NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3500M?

Anonymous · ‎12-16-2010

Hi everyone,

I have 2 students who are soon starting a 3d animation course using 3ds Max 2010. I'm looking into buying them an affordable (likely older model, used) laptop that will do the job sufficiently. I'm looking at the Dell Precision M90 with NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500M graphics card.

I have tried to do my homework as best as possible, have looked at the 3ds Max 2010 certified hardware info (workstation & graphics qualifications), etc, but have 2 remaining questions:

1) Only the FX 3500 is mentioned in the qualified graphics pdf (http://download.autodesk.com/us/qualcharts/2010/3dsmax2010SP1_qualifiedgraphics_win.pdf). There are no mobile workstation qualified cards listed. Does this mean that the FX 3500 info also refers to the 3500M (mobile version)?

2) If the answer to the above is "yes", then my next question is this: For 3ds 2010, driver 190.38 is recommended (see same pdf). But searching online, I can't see that this driver is also for 3500M, I only see that it's for 3500 (e.g. http://www.nvidia.com/object/Quadro_win7_winvista_32bit_190.38_whql.html - "Supported products" tab) If 190.38 is not for the 3500M, what driver will work with this card for 3ds 2010?

In a nutshell, I guess what I'm asking is: will the FX 3500M work with 3ds 2010?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

DarrenP · ‎12-16-2010

the 3500 fx and the 3500 fx mobile are 2 different cards performance wise and spec wise
nvidia recommends getting the video driver from the lap top manufactureer in this case dell but nvidia does offer their own lap top drivers but they don't guarantee it will work for your lap top

DarrenP
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DarrenP · ‎12-16-2010

i just checked the nvidia website their drivers don't support that lap top video card

DarrenP
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DarrenP · ‎12-16-2010

this is the latest driver from nvidia: http://www.nvidia.com/object/notebook-win7-winvista-64bit-260.99-whql-driver.html

DarrenP
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DarrenP · ‎12-16-2010

you may have to use the driver that dell supplys for that card

DarrenP
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Anonymous · ‎12-16-2010

Thanks, I appreciate the info! Makes sense.

So do you think 3ds Max 2010 will work sufficiently with this card (& older driver that's available from Dell)??

Anonymous · ‎12-20-2010

Hi guys,

Assuming all other hardware meets performance criteria, does anyone know if the NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3500M card would do the job reasonably (for students) with 3ds max 2010??

DarrenP · ‎12-20-2010

your going to have to test it
i don't even see this card on nvidias website at all
http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx_go.html

DarrenP
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Anonymous · ‎12-20-2010

Thanks so much, drp381, for replying again.

I'm pretty bamboozled about what to do, to be honest. I'm stationed in an African country (Uganda) where electronics are super-expensive, so I plan to buy 2 used laptops online in the U.S. and have someone who's coming here bring them. I've spend days (literally!) on the net, wading through info, trying to work out a decent, affordable, laptop to get for these boys (budget is ~$600). I'm just going around in circles (as is my mind).

The Precision M90 (Core 2 Duo, 4GB memory) looked like a reasonable balance between price & performance, but I just don't know about the (now aged) 3500M card with 3ds Max 2010. What do you think my chances are? Take a gamble, or do you really think it's uncertain enough to need to test? Of course I can't buy the laptops, have them shipped here, and then test them. Would Dell themselves be able to help answering this question?

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

Anonymous · ‎12-20-2010

Just saw the 2nd half of your reply with the link. Yes, this is a pretty old card (2007). Here's a link with specs http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-Quadro-FX-3500M.6935.0.html

DarrenP · ‎12-20-2010

is the m90 the only choice you have?

DarrenP
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Anonymous · ‎12-20-2010

Might want to look for a Precision 6300...
I can attest to the fact that you "can" run max with that one.

Anonymous · ‎12-20-2010

No, it's only the budget that's the limitation, which is ~US$600.

Anonymous · ‎12-20-2010

Good call (& thx for the post). Can you attest to one with a 256, or 512mb graphics card? I see most of them (used ones on ebay) come with the Nvidia Quadro FX1600M (only 256mb memory, Autodesk recommends at least 512), but some come with the FX3600M (512mb). Latter is stretching my budget a bit, but may be worth it...

Anonymous · ‎12-20-2010

I have the NVIDIA Quadro ® FX 3600M 512MB...

Anonymous · ‎12-21-2010

Roger that, thx. May be the one to go for I think.

NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3500M?

NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3500M?

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