PCI Express

Hasn't Elsa gone bust ? Last year I thinlk - Or has its name been taken over and revived. Personally - if the video card is not on the SW 'approved' list then its just not worth the risk.

Regards

Jonathan

That sounds like a game card. Stay with the SW list. Many computer builders will tell you that what they sell will work because they have no experience with SW hardware. Typically you will see IT people suggesting hardware that will make a good file server and computer builders suggesting what gives them the cheapest machine with the highest profit margin. The systems that IT people typically suggest are very expensive for the performance they provide and the computer builders sell machines that while cheap don't function reliably or fast.

And also, Nvidia has the Quadro in PCI Express.

Ask the computer guy if he is willing to guarantee a certain level of performance on the benchmarks.

Be careful of "Elsa". I bought one of their "high end" cards a few years ago; paid $1200.00 or something. Promptly after I got it, they went out of business (I'm guessing they're back?). As it turned out, the "Elsa" card I bought was nothing more than a Quadro2 card under their own name. Stick with branded Nvidia cards is my advice...

Mike Tripoli

Elsa used to be the Quadro card manufacturer. When they went under (bankruptcy of some sort, I think), NVidia chose PNY as the manufacturer for the Quadro cards. As far as I can remember, there has never been more than one brand of Quadro cards at a time. Other than Dell having some that were a little different for their OEM biz. I don't know if you could buy those as a 3rd party card.

Giorgis,

I have been using a PCI-E motherboard and video card here at work since late last year. I highly recommend them.

However, most people will agree (a few still don't) that an nVidia Quadro card is the way to go. "Gaming" cards just don't cut it unless you never open more than 4-5 files at a time. I am running a PNY Quadro FX1300 (PCI-E) with great results.

As far as which Quadro is right for you, it ultimately depends on what you are doing. My theory has always been to basically get the highest one that your budget will allow. It will last a lot longer for you for future SW versions. But the lower end Quadro cards (such as the FX540) has been confirmed by many to work well for simpler stuff.

There is also the option of using a cheaper GeForce gaming card and hacking it to a Quadro card using the soft-Quadro hack. I personally can't confirm how well this works. But I have read that many people have had good luck with this. I am considering doing this myself on my a new home computer that I am currently spec'ing.

Seth Renigar