Texture memory on the graphics card is used to store 3D textures, such as imagery or facades. What is texture memory and texture mapping, and are they important? When looking at comparisons, focus on OpenGL technology rather than other display technologies, such as DirectX. As more and more consumer games use OpenGL, there are more resources with which to compare various cards' performance. Look for cards and their drivers that are designed and optimized for OpenGL to achieve the best performance. Yes, the card should support OpenGL 2.0 or higher. Is there a particular version of OpenGL the card should support? Cards supporting this API offload computation-intensive tasks from the CPU and perform the operations using specialized hardware. OpenGL is an industry standard with a cross-platform, 3D graphics application programming interface (API). Experience has shown that the workstation class graphics cards have better performance and support for professional 3D applications, including the 3D Analyst. The major graphics card manufacturers (NVIDIA and AMD ) categorize their graphics card solutions into desktop, workstation, and mobile. Workstation class graphics cards are discrete (as opposed to integrated with the system's motherboard) graphics card available for desktop and mobile (laptop) systems. Most desktop systems come equipped with power graphics cards, but in general, if you are going to use a system for 3D visualization, you will want to make sure it is a workstation class graphics card. Which graphics card should I buy?Ī good OpenGL-compliant graphics card with at least 64 MB of texture memory is recommended. While Esri cannot possibly test all these graphics cards, direction on what to look for in a graphics card is provided below.

In the past five years, there has been tremendous growth in the availability of OpenGL graphics cards due to the increased use of OpenGL in consumer games. The 3D Analyst requires OpenGL-compatible graphics cards, as OpenGL technology is used for 3D display in the ArcGlobe and ArcScene applications. The performance of the ArcGIS 3D Analyst extension is dependent on the type of graphics card that is used.

What if my graphics card meets the recommendations but it still doesn't work well?.

What about output resolution, colors, and refresh rate?.

What is this, and is it important for the 3D Analyst?

My graphics card has z buffer resolution as an option.My graphics card has geometry acceleration as an option.

What is texture memory and texture mapping, and are they important?.Is there a particular version of OpenGL the card should support?.

Opengl 2.0 compliant video card