best video card for cad cam

[Boonesmi]

the pc its going in is only for cad/cam apps no games

whats the best video card i can find for less then $100
and the best for $150ish
and also for $250ish

 

[ProviaFan]

How about 3Dlabs?

 

[Boonesmi]

anyone else?

 

[SpeedTester]

I use the Matrox G450 DDR 32megger at work with autocad Lt2000 and think it does a great job.
Its the clearest 2d card Ive used and the speed is good for around $100.00.

 

[Workin']

The cad machines at my company (running MicroStation or AutoCad) all have Matrox G400MAX cards in them. If you are running either of those programs that card is more than good enough. If you are running a cad program like pro/engineer or another high-end package then you should be looking at graphics cards that cost over $1000 and are massively optimized for OpenGL. NO consumer card has full OGL support, they all support only a small subset of the standard. Nvidia Quadro cards are pretty close for about $350, but they still get stomped by the real bad-ass pro cards.

 

[Need4Speed]

well...for cad/cam don't expect too much from cards in the $250 or under..a good card will set you back at least 4x times that. BUT it really depends on what you are doing....are yoy using 3D modelling kernels or a just plain 2d? for 2D, even a TNT2 Ultra would be fine. If you want something with a little more punch, a G2 GTS will work fine for light duty 3D modelling and any 2D you can through at it.

For full bore 3d you will need something like a Wildcat or Evans and Sutherland, etc.....