Which GPU/ card for CAD & Photogrametry

M

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Nice review on the forum, today, concerning which card "you" use....

As is normal, the replies and viewpoints are almost entirely from a gaming point of view.

I am not a gamer in any way.... my last "game" was when I scratch built a table tennis game (generically called Pong) with hundreds of 74xx chips.

What I would like opinion on is with the impending release of "affordable" GPUs in the RTX 3060/ 70 series (the 80 is way above a basic pensioners price range... the 3060 is a stretch) which current/ near future GPU would best suit 3D CAD & Photogrametry ?
 
Welcome back Malcolm :).

That Pong same sounds clever - did the ICs output to a TV in the end or some other sort of display?

If you don't do any gaming, the RTX lineup may be overkill for CAD and Photogrametry - unless you're rendering something HUGE with physics effects. Do you know the texture size of your photogrametry scenes (are these ones generated by a phone, or in combination with something like LIDAR)?

I've got an NVIDIA GTX 960 and it flies through any CAD work I throw at my PC, so I think even a fairly modest graphics card would cope with all but the most heavy duty CAD rendering.
 
the minimum spec given for my grametry package is GTX1080 hence my interest in RTX etc..... I have been looking for a secondhand card at a price I can afford (afford isn't probably a good term, here, as I was forced into retirement in the 80s with bad health and nolonger have any private pension) when I started looking and bidding on GTX and RTX cards........ BUT with the new series being released in october it might allow a new purchase rather than a misused secondhand one of unpredictable reliability.

Photogrametry is mainly for 3D parts but will include terrain mapping.... hence the hefty GPU

The 74** table tennis game was fed into the pre-modulator stage of a black and white TV (the families main TV much to mothers annoyance) and was very much THE thing in the late 60s, monitors and separate modulators were simply not available.

If you like the idea of a hard wired "pong" I am sure the later one published in Practical Electronics should be around with some old fart like me (my entire collection was lost after my shop and house were destroyed by my girlfriend leaving)..... if one can be found, I seem to remember they published a PCB overlay for it, or it could be built like mine was... lots of vero board and wire wrapping for connections.
 
Sounds like the Photogrametry has beefy requirements - if it's suggesting a 1080 then yes I imagine the new RTX lineup will likely be of use. The 3070 looks like very good value compared to the previous generation.

What's the software you're using out of interest? I wonder if it's VRAM or processing power that is the bottleneck.

Thanks for the heads up on Pong, I'm found this page all about it: https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/04/0...es-logic-chips-atari-pong-gaming-history-pcb/
 
software is Agisoft but 3dnatives and capturingreality are both useful at times..... luckily I didn't have to buy the software (about £5k all together) but several free programs look good for smaller projects....... some landscape scans can be over 500 photos.. even 1100 in one case.

I built a laser scanner for smallish objects but photogrametry produces better results.

I'm an odd bugger.... nearly 70 and losing strength rapidly..... I am much more interested in equipment etc than in using it........ and get frustrated with modern software that tends to be big and flabby simply because disks and processors are relatively cheap..... good old uncle sinclair had a whole, excellent, database program (he didn't write it) running in 16k on a zx81.

I cannot comment on boards etc for pong although most will suffice (I did like the practical electronics one) as I did it from scratch.... no instructions but lots of 5v 74**, veroboard and silver wire.... plus an alert brain (I can't remember where I left it) and masses of trial and error and blistered chips.

give it a go.... old tech can be great fun.....
 
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