Non certified graphics cards
Non certified graphics cards
(OP)
Does anyone have any thoughts on using a non-certified Nvidea 512Mb graphics card rather than a SW certified card? We mainly struggle with CPU usuage rather than graphics so we were considering testing a non-certified card.
Our hardware supplier is currently testing the latest hardware for us in an attempt to find the most suitable (fastest) system to suit our needs. It seems the CPU is were we are struggling everything else is not running to it's limit.
Thanks
Woolly
SW2007 SP5.0
Dual core 2.67 Ghz
4Gb Ram
256Mb Nvidea Quadro FX3500
Our hardware supplier is currently testing the latest hardware for us in an attempt to find the most suitable (fastest) system to suit our needs. It seems the CPU is were we are struggling everything else is not running to it's limit.
Thanks
Woolly
SW2007 SP5.0
Dual core 2.67 Ghz
4Gb Ram
256Mb Nvidea Quadro FX3500






RE: Non certified graphics cards
RE: Non certified graphics cards
Don't do it. A mid-range certified graphics card costs $500-600 (the card in your signature probably costs more). If nothing else, the peace of mind in knowing that any issues you're having aren't a result of your graphics card is worth that much, especially in your case where you're trying to optimize hardware. Factor in any reduced performance because of a non-supported card and there's your cost justification without breaking a sweat.
RE: Non certified graphics cards
On some systems, even the simplest things get screwed up by uncertified card & driver combinations. The chances are that sooner or later you will experience some level of problem caused by a non certified card and driver. Only time will tell whether it will be a show-stopper.
RE: Non certified graphics cards
If you do not respond with a certified combination, the blame will fall on the video card / driver and it will be difficult to get support beyond that point. This is true with SolidWorks and their VARs, as well as forums such as this one.
Save yourself time, money and grief and get a certified card that matches your needs and budget.
Eric
RE: Non certified graphics cards
It may also be you are hitting a wall, depending on the types of components you are modeling, how big your assembly files are (in part count), modeling practices, and network usage.
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
RE: Non certified graphics cards
We do have very large assemblies 50K+ parts. We've changed direction slightly and are saving our full models as part files (multi body) and using them in full layouts this way, it means the part count is drastically reduced but there is still a large body count.
Woolly
RE: Non certified graphics cards
Sometimes when you save a large assembly as a multi-body parts it can actually take longer to rebuilt and load, since any component patterns have been lost, with each instance now becoming a another solid body. They can actually drag your computer performance down, at least that is what I have seen. You are better off saving assemblies as parts with the exterior faces or exterior components option instead of all components.
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."
Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
RE: Non certified graphics cards
N-Vidia at least has SW certified cards that work a lot better than ATI but there is no reason for 1Gig Video Cards and using so much memory. I've seen the Certified cards list but it is huge and if you use a certified card that isn't listed as being certified on your workstation you're pretty much screwed. I've seen lower power cards that are certified while higher quality cards get ignored.
When solid works says n-vidia 560 do they mean 5600 series or what? Real view graphics is nice but CAD design is not about beauty it's about power. Simplified Assemblies can solve many performance problems.
Michael
RE: Non certified graphics cards
It's not the cards that are over qualified, many chipsets nowadays are the same for both types of graphics cards. It's the difference in how the drivers are written.
OpenGL and Direct3D drivers both expose the traditional graphics rendering pipelines and have been enhanced over the years as the hardware has become more capable.
A graphics primitive is described to the graphics card as an ordered set of vertices, essentially a bundle of data consisting of coordinates in space defining the vertex's location. How these vertices are combined into various other primitives -- points, lines and triangles -- is defined by the particular driver's API.
OpenGL includes many specilized API calls for parametric curve and parametric surface primatives. DixectX does not.
Yet DirectX includes specialized programmable pixel shading and texture blending calls which are not availible within OpenGL API.
Many of the "inexpensive" video cards can be hacked into their "more expensive" counterparts with simple resistor modifications and a the installation of a new driver.
Remember...![[idea] idea](https://www.tipmaster.com/images/idea.gif)
"If you don't use your head,
your going to have to use your feet."
RE: Non certified graphics cards
The moral of the story is to use a good MCAD quality graphics card and keep the drivers up to date as per SolidWorks. There is absolutely no good reason to buy or switch to anything other than this.
Best regards,
Chris Gervais
Application Engineer
CSWP, CSWST