Upgrading from 7.5 to 8.2 / Upgrading Video Cards

[johnheins]

Question #1
I hear they did something with the anti-aliasing in terms of less passes. If I upgrade to 8.2 from 7.5, how much of an improvement will I see in rendering time?

Question #2
I will be upgrading my dual 1.42 MHz G4 to a dual 2.5 MHz G5. Will I really notice a difference if I upgrade my video card from the standard 128MB ATI 9600XT to a 256MB ATI 9800XT?

Thanks so much for someone's future help!

[NigelH]

Question #1

I guess it's really scene dependent, but I personally only use the optional (new) AA methods for quick F9 renders. It feels to me like the quality of the AA in the new methods require so many passes to come up to the level of the 'classic' methods, that any speed gains are lost in translation.

Question #2

With a Dual 2.5Ghz G5 alone, the difference over your G4 will be significant. Any additional improvement in OGL interactivity of the 9800 (over the 9600) willl be negligible - in LightWave, anyway. It might be worth it if you play a lot of Doom3. :)