graphics experts.

Finally, I am buying the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800.

Somebody mentioned the possibility of having two graphics cards: a
GeForce connected to a normal monitor and a Quadro connected to a 3D
monitor. I like the idea, however, this is not an option for me
because I already have 3 Teslas.

I guess I can connect both the normal and the 3D monitor to the Quadro
card. Would this be a good option? I am buying the 3D monitor from
Zalman (ZM-M220W). Can I have stero display only in this monitor
without disconnecting the normal monitor? Does it require a special
xorg configuration?

Concerning the normal monitor, what panel technology is better for
molecular graphics? I now that photographer use S-IPS monitors because
of colour accuracy. I guess this would be important if my main
activity would producing molecular graphics for publications. However,
in my limited experience, the discrepancy between on-screen and
printed colours is not so important for us. What kind of monitor do
you have and which one would you recommend? Namely, would you favour
IPS over S-PVA or the like?

Best regards,

Miro

On Sun, Jan 24, 2010 at 5:57 PM, Edelmiro Moman
<edelmiro.moman_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am going to buy a HPC to serve both as a graphical workstation and a
> GPU/CPU computing system. The system has two quadcore CPUs and three
> NVIDIA Tesla C1060 GPUs.
>
> As for the graphics card, the retailer is offering a few options:
>
>        1  Quadro® 290 NVS PCI-E 1X                             109.554 €
>        1  Quadro® 450 NVS PCI-E 16X 512MB                397.296 €
>        1  NVIDIA TESLA C1060 Compute Board              1091.2 €
>        2  NVIDIA TESLA C1060 Compute Board              2182.4 €
>        3  NVIDIA TESLA C1060 Compute Board              3273.6 €
>        4  NVIDIA TESLA C1060 Compute Board              4364.8 €
>        1  NVIDIA GeForce™ GTX295 1,792GB PCIe 2.0    404.24 €
>        2  NVIDIA GeForce™ GTX295 1,792GB PCIe 2.0        808.48 €
>        1  NVIDIA Quadro® FX 3800 PCIE 1GB                703.08 €
>        1  NVIDIA Quadro® FX 4800 PCIe 2.0 1,5GB         1385.748 €
>        1  NVIDIA Quadro® FX 5800 PCIe 2.0 4GB           2519.748 €
>
> I already have 3 Teslas and thefore there is only room for a single
> graphics card. I am hesitating between NVIDIA GeForce™ GTX295 and
> NVIDIA Quadro® FX 3800.
>
> I have checked an NVIDIA report from 2001 which I believe to be a bit
> outdated and also several gamers forums discussing the GeForce vs
> Quadro question. However, they do not address the specific molecular
> graphics needs. I have also noticed that the issue has been discussed
> in this mailing list before, but in all cases the Quadro option was
> discarded beforehand.
>
> I have a few questions:
>
> 1) Does the GTX295 support quad stereo? (I also plan to purchase a
> couple of 3D monitors)
> 2) Are really the FXs more suitable for interactive rendering in VMD
> (macromolecular surfaces, for instance) or there is really little
> difference between Quadro and GeForce to that respect?
> 3) What about high-quality rendering or movie making?
> 4) Is it worthy buying the FX3800 or would I be better served with the GTX295?
> 5) Would it be worthy upgrading to a FX4800?
> 6) Is there a better option?
>
> Best regards,
>
> --
> Edelmiro Moman, PhD
> ProSciens, Computing & Molecular Sciences
> 2 rue du Palais de Justice
> L-1841 Luxembourg
>
> Phone: +352 2728 2588
> E-mail: edelmiro.moman_at_gmail.com
> E-mail: moman_at_prosciens.com
> Website: http://www.edelmiromoman.eu/
> Website: http://www.prosciens.com/
>
> 

-- 
Edelmiro Moman, PhD
ProSciens, Computing & Molecular Sciences
2 rue du Palais de Justice
L-1841 Luxembourg
Phone: +352 2728 2588
E-mail: edelmiro.moman_at_gmail.com
E-mail: moman_at_prosciens.com
Website: http://www.edelmiromoman.eu/
Website: http://www.prosciens.com/