Thinkpads Forum

I'm looking into a T61 next year for college, but the GPU on the current batch is not too thrilling. I was looking into the T60p and liked what I saw, especially the Firegl 5250 but my better nature told me to wait until the end of summer as new models would come out and price would decrease. Let me note that I am not a big gamer, (I play a few) I am interested in the video card mainly for 3d modeling/CAD work (Maya specifically). Any advice on models or expectations of models would be greatly appreciated. I am only interested in thinkpads.

Thanks a bunch,
Liam

Below is a config. I made of a T60p... something in the general area of what I'm looking for:
img]http://img57.imageshack.us/img57/7237/t60pmj8.th.jpg[/img]

Well, I'm just getting into this whole docking idea, but it seems like you want to get the Advanced Dock, because...

...doing 3D applications is more fun on a gigantic external LCD than on a 14" display.

...the Advanced Dock lets you use killer graphic cards for low prices.


Someone correct me if I'm wrong, please.

I don't see any advantage of using external video card in the advanced dock because of the PCI-E x1 interface. Powerful graphic card need high bandwidth to maximize its potential.

thanks guys... hm well I am getting a dock but this is the first time I've heard of an 'advanced' dock... any more insight into this (the 5250 FireGL in the t60P would be sufficient) On this note I am also getting an external monitor

XIII wrote:I don't see any advantage of using external video card in the advanced dock because of the PCI-E x1 interface. Powerful graphic card need high bandwidth to maximize its potential.

But woudn't the bandwidth be sufficient for most non-gaming 3D-apps? If he's getting a dock anyway, he could go for a regular T60 or T61 even with integrated graphics and save a ton of money. This way, you get the best of two worlds: high graphics power and large screen in the dock, and maximum battery life and minimum heat (because no dedicated graphics) while mobile.

You may well be right, XIII, I don't know enough about 3D creation to know how fast is fast enough.

PCIe x1 use only 1 lane which can only handle 250MB/s upstream and downstream, roughly equivalent to AGP 1x. Running at such a low bandwidth, performance will take a serious hit. Even CAD design such as AutoCAD requires at least AGP 4x speed (1066MB/s) for enough bandwidth for texture filtering, hardware rendering, etc...

XIII wrote:I don't see any advantage of using external video card in the advanced dock because of the PCI-E x1 interface. Powerful graphic card need high bandwidth to maximize its potential.

3D does not necessarily need huge bandwidth -- video and raster graphics do.

XIII wrote:Even CAD design such as AutoCAD requires at least AGP 4x speed (1066MB/s) for enough bandwidth for texture filtering, hardware rendering, etc...

If the texturing etc is done on the card, then the connection is less important as the card turns commands into graphics. If it's the main CPU doing the rendering (because the GPU has limited 3D capability) then you will need more bandwidth.

Unfortuantely, your configuration of a T60p w/ 14.1" SXGA+ screen is no longer available from the Lenovo website. If you can handle the extra ounces of weight and want a flexview screen, go with the 15.0" T60p.

It's lame either way, to "chain" your expensive graphics card to 1 lane of bandwidth.