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what "serious" video card suggested?

hi all. i'm planning to buy some new cad workstations to be used with swx

2004. i'm checking suggested hardware list on swx.com but i'm finding a huge list of video cards including both recent ones and very old ones. i'm not too keen on hardware anymore, then i need some advices from you. considering i may be able to buy the new pc's by the end of this year, what video card would you suggest me? at a reasonable price, i mean... our assemblies rarely include more than 500 parts and seldom we have more than 5 levels of subassemblies, but i'd like to buy video cards being able to last at least a few years. at the moment, we're still working with our compaq ap200 workstations, with oxygen gvx1 video cards. the video cards probably would still be ok for our work --rendering and rotating our assemblis is still decent--, but cpu and memory aren't enough anymore, then i decided to change the whole computers.

from what i've read on the group, quadro 4 xgl 750 seems to be one of the best choices. can you confirm it? or what would you suggest me instead of it?

tia.

regards.

Reply to
Gianni Rondinini
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ATI FireGLT T2-128. Here is a link to Tomshardware Open GL workstation cards. This card had the best bang for the buck rating.

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Reply to
Bruce Wirkkala

SW partnered with NVIDIA. Chances are that a card with an NVIDIA chip set will work better. (ie real view graphics settings...where you keep materials attached to the models.) Get an ATI card and yeah it will work but hey your choice.

Reply to
Arthur Y-S

thank you for both your suggestions. i'll keep in mind them when i'll place the order.

regards.

Reply to
Gianni Rondinini

If you would like to take advantage of "realview" technology in the new SolidWorks 2004 you will want to look at Nvidea cards. Being a solidWorks customer PNY will offer you a discount on the cards. You can find details on the SolidWorks website.

Reply to
Rob Rodriguez

We have had good success using the Nvidia Quatro 750XGL and the Quatro

980XGL. The 980 card utilizes the imporoved performance from an 8X AGP slot on the motherboard (I'm not sure, maybe the 750 is an 8X card also). If you are getting new machines, you may want to spec in an 8X AGP motherboard. Both these cards also allow dual monitors (really nice to have). I'm not sure of the current cost of these cards. The 980's are probably available on the internet for under $800. Reatail will be around $1200 I think.

Don

Reply to
Don

dont buy ati cards. i have read lots of problems with swx and ati cards. also ati is known for being slow at releasing drivers for there cards. n-vidia is the only way to go with swx.

Reply to
Sean Phillips

When you get a new computer you will probably be forced to replace your GVX1 cards. We were happy with our GVX1 cards but our computers were getting too slow. We bought new computers with AGP4X slots and discovered that the GVX1 (which is AGP or AGP 2X) didn't go in the new slot. We bought Quadro 4

750XGL cards and have been happy with them, but we didn't notice any big boost in video performance. From the benchmarks that I've seen on the web, the higher end cards (980 and such) don't give much improvement for the big bucks you spend, but other folks rave about how great they are. Different strokes for different folks.

Jerry Steiger Tripod Data Systems

Reply to
Jerry Steiger

i thank all of you.

i'll have a look at the different nvidia products, from 550 on and will let you know the --awful-- italian prices for those cards.

regards.

Reply to
Gianni Rondinini

You guys knocking ATI make me think that you are marketing stringers for NVIDIA! Can you back up your statements that ATI workstation cards are detrimental in any way?

Here is my personal experience.

At work I have an older Elsa Gloria II. This was the original Nvidia quadro video card. Now I know that this card is quite a bit behind the latest performance but I don't notice any particular problems in normal usage. Screen refreshes seem to be quick and rotation of the model is fairly smooth. The cpu is a P4 2.0 and I have 1gb ram.

At home I have an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. This card was universally recognized as the top performing GAME card until the Radeon 9800 came out. The cpu is an Athlon 2.2 and I have 512mb ram.

I don't do much work at home (actually I try to do NO work at home!) but I have tried the new dynamic sectioning function in SWX 2004 using a custom hydraulic cylinder. This cylinder has 12 small springs as part of a sophisticated cushion design. At work the graphics are so slow as to be almost unusable. The sliding action during the sectioning is extremely jerky. At home, the action is SMOOOTH and fluid. A seat of the pants estimate says there is an 8/1 performance difference on this one model.

Now, maybe the realview thing is important to some of you. My only experience is what I can see on the web. I recall an engine model that looked like the whole thing had been chrome plated like a Harley engine. I sure don't want to be looking at something like that all day! I want to define different colors so I can readily see the different parts in my assemblies.

We are hoping for new workstations early next year at work and I think we will use ATI based on my own experience and the benchmarks I have seen.

Reply to
Bruce Wirkkala

Sorry, but I agree, my machine was always crashing with a ATI card, Changing to a Nvidia cured it!

Reply to
Priorclavepetef

A Sapphire Radeon 9000 works fine for me on every program I have and has good performance at a very reasonable price.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

actually i do own oxygen gvx1 in my office workstations and i have an ati radeon 7200 --or 7[something]00, i can't remember-- at home. while rotating, zooming, panning and working with relatively small assemblies --even if they have lots of smooth surfaces-- my home video card seems to be as fast as --if not faster than-- my office one.

if i open an assembly made of 150 parts and subassemblies, the situation changes dramatically.

but i'll keep in mind your suggestion: i'll get an ati 9[something]00 at home and i'll try swx 2004 at home with that video card before buying nvidia powered ones.

regards.

Reply to
Gianni Rondinini

With the large (40 meg) files we deal with here some of the time, we see a HUGE difference between the ATI Radeon 9500 pro cards and the nVIDIA Quadro4

900 XGL cards. The ATI cards just can't keep up, and this is with 2.8 gHz & 1 gb ram. They might be ok for smaller stuff, but we won't buy them again for SW.

WT

Reply to
Wayne Tiffany

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