AutoCAD 2010/2011/2012 DWG Format

[#1]

Anyone using any of the new NVIDIA Geforce cards?  GTX 460, 470, or 480?  Curious to hear how they may be working for people.

I know all of the Quadro vs Geforce driver crap (thanks nvidia)..... But if people are having good results with a $220 GTX 460 card vs the $2200 Quadro 5000... maybe it's worth trying one out.

[#2]

Hardware Discussion area:
http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Hardware/bd-p/116

Autodesk Supported Graphics Cards List and drivers:
http://www.autodesk.com/autocad-graphicscard

[#3]

I've checked the hardware certification page.  Autodesk/NVidia won't certify the gtx family of cards.  Nvidia will only certify the quadro line (why make a driver for a gaming card when you can bend someone over for 10x the money with a workstation card that is almost identical hardware wise).  

As for posting here.... I was hoping someone is running Autocad 2011 or Autocad MEP 2011 with any of the 400 cards from nvidia and was curious to how it was running.  

[#4]

Just run AutoCAD 2011 for the first time with the GTX460, it seems to be running pretty smoothly. When the program loaded though it did say it wasn't on Autodesk's list of recognised cards, so some of the graphics features were disabled by default. I'm just looking for a guide on how to setup AutoCAD to work best with my video card, although it's difficult because it's primarily a gaming card.

[#5]

I'll be watching this thread too.  (re: my post in "Display question" thread)

Its hard to figure out what Graphics Card to buy that will make your computer (laptop in my case) useful more than one year; considering Acad is re-release annually.

[#6]

Well.... I made my purchase.  I've only had it a couple days and I so far.... Meh.  I'm just not that impressed.  Below is what I purchased and what I'm moving from.   I primarily run Autocad MEP 2010/2011.  The machine itself is sweet as hell.  And loading software and opening programs is easily twice as fast.  Overall I'm happy with the machine.

Old PC - Dell

Intel Q6600 2.4ghz

4 gigs ram

Velociraptor 150g HD

Windows XP 32bit

Nvidia Quadro FX570

New PC - Custom built.

Intel i7 930 2.8ghz

6 gigs ram

OCZ Vertex II 100gig SSD (one of the fastest)

Windows 7 64bit

Nvidia GTX 480

(Cooler Master Haf 930 case, Cooler Mater CPU cooler, Gigbyte motherboard).  

But the graphics are litlte depressing.  I have a pretty decent size model with Architecture, Plumbing, Electrical, and Mechanical all modeled within it.  When I rotate the model or isolate/unisolate objects, the new card is faster.... but not by much.  This can only mean that nvidia is intentionally handicapping their gaming card drivers just to push the much more pricier quadro cards.  I'm hoping that after a while, newer drivers will allow my 480 to run faster within Autocad.  Right now, the latest gaming card that Autocad recommends is the gtx 295.  I'm hoping they will have the 480 on the list by the end of the year.  I'm also going to continue with Autocad MEP 2010, as it runs a bit faster with the 480.

Should I have gone with a quadro card?  I don't know.  The fx1800 was less money.  the fx3800 was more.  Would either one of them really run any faster with this computer set-up?  I'm sure the fx5000 would... .but that would make the card more money than the computer.  I refuse to pay that.    I'll reply to this again in a month or so after I've had time to tune and tweak the card.  Who knows.... I may just have a setting wrong or something.  We'll see.  

Maybe I'll load a few games on it and make the purchase worth while.  LOL.

[#7]

We have 2 pc's running the 768mb 460's.  One run's 2011 LT the other 2011 Architecture.

So far we have had a lot of crashes with Architecture (max so far 7 in an hour!) but LT seems fine.

We have been talking with AutoDesk and have reinstalled CAD and .net to see if this helps to resolve our issues, so far so good!

3D orbits using a 2D site plan are slow but I believe that this is due to the cards having not been tested and lack of a good driver.  So far the only Fermi based cards to have been tested and certified are the Quadro 4000 & 5000.

I'm sure once AutoDesk & nVidia have tested and updated the driver the cards will run smoother.

On the plus side the cards run Photoshop CS5 very quickly.

[#8]

I'm hoping Autodesk will update their Autodesk 3d driver soon so that the geforce 400 cards will run better.  I don't think nvidia has any plans to, since they want to push their quadro cards.  And if I had 2500 bucks, I would have picked up one of their Quadro 5000's.  But that aint going to happen any time soon.   

[#9]

What are your graphics hardware settings in AutoCad set to?  Maybe you could post a screen shot shwing your manual tune settngs?

I just ordered a 460 gtx yesterday and intend to run games and Civl 3D 2010 on it.  My last graphics card, a geForce 9800 gtx+, outperforms my laptop Quadro FX 3700 M by a long shot.  Of course, that is a laptop graphics card vs a desktop card.....

-Mark P.

[#10]

So I have a question, I am an architecture student and I need to purchase a new laptop for the program.  I am planning on doing some gaming on the laptop along with running AutoCAD, Revitt, and 3ds Max.  I am curious if I would be better off getting the GTX 460m or Quadro FM1800x (or whatever that card is called). 

From what I have read, the GTX460 will run the Autodesk programs okay and will dominate at gaming.  The Quadro cards will run the programs very well, but will be iffy at gaming.

The games I will be playing will most likely be Star Wars the Old Republic which is a MMO which is coming out spring of 2011.  I may also play some World Of Warcraft.  Like I said, I'm sure the GTX460 will run these very well, but I am unsure about the Quadro.

Which would be a better option for me?