muddyboots Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 I know that many of you recommend the Quadro series video cards, but my experience has always been with more gaming type cards when working with cad. The work I do involves Autocad and Carlson Survey, but we are land surveyors and don't use cads full potential like 3D modeling and such. We only do earthwork such as working with TINs (triangulated irregular networks) and volumes. I am trying to spec a new computer, and am wondering if the price is worth it for a Quadro. I know my budget would only allow the bottom of the line. The university I am at now just replaced all computers in the labs with integrateted video and they seem fine with cad and ArcGIS. Does anyone here have experience with the higher end GeForce or similar ATIs. If you knew how cheap my boss is you would understand my concern with spending so much of the budget on a card when I could put that toward the processor and ram. Thanks for any input. Quote
ReMark Posted May 6, 2009 Posted May 6, 2009 I cannot believe that someone at your college thought it was a good idea to buy new computers that come with integrated graphics chips instead of honest-to-God graphics cards. The person who did so ought to be made to sit in a corner with a pointed hat on his/her head that has the words COMPUTER DUNCE written on it. And they call it "higher education". Go figure. I'm using a mid-range GeForce card in my work computer and I am not having any problems with it. Since I hardly ever do any renderings it works well enough for me in all other aspects of 3D. Quote
muddyboots Posted May 7, 2009 Author Posted May 7, 2009 The decision probably goes back to some IT guy who doesn't know cad. I have always wanted to work with a true workstation, but again, we have never had any issues thus far. I am curious if we would see any benefits with the type of cad work we do with a cad specific video card, but would hate to spend that much without seeing a significant increase in performance. Quote
ReMark Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 I'm using a GeForce 8800 GTX. You might want to check out the GTS series if price is a concern. Quote
ReMark Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 You could always look into the ATI FireGL line of graphics cards. Quote
29xthefun Posted May 7, 2009 Posted May 7, 2009 I have a Gforce 9600GT in my Pc and I have yet to have any problems with 3D work. I got it for £90 last year. I then made sure I got a good CPU and more Ram. I intend near August to ask for a new upgrade on the graphics card. Quote
muddyboots Posted May 7, 2009 Author Posted May 7, 2009 That is most likely what I will do, however I have ran across this card, PNY VCQFX580-PCIE-PB Quadro FX580, on NewEgg.com which cost under $200 which is less than some of the higher end gamer video cards. A few people seem to be happy with it. Quote
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