Have I made a mistake with this Ati Graphics card, wanted it for 3d work?

[Zane1]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and would like some advice please. I've recently purchased a Sony laptop FW21L. It has a basic dedicated graphics card, the Ati 3470 with 256 MB.

I'm only starting out in doing graphics work and hopefully would like to do some 3D work too in future e.g. Maya and 3D Studio Max. My question is will I be able to do graphical work with this Ati 3470 without it being too much of a pain, or should I really change/sell this laptop and getting something else? Would the Ati 3650 and Nvidia 9600M GT have been better for 3D work? (I'm not that much into gaming by the way.)

I had considered the Ati 3650 but found it hard to find suitable laptops. I considered the Nvidia 9600M GT but was put off by stories about them overheating. I'm more of a casual 3D artist and so didnt opt for an expensive qaudro. In the end I thought I'd just purchase a desktop if I found I couldnt work with this laptop, but I'm now worried that I may have made a mistake! Please advise.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Why did you decide to buy a laptop for gfx work anyway? relative slow, expensive, small screen and bad working position.

Anyway, I wouldnt worry to much. I dont know how skilled you are but you dont need a very fast gfx card for fairly basic 3d modelling. i moddeld cars and stuff on my x1600 so if it works on that it will work on your card.

But if you are worried if you made the right choice, sell the laptop and get a desktop. Way better for just about anything buy carrying around (though given how some laptops are build these days id suppose taking your desktop everywhere might even be easier )

 

[V3]

As long as the CPU is fast and you know what you're doing and your project isn't something like Airplane design, you should be alright.

 

[Spaceman-Spiff]

Unless there's new updates to the applications to utilize GPU power, rendering in 3D modeling softwares uses your CPU power. Even processing images in Photoshop uses CPU more.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Rendering does, but when actually modelling your gpu is used.