Because of the mono-performance issue, I decide to
change my graphics card to ATI Fire GL2 (or 3 / 4).
That might be a good idea if you wan't to use stereo heavily, if you use
it only rarely, a nVidia-based board might also be ok (although the
Quadro-cards are also quite expensive, and there's no hacked driver for
Linux, you need to modify the graphics-hardware to fool the driver).
Otoh there is also a new Radeon 9x00-based "professional" chip called
Fire GL X1
http://mirror.ati.com/products/workstation/fireglx1/index.html
which apparently comes with stereo-enabled Linux-drivers (don't know
exactly, wether the Linux-drivers really have stereo, but it is
mentioned that the card as such such is stereo-capable). Don't know
about any issues regarding stereo-performance for this board.
You might take this on your list of alternatives (but I don't know the
price).
My first question is: how will the different cards
affect the stereo-viewing performance (at 1280x1024)?
Is it necessary to go for a high-end card (and pay
extra cash)?
In general: From the specs and the benchmarks/reviews I've read, all
cards should be able to do what you want (display macromolecules in
Pymol in stereo). More expensive cards might be better at handling
larger models/more textures etc. but I would think that even the cheapes
of them should be able to run sufficiently fast on the mentioned
PC-hardware. Have a look at ViewPerf-numbers, if they seem to be
reasonable (> 5-10 fps for most of the tests) the card should be ok for you.
For the stereo glasses, I called Stereo Graphics and
their CrystalEyes3 + Emitter boundle costs about $900.
I also called NuVision and their 60GX + Emitter cost
about $300. My second question is: what's the
difference between these two? Can the difference
justify the extra $600?
I've had a look at both Nuvision and Stereographics-glasses, and both
are professional-grade (vs. the ELSA Revelator or other semi-pro or
hobby sollutions, which are even cheaper, but are also very small).
Nuvision and Crystaleyes wireless glasses and emitters are
interchangeable. Crystaleyes are normaly a bit larger, but the Nuvision
shutters are big enough that you don't have a restricted field of view
(which you have with the Revelator etc.).
Due to the smaller size they might also be a bit less heavy.
If you want the cheapest "pro"-sollution, I would go for the Nuvision,
they are good enough. If -for some reason- you really want maximum-sized
shutters, you need Crystaleyes.
Maybe you can test at least one of the two at your next crystallography
department or CAD-office?
--
Bye, Marc Saric
Max-Planck-Institut fuer molekulare Physiologie
Otto-Hahn-Str.11 44227 Dortmund phone:0231/133-2168
