Graphic Card selection

Rhino Windows Hardware
#1

Getting ready to purchase a new laptop. Seems most have built in cards from Intel (520, 5500, 405) and AMD (Radeon R6, R5) Is there any current information that talks about the compatibility of these cards and Rhino 5? The most recent post on the McNeel Wiki seems to be from 2014

Thanks

#2

Neither the embedded intels or the AMD Radeons are good for Rhino V5.
They will be better for V6 but still not particularly good.

I’d suggest an nVidia Geforce if you’re on a tight budget or a nVidia Quadro if you can afford it.
Both will be better in V6 but they will work well for V5.

I don’t know what you were looking at from 2014.
This has been updated recently:
https://wiki.mcneel.com/rhino/rhino5videocards

#3

Thanks!

#4

Refer to this so you can get the best card for the money.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/

#5

Keep in mind that high performance DirectX “gaming” cards will not help Rhino display performance. Rhino uses OpenGL.

#6

Some good :rhinoceros: benchmarks here too: Holomark 2 Released!

1 Like
#7

John…I don’t understand the issues with OpenGL support…? Even my old GeForce GT 640 says it supports OpenGL 4.2. What version of OpenGL does Rhino support…? BTW Rhino runs pretty well on my system and it’s just a $1000 off the shelf unit from Fry’s.

Brian

#8

Rhino 4 requires OpenGL version 1.1
Rhino 5 for Windows requires OpenGL version 2.0 and Shader version 1.2
Rhino 6 will use OpenGL 3.3 (if available), and fallback to older specifications when required

#9

I understand now…I guess there is a huge difference in 1.1 and 4.5 as far as coding goes on your end…? It’s a shame.

Brian

#10

Yes. Up to and including V5, our approach was to write Rhino display code to a “least common denominator” OpenGL specification. This approach worked pretty well for many years.
With V6, we found some of the features we wanted to do, partly because of AMD’s Radeon driver group being so intransigent with respect to OpenGL, and other driver groups apparently were not adequately testing their reverse compatibility to older OpenGL specifications, the developers came up with a scheme that looks for OpenGL 3.3 and falls back to earlier specifications when an old driver or marginal card is encountered. It’s been a lot of work and we’re not done yet.

In my previous post, my use of “requires” and “will use” were specific.

#11

Is there any type of workaround for this issue? I have an AMD card as well and eager to try the new rhino.

I’m so frustrated I wont by another AMD product. Ok rant over. :slight_smile:

#12

Not for Rhino V5.
We do expect that the OpenGL 3.3 work in V6 will make these AMD Radeon cards functional for Rhino again.
In the meantime, your only options are:

  • set Antialiasing to None in Options > View > OpenGL
  • or unchecking the option for using accelerated hardware modes on the same OpenGL Options page

Have you tried V6 yet to see if it’s better?

#13

I’m sorry I didn’t clarify. I have v5 and it has ran fine. The new version 6 or WIP is what isn’t working for me.

#14

How old are your display drivers?
Please take a screenshot of the settings in Options > View > OpenGL

#15

Thanks John, I was able to update the drivers and get it going!

FYI there are some fresh AMD drivers that just come out!

#16

Cool. At the risk of stirring up more problems, did the driver update screw up your V5 or is it still OK?

#17

Ya the v5 seems fine.

#18

Nvidia GT 1030 is new, silent graphics card for desktop computers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ZkvC_oRI8