Workstation Mother Board and Graphics Card Options

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- Big Bob 1971
  
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posted
20 years ago

Thu, Jul 10, 2003 8:47 PM

Hello Everyone,

I am in the process of specing out a new workstation for SolidWorks CAD. I have settled on using the AMD XP 2700 processor (I know its questionable whether or not the chips are actually faster than Intel, but its still cheaper for the same performance) What I need to know now is, what are the best motherboards and graphics cards to mate to the application. I did a few searches, but the info I found seemed to be a bit dated.

I have been looking at ASUS or AOPEN for the mother board. They both seem to be based on the same chipset. Is there a significant difference between the two? I have an AOPEN box in the office and it has been a reliable performer. Is there another motherboard I should consider?

I am looking at something like the nVidia Quadro4 750XGL or nVidia FX500 for a graphics card. Which one gives better bang for the buck? Is there another low cost performer I should consider?

Thanks in advance.

Bob.

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- Todd
  
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posted
20 years ago

Fri, Jul 11, 2003 1:33 PM

Try these sites for MB info:

formatting link

The Geforce FX I think should be a little faster. For best bang for the buck I would go with the Quadro 900 or 980. The prices on those two cards has fallen a lot since the FX series came out.

TT

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- dks
  
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posted
20 years ago

Fri, Jul 11, 2003 3:52 PM

I am currently using an ASUS A7N8X Motherboard with an Athlon 2700. We are curently using 980xgl's which can take advantage of the 8x AGP bus on the motherboard. I believe the speed of the two graphics cards you are looking at are similar to each other. However, I would pick the 500 because 1) I haven't seen anybody having problems with them and 2) it will provide better compatability with future programs which use things like DirectX 9 etc. Also I would agree with the comment about memory. We have had issues with generic memory causing BSOD's due to memory corruption when using SWX's.