Which video card is better?

[dc81]

ATI Raedon x600 128mb or ATI FireGL V3200 128mb? Why?

[ariadgr]

I think FireGL V3200.

[dc81]

Why?

[pphilipko]

They're about the same, except the V3200 is optimized for stability, whereas the X600 is for FPS.

[tom2517]

I read somewhere V3200 is based on X600. But like pphilipko said, V3200 is optimized for stability.

Whatever the case, Thinkpads should have at least X700 on them... Even a 64MB X700 would be better than 128MB X600.

[avalanchez71]

ATI Raedon x600 128mb or ATI FireGL V3200 128mb? Why?

The Radeon is designed for high-performance graphics such as gaming, where the FireGL is a business-level card and will do better with things like CAD and other 2D/3D applications.

[a31pguy]

Just ran across the same problem while building a desktop for my son.

In my case it was the Radeon x850XT vs the ATI FireGL X3-256

The FireGL are true workstation cards which have better support for commercial apps such as lightstream etc. So they have much better performance for OpenGL. The Radeon cards are primarily gamer/consumer cards and are aimed at the DirectX market. The FireGL cards do everything the Radeon cards do - but are better and more supported by professional applications. The Radeon came with a DVI and a VGA. The FireGL came with two DVI. The FireGL also supported the apple cinema display (a rarity) and the Radeon - well no. If you look on the IBM sight - you'll find a support page that has all the drivers for each application specifically for the FireGL family. My thinkpad has like 20 or so drivers optimized for each commercial app.

A lot of people will try to soft upgrade their Radeons to FireGL code (which I think you can do). I've never tried it.

So because I'm not a 3D effects artist or a CAD operator (neither is my 5 year old son) - I got the gamer card. Even though the FireGL card is much better - my choice was between a list price of $450 and $1099.