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What Video Card do I need?

M

mikeop99

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Jun 2, 2011
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What Video Card do I need?

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I work for an AV company. We are looking at buy a new system (64bit) for 3d CAD work. Will be using Rhinoceros 3D and Vectorworks. We are looking at a Intel Core i7 2600 3.4 Ghz system with 8gig of DDR III Ram 1333 mHz.

Video Card question: A the moment the package comes with an nvidia GTX 560 1024meg PCI Express. I have the option of upgrading to:
nvidia 570 1280
nvidia 480 1536
nvidia 580 1536

But can change to anything really, these are just the ones they have on hand. Will this card be suffcient for 3d work or would I be better with an ATI based card or upgrading it?

Secondly. The main use of this system for CAD work, but we are looking at having it being able to output dual screen (projector) for show use. It would be used to output in extended desktop, projecting as one big screen (ie 2 outputs producing 1 screen). Question is, would this card be grunty enough to do this for either a powerpoint presentation or for video playback (mpeg or avi) maybe upto 1080P. If not what card or specs would you recommend to be able to do this? Output resolution isn't a biggy as the size of the projection screen is dictated by venue. We use a system called watchout to map multiple projectors to create one massive screen. This would a budget version of this for two projectors.

Many Thanks

Mike
 
I would opt for a Quadro series card for CAD and 3D work.
 
The 560 it comes with will have no issues with powerpoint presentations or 1080p video content.

Unless you are going to upgrade to a Quadro, I don't think you'll see much of an improvement in CAD software by putting a more expensive gaming card into it.

At least you are aware of the needs for your machine. My university just got new computers for their tech lab and they all have integrated graphics. I can't even begin to describe how frustrating it is trying to learn Solidworks and Pro-E on those things.
 
I think the 560 is powerful enough for what you do, and the upgrades you listed are not really worth it.
 
x_MaGiuS_x said:
The 560 it comes with will have no issues with powerpoint presentations or 1080p video content.

Unless you are going to upgrade to a Quadro, I don't think you'll see much of an improvement in CAD software by putting a more expensive gaming card into it.

At least you are aware of the needs for your machine. My university just got new computers for their tech lab and they all have integrated graphics. I can't even begin to describe how frustrating it is trying to learn Solidworks and Pro-E on those things.
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Dunno but it was always my perception that people in the professional industry making money with their pcs worst enemies are crashes and buggy gpu drivers. We as gamer our drivers are optimized for speed and we don't care about the occasional crash or two but don't think that's acceptable where time means money. Quadro cards are made for precision and run at a lower clock than the consumer ones but they don't need speed. The need precision and reliability and that's why Quadro cards cost a bit. its the driver support and the hours that went into testing them than compare against the consumer ones which ain't tested really. I mean if it was so simple to buy a consumer gpu I think people in the profession wouldve done it. Each crash or problem is money wasted and if you look around on the net of drivers problems and consumer gpus in general that's a big amount of money that's being lost.
 
No Quadro and FirePro cards cost more because AMD and Nvidia keep a tight leash drivers and purposefully reduce the compatibility of consumer/enthusiast cards versus workstation when it comes to 3D content creation.

Look a couple generations back and the cards (except occasionally for a big boost in ram) had identical chips, boards, and all other physical equivalents. However, the workstation cards, even where ram was the same, would still perform better because of the drivers. When driver hacks worked and the consumer cards could have workstation drivers loaded on them they would perform just as well.
 
Get the Quadro card or you'll regret it, but I think you have to buy it separately depending on where you buy your system from.
 
Can I help you build a computer? You'll get more value down the road, because in 5 years instead of replacing everything, you only need to replace ram, mobo, and cpu, and video card.

150 P8p67 MOBO
100 8GB ram 1600 ddr3
250 2600k cpu
130 Case (Antec P183)
200 HDD's (atelast 1 RE4 western digital enterprise drive, and a 2tb WD)
100 Cooling (custom fans, aftermarket heatsyncs)
30 DVD rom/burner
130 Windows 7
80 bluetooth/wireless mouse/keyboard
200 LCD monitor (24", or for $300, 32" sony bravia 1080p)
300 video card (FireGL, Geforce, or Radeon)(or $169 if you want the Quadro 400)

1670 - and the prices were extremely generous and inflated for tax, bad deals, better items, etc. If you aren't overclocking, you can widdle down 100 dollars off CPU and mobo
 
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Take these guys advise. Get a Quadro card, or AMD/ATI equivalent. Get what ever the best is in your price range. What is your price range? Also a enterprise level hard drive like the RE4 is a good idea.
 
I'd spring for 2 RE4s for RAID1 if the budget allows. Even losing a days work (assuming you do nightly backups) can be more expensive than an extra hard drive.
 
hacked drivers don't work as well. They still crash and that's unacceptable. Nvidia gpus are supported by most applications and their drivers just a bit more stable than the Amd Firepro ones. So I would go for the nvidia ones. Amd still need to fix a few things on their consumer cards. But they are getting there.
 
Teenyman45 said:
No Quadro and FirePro cards cost more because AMD and Nvidia keep a tight leash drivers and purposefully reduce the compatibility of consumer/enthusiast cards versus workstation when it comes to 3D content creation.

Look a couple generations back and the cards (except occasionally for a big boost in ram) had identical chips, boards, and all other physical equivalents. However, the workstation cards, even where ram was the same, would still perform better because of the drivers. When driver hacks worked and the consumer cards could have workstation drivers loaded on them they would perform just as well.
Click to expand...

Thats not entirely accurate. There are some differences in things like memory size. Quadros generally have a lot more memory.The GPU is identical, though some suspect NV may use laser cut fuses to identify a Quadro. The driver argument is also a bit misled: It's not about image quality, it's about features and acceleration.

A Quadro gives you numerous application profiles and detections to specifically accelerate a good number of productivity apps. The driver will also emulate (that is, perform in software) OpenGL features that the normal GeForce driver won't even list as available.

The physical hardware difference is usually in memory. Where a Geforce may have 1 GB, a Quadro is going to come with 2 GB, 4 GB or 6 GB. I can't find it now but I seem to vaguely remember there were some minor hardware differences besides memory.The firmware on quadros make them optimized for rendering real time graphics, hardware anti aliasing and two sided lighting and other things I could not find. For CAD the Quadro will be a lot better.
 
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