which type of mother board should i use for amd graphics

[Kiro]

I did a little research (like 14 hours last night so I don't truly understand what I'm talking about yet) about the difference between workstation and consumer cards, but my focus was geared more toward low-end solutions for CAD-type applications.  You can read a little about it in my build thread.  Basically, workstation cards are important and do have a place in the working environment, but depending on the application, you might be able to get away with more affordable consumer cards.  Maya is a good example where a consumer HD 7970 would be capable enough to do productive work, and you can still game with them.  It's also on Autodesk's hardware list, granted it's neither recommended nor certified, just that it passed tests with 12.4 CCC drivers.  To that effect, if you choose to go this route, you may want to consider dual booting so that one side is for your graphics work (12.4 drivers) and the other for general use including gaming (updated drivers).  This, of course, depends on whether or not upgrading the drivers had an adverse effect on Maya's performance (and whether the performance hit is significant or negligible), which may or may not happen, and whether you think it would be a good idea to separate the two uses.

 

Tom's Hardware did a review on the FirePro W8000 and W9000, which are based on AMD's GCN architecture used in the HD 7xxx cards.

SPECviewperf 11 Maya: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firepro-w8000-w9000-benchmark,3265-8.html

Maya 2013 3D Performance: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firepro-w8000-w9000-benchmark,3265-15.html

Gaming Benchmarks: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firepro-w8000-w9000-benchmark,3265-19.html

 

If you could spend $1500 on a graphics card, the FirePro W8000 is very capable.  It does great in Maya and even bests the GTX 580 in some gaming benchmarks.

 

Nevertheless, this is just based on one review so more research is needed.  I didn't pursue further information because my focus was different, but you get the idea.  The workstation vs consumer card debate is never-ending.  Overall, it depends on your priorities, what specifically you're using it for, and your budget.

 

Something that came up, though, is the matter of ECC.  Depending on your workload, this might be something to consider.  Either way, lots of RAM.

 

Euro: Some CAD programs do not take full advantage of multi-threading and multi-core technology, with the exception of rendering tasks.  But that's beyond the scope of this topic.

Edited December 16, 2012 by Kiro