my brother was asking me about this the other day and i really don't know...i mean, i know about the gaming cards, but not those optimized for CAD-type applications

are there any that perform well in both categories that aren't $vermont? what are some good and relatively affordable CAD cards?

7/17/2009 12:01:14 PM

I think a regular graphics card should be fine.

7/17/2009 12:11:57 PM

ah, that might be the case...i've never really looked into it, but i remember YEARS ago when there was definitely a difference (or, at least, that's what i remember reading on here and online in various forums)

*shrug*

7/17/2009 12:16:47 PM

Pretty sure if you get a top line one today, itll work for both.

7/17/2009 12:28:07 PM

oh, okay...free thread

7/17/2009 12:45:06 PM

The big thing for CAD software is going to be OpenGL compatibility (especially for SolidWorks and/or ProE).

7/17/2009 1:48:44 PM

there still is a difference. search the forums here, there have been several threads about this, and all the conjecture remains the same.

different drivers, different quality control on the cards, and sometimes slightly different hardware (though nVidia/ATi probably not at all anymore). There used to be a lot of software mods to "transform" consumer cards into workstation cards, but the manufacturers wised up and closed those loopholes. And even when doing that, there's significant possibilities that you'll get artifacts and image corruption.

It's really a case of "unless you know you need it, you probably don't"

7/17/2009 1:52:04 PM

ati quadro cards are geared more towards cad, i'm not really sure which others are leaning more towards cad end then gaming end

7/18/2009 2:51:36 PM

^Quadro is nVidia's workstation line. FireGL is Ati's workstation line.

7/18/2009 4:16:18 PM

yeah thats the one. couldn't remember the ati card.

7/18/2009 4:38:09 PM