Choosing a Video Card?
Choosing a Video Card?
(OP)
How important in the video card to the overall system performance (vs. processor, memory, hard drive)?
We have some P-III 1.0 GHz systems with Intel embedded video chips (82815) and newer P-IV 2.0 GHz systems with Nvidia Vanta chips - also embedded on the motherboard.
We're trying to decide if investing in high-end video cards is worth the money.
We have some P-III 1.0 GHz systems with Intel embedded video chips (82815) and newer P-IV 2.0 GHz systems with Nvidia Vanta chips - also embedded on the motherboard.
We're trying to decide if investing in high-end video cards is worth the money.






RE: Choosing a Video Card?
You might want to double check with your vendors for your computers. I had an HP system which I tried to move away from the embedded video processing to a dedicated graphics card, and was unable to do so.
The quality of the graphics card you need will depend primarily on how complicated your designs are going to be in SW. You should be shooting for at least a 64mb card, 512mb memory and a professional grade OS (W2k or XPpro). This set-up should cover you for assemblies up to about 500-750 parts with good productivity.
"The attempt and not the deed confounds us."
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
"The attempt and not the deed confounds us."
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
The SolidWorks benchmark shows that the most important factors that affect system performance are:
1) RAM - RAM gives you the most bang for your buck (and it is cheap!)
2) CPU - CPU is very important, but having a fast CPU with little RAM is no good
3) The video card is the third most important factor. Note that the video card affects shaded pans, rotations and zooms, and does not affect file open times or rebuilds significantly (RAM and CPU greatly affect the file open times and rebuilds).
It is important that you use a Video Card that is designed for Solid Modelling (e.g. Oxygen VX1 from www.3dlabs.com, the ATI Fire GL 8800, or the nVidia Quadro). These cards were designed for SolidWorks and offer optimal performance.
Please avoid using "gaming" cards, they are designed for multimedia not for SolidWorks (i.e. don't get an ATI Rage or nVidia TNT or Matrox).
SolidWorks has a video card testing site, here is the link:
http://www.solidworks.com/swdocs/support/html/videoissues/videotest.cfm
Hope this helps
Joseph
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
I have been using SolidWorks for over four years and I have found that you must stick with non-gaming video cards. At work I work on a P3 750 with 375 ram and a 32mb Oxygen VX-1. Just before recieving the new video card I was pulling my hair out waiting for the video to catch up to my pans and rotates. And now with 2001 Plus the only thing I believe keeping me from pulling my hair out is the video card. Because I have noticed with every upgrade SolidWorks has become more and more processor hungry.
I would also recommend staying away from Gateway computers for engineering purposes. My co-partners were all given Gateway computers P4 with the same video card I have and they were all slower than I am and they were constantly crashing SolidWorks. My computer is a no name build up done by a previous IT manager.
One other thing to verify before buying new video cards. Make sure that the on board video processor can be bypassed. I have run into a few on board systems that could not be bypassed. So check your owners manual.
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
Regards,
Scott Baugh, CSWP

credence69@REMOVEhotmail.com
http://www.3dmca.com
http://home.insightbb.com/~scott.baugh/
*When in doubt always check the help*
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
They don't seem to show the driver I use in there..at least as far as I can tell??
Using this card is only my opinion.
Best Regards,
Scott Baugh, CSWP

credence69@REMOVEhotmail.com
http://www.3dmca.com
http://home.insightbb.com/~scott.baugh/
*When in doubt always check the help*
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
See here http://www.geocities.com/tnaw_xtennis/
As for the Quadro playing games I have no idea. My GF2 rocks when playing Quake 3 Arena or Diablo2. I wouldn't trade it in on a Quadro to run SW anytime soon. Well I may trade it in for a GF3 or 4.
So for all of you SW guros...like myself, and all you Gamers....also like myself. Good luck and have fun in both worlds.
Best Regards,
Scott Baugh, CSWP

credence69@REMOVEhotmail.com
http://www.3dmca.com
http://home.insightbb.com/~scott.baugh/
*When in doubt always check the help*
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
What is your oppinion:
32MB Matrox G550 (marked green on SolidWorks web)
or
Geforce4 PRO MX460 64 MB (which is told to have
limitations on SW web)?
Whereas GF4 costs only $15 more?
BR,
Linqur
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
"The attempt and not the deed confounds us."
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
Does anyone have actual experience with this card in a CAD environment?
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
Sorry about sounding like an advertisement, but it works like a charm for Solidworks, games, and DVD playback.
RE: Choosing a Video Card?
I have tried and tested it on geforce 4600 and Geforce2 GTS
the Geforce an Quadro cards have the same core! Quadro mx have the same as GeForce mx , and quadro2 have the same as GeForce2 . Geforce 4 and the new professional cards from Nvidia have slightly different core, but not much.
The difference is on the driver side.
As it stands now, it is possible to get quadro performance from the geforce cards.
To learn more about this, look at this link, or search for "soft quadro hack" on the net.
http://nvworld.ru/docs/sq4e.html
http://www.guru3d.com/files/softquadro/
Best of luck !