Autocad Graphics Card Selection

[mbackof]

I'm building a system for my father. He will be doing minimal gaming, but he will be using a new version of AutoCad on Windows XP Pro. How much of an advantage is their to getting a workstation video card over a gaming video card? We were hoping to not spend more than $200 on a video card. Which card should we go with at this price range, or should we spend more on the video card?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Matthias99]

In terms of raw hardware performance, the differences between the high-end gaming cards (ATI RAEDON 9800Pro, NVIDIA GeForceFX 5900Ultra) and their workstation class cards (ATI FireGL, NVIDIA QuadroFX) are minimal. However, you get improved drivers and a different BIOS on the workstation cards, which trades a significant amount of gaming performance for improved capabilities in 3D modelling packages like Autocad.

I would ask around on a forum dedicated to the particular software you're using, because it's very hard to say how much of a difference there will be, and which cards would be best for you. I will say, however, that unless you're doing very intensive work with Autocad, you will probably be fine with a high-end "gamer" card from either company.

 

[dullard]

One of the better sites for CAD video card reviews is at Cadalyst.com. That site doesn't seem to load well for me today. They do periodic testing of the workstation video cards and on occasion they throw in a typical gaming card for comparison.

Basically you do tend to get more performance if you spend more. Best bang for the buck has typically been with the ATI Fire line. However $200 won't get you anything worthwhile in the workstation video cards. You'll have to double or triple that price to get the good workstation cards - and those will be the entry level of a series.

The question really becomes: do you need that performance? Is his time that imporant and are his projects that complex? For most users, I'd say no. Thus a gaming card will perform just fine. The performance difference between workstation cards and gaming cards has really shrunk in the last 5 years. As Matthias99 said, now the low end workstation cards are just gaming cards with a higher price tag and slightly different driver optimizations.

 

[mrweirdo]

Cant tell you what would be best but myself I went with a sapphire radeon 9600 Pro in the cad systems I recently built. I didnt think that it would be worth geting a special workstation card as a gaming card should be able to handle cad good enough. I have allways though of worstation cards being more expensive, more for 2-D stuff, and a step below gaming cards myself performance wise :/

 

[mbackof]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm looking at a 5900 or a 9800NP for him.

Mike

 

[jose]

there this card :
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-133-083&catalog=48&depa=1

regards,
Jose

 

[Goi]

What about 2D AutoCAD? I don't think it will benefit from the 3D capabilities of the newer cards. Would, say, even an old 16MB G400 suffice for these applications?