nVidia Video Card

[cadman1997]

Hello All

I would like to get a nVidia Video Card for my home computer. I have a Gateway AMD 3800+ Dual Core, 3Gb of RAM and Windows XP Pro. I was looking at the Quadro FX 1500 and Quadro FX 3450. Any suggestions about a video card. Thanks.

Cheers,

Ralph Wright, CSWP
SolidWorks 2005, SP5.0
P4, 2.53Ghz
1.5 Gb RAM
ATI Fire GL8800 Card
Windows 2000 Pro

 

[MadMango]

Just ensure that the card you select is listed in the following table:

http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/VideoCardTesting.html

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[Heckler]

I have the FX1400 on my work computer and it's a great mid-range MCAD V-Card. Two things that are important to a MCAD machine RAM and V-Card.....go big!

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 2.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

(In reference to David Beckham) "He can't kick with his left foot, he can't tackle, he can't head the ball and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that, he'

 

[JMirisola]

I agree with Heckler. More power!

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
CAD Administrator
SW '07 SP2.0, Dell M90, Intel 2 Duo Core, 2GB RAM, nVidia 2500M

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/jeffs_blog

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Get the best Quadro FX card that your budget will afford.

 

[StefanHamminga]

I really must disagree, instead of buying a FX3450/3500 you should spend your money on a FX1500 and a CPU upgrade.
The FX3450/3500 cards need a faster cpu to reach their full potential (I came to this conclusion after benchmarking my FX1400 and FX3500 on several systems).

Stefan Hamminga
EngIT Solutions
CSWP/Mechanical designer

 

[SBaugh]

Only Quadro card not to get is the FX NVS - its not a CAD card and its the only FX card that is not supported.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[Heckler]

Stefan - I would like to see the results of your benchmarking. And how much faster than a AMD 3800 dual core?

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 2.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

(In reference to David Beckham) "He can't kick with his left foot, he can't tackle, he can't head the ball and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that, he'

 

[Theophilus]

I tend to agree with Stefan. I went from one system to another--the first had an FX-500, the current has an FX-1400 (or 1440 "Express"--whatever).

I saw strange artifacts and things that wouldn't refresh right away on my old system, thinking I was running out of card power with the huge assemblies and complex geometry I was doing. That stuff (for the most part) did NOT go away with the upgraded system and card. It appears a certain amount of what I didn't like is actually endemic to SolidWorks.

Hence, I'd go for more processor power (and did) in a system on my next purchase as well.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.

 

[StefanHamminga]

I'll see if I can find more, for starters, here are some cinebench results:

CPU / MHz | Video card | Rendering 1 core | Rendering multiple cores | Shading CINEMA 4D | Shading software OpenGL | Shading hardware OpenGL
1. C2D 3370 | FX3500OC | 584 | 1097 | 677 | 2398 | 7971
2. C2D 3240 | FX3500OC | 562 | 1053 | 653 | 2310 | 7784
3. C2D 3440 | FX1400OC | 594 | 1126 | 697 | 2459 | 7654
4. C2D 3440 | FX1400OC | 603 | 1128 | 696 | 2453 | 7621
5. C2D 2920 | FX3500 | 507 | 956 | 590 | 2082 | 6916
6. C2D 3370 | FX3500 | 582 | 1098 | 680 | 2205 | 5179
7. C2D 3440 | FX1400 | 603 | 1121 | 696 | 2221 | 4766
8. Opty 175 2640 | FX3500OC | 444 | 831 | 435 | 1799 | 4726
9. Opty 175 2637 | FX3500 | 442 | 831 | 436 | 1798 | 4688
10. Opty 175 2637 | FX3500 | 442 | 825 | 436 | 1790 | 4669
11. C2D 3340 | FX3500 | 603 | 1120 | 695 | 2208 | 4572
12. HP 2085ea 1833| Geforce 7200 | 273 | 492 | 321 | 1261 | 1972


Stefan Hamminga
EngIT Solutions
CSWP/Mechanical designer

 

[Heckler]

Thanks Stefan. Then this opens up a new can of worms when building a MCAD system and should SWx recommend systems? The reason why I ask is our IT guys, although good at what they do, have not the first clue what's important when it comes to building a MCAD system.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SWx 2007 SP 2.0 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

(In reference to David Beckham) "He can't kick with his left foot, he can't tackle, he can't head the ball and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that, he'

 

[cadman1997]

Thanks for all the comments from everyone. I think I will go with nVidia Quad FX 1500. I can one for $625 CDN. from Tigerdirect. Again thanks for the help.

Cheers,

Ralph Wright, CSWP
SolidWorks 2005, SP5.0
P4, 2.53Ghz
1.5 Gb RAM
ATI Fire GL8800 Card
Windows 2000 Pro