Video cards for CAD?

[MageXX9]

What about video cards like NVidia's Quadro make them better suited for CAD?

 

[pkme2]

I use Quadro card on my workstation and they do my graphic work quite nicely.

 

[Howard]

Beats the hell out of me. This might help:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps...d=2998493&linkID=2475323&siteID=123112

 

[Ayah]

Driver optimizations for OpenGL.

 

[SparkyJJO]

My 6800 vanilla ran CAD fine, better than some of the workstation computers in the lab actually

 

[bob4432]

from howards link:

"AutoCAD has features such as ShadeViewPort Plotting, Gradient Fills, and True Colors, which are best displayed using video cards with the recommended features.

Following are the recommended features:

* Anisotropic filtering. Advanced texture filtering technique that improves image quality for scenes with objects that extend from the foreground deep into the background.
* OpenGL. Standard API for CAD and scientific applications (very important feature).
* High-resolution anti-aliasing. Technique that reduces the visual impact of aliasing.
* RAM. On-board memory on the video card.
* Accelerated graphics port (AGP). A faster alternative to the PCI bus.
* Alpha blending. Alpha channel data stores the degree of transparency, ranging from opaque to completely clear.
* Graphics processing unit (GPU). Some video cards have their own processor.
* Z-buffer. The area of the graphics memory used to store the Z or depth information about rendered objects. The Z-buffer value of a pixel is used to determine if it is behind or in front of another pixel. Z calculations prevent background objects from overwriting foreground objects in the frame buffer.

this looks pretty standard for the last 5+yrs....

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Ayah
Driver optimizations for OpenGL.

so is a quadro just a regular card, like a 6800 that has special firmware and drivers that only can be installed if gpu=quadro?

 

[Howard]

http://images.questex.com/Cadalyst/PrintEdition/2006/0706graphicscards.html

 

[MageXX9]

Originally posted by: Howard
http://images.questex.com/Cadalyst/PrintEdition/2006/0706graphicscards.html

THANKS!

So it's drivers, and $Texas.