what's a good video card?

[moo112]

I'm running Land Desktop 3, and am about to purchase a new computer.
The current video card is 32mb, NVIDIA GEFORCE2 MX/MX 400, and the
system ram is 256 mb. This old setup causes problems with large
drawings and/or multiple drawings open at once.


The new system I configured will have a 256mb pci express x 16
(DVI/VGA/TV-OUT) NVIDIA GEFORCE 6800, and 1gb of system ram.


And naturally, when I contacted our company rep at the computer
company, he wanted to change my system around and use another card
(best cad card, per him) the $900 more NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3400.


I'm sure it will be a great card, but doubt that the expence is
justified. Sounds like a salesman's ploy to me.


Any opinions? Like I said, I usually have about 3 drawings open at once, maybe averaging 1mb in size each. Occasionally, I get burdened with a 40mb drawing, but will usually block out or work around the size.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

A workstation grade card will perform better than the best 'gaming' card. Unless you do a lot of rendering, the cheaper Nvidia Quadro cards from PNY are a good choice. I use the Quadro 750 XGL, which has only 128mb and is 4x AGP, but works great for me. For large drawings, system memory is far more important. I run 1 gig, and wish I had more. As usual, it all depends on how much you want to spend. I belive a good CAD station (built by myself) should cost about $1200-$1500, but I'm sure some folks feel that just the video card should cost that much.

[Anonymous]

moo - Often discussed topic in the Hardware section. In addition to any replies you might receive or have already received, you may find more information or responses by posting future Hardware related questions in the following discussion group: Web browser:http://discussion.autodesk.com/forum.jspa?forumID=116 Newsreader: news://discussion.autodesk.com/pn.hardware --- Anne Brown Discussion Groups Administrator Autodesk, Inc. moo112 wrote: > > I'm running Land Desktop 3, and am about to purchase a new computer. > The current video card is 32mb, NVIDIA GEFORCE2 MX/MX 400, and the > system ram is 256 mb. (snip)

[Anonymous]

The desirable video card requirements vary as to the use. Many of the video card comments in the hardware discussion group are for mechanical engineering and architectural rendering. I would recommending that specify your use in your post to the hardware group. We have several machines that run the same files. If it is just LDT line work, then a low end card should be fine IMHO. We run LDT 2005 with airphoto backgrounds and found a ATI V5100 card (PCI-E x16 with 128 MB DDR) really helped over the lower end cards, but there was not much improvement when just viewing line work. The Tiffs are about 80 - 100 MB. For LDT, I would consider a fast hard drive too, and definitely two very large monitors. Look for cards that can handle two monitors. I don't know about the GEFORCE 6800, but I think the FX 3400 can. -- Brad Yarger "Anne Brown" wrote in message news:4214B714.A86C123@autodesk.com... > moo - > > Often discussed topic in the Hardware section. In addition to any > replies you might receive or have already received, you may find > more information or responses by posting future Hardware related > questions in the following discussion group: > > Web browser:http://discussion.autodesk.com/forum.jspa?forumID=116 > Newsreader: news://discussion.autodesk.com/pn.hardware > --- > Anne Brown > Discussion Groups Administrator > Autodesk, Inc. > > moo112 wrote: >> >> I'm running Land Desktop 3, and am about to purchase a new computer. >> The current video card is 32mb, NVIDIA GEFORCE2 MX/MX 400, and the >> system ram is 256 mb. (snip)

[Anonymous]

My computer handles LDD perfectly fine. Line drawings and TIFFS. Check my sig for my specs. -- Dennis Hyman, Cad Operator, Survey Dept. Stock & Associates Consulting Engineers, Inc. St. Louis, Missouri Windows XP Pro, SP2 512mb RAM, 2.4Ghz P4 GForce 4 MX video card LDD2004 Map, Civil Design & Survey "moo112" wrote in message news:6962697.1108647924008.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > I'm running Land Desktop 3, and am about to purchase a new computer. > The current video card is 32mb, NVIDIA GEFORCE2 MX/MX 400, and the > system ram is 256 mb. This old setup causes problems with large > drawings and/or multiple drawings open at once. > > > The new system I configured will have a 256mb pci express x 16 > (DVI/VGA/TV-OUT) NVIDIA GEFORCE 6800, and 1gb of system ram. > > > And naturally, when I contacted our company rep at the computer > company, he wanted to change my system around and use another card > (best cad card, per him) the $900 more NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3400. > > > I'm sure it will be a great card, but doubt that the expence is > justified. Sounds like a salesman's ploy to me. > > > Any opinions? Like I said, I usually have about 3 drawings open at once, > maybe averaging 1mb in size each. Occasionally, I get burdened with a 40mb > drawing, but will usually block out or work around the size. > > Thanks

[moo112]

Thanks for all the information.

[Anonymous]

Of course, once we see the demise of LDT someday in the future, all this is moot. Civil 3D wants all the horsepower you can provide. Brad's suggestion for dual monitors will be even more applicable for the C3D world. And I agree whole-heartedly with his view of fast HDs. My personal choice is the Western Digital Raptor. At 36GB at 10K rpm for about $200 (HD+SATA controller card), it's money well spent. -- Don Reichle "King Of Work-Arounds" LDT3 - SP1/CD3 - SP1 On WIN2K SP4 Dell 1.6 Ghz P4 512MB RAM NVIDIA 32MB AGP "Dennis Hyman" wrote in message news:4214cb46$1_3@newsprd01... > My computer handles LDD perfectly fine. Line drawings and TIFFS. Check my > sig for my specs. > -- > Dennis Hyman, Cad Operator, Survey Dept. > Stock & Associates Consulting Engineers, Inc. > St. Louis, Missouri > Windows XP Pro, SP2 > 512mb RAM, 2.4Ghz P4 > GForce 4 MX video card > LDD2004 Map, Civil Design & Survey > > > "moo112" wrote in message > news:6962697.1108647924008.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... > > I'm running Land Desktop 3, and am about to purchase a new computer. > > The current video card is 32mb, NVIDIA GEFORCE2 MX/MX 400, and the > > system ram is 256 mb. This old setup causes problems with large > > drawings and/or multiple drawings open at once. > > > > > > The new system I configured will have a 256mb pci express x 16 > > (DVI/VGA/TV-OUT) NVIDIA GEFORCE 6800, and 1gb of system ram. > > > > > > And naturally, when I contacted our company rep at the computer > > company, he wanted to change my system around and use another card > > (best cad card, per him) the $900 more NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3400. > > > > > > I'm sure it will be a great card, but doubt that the expence is > > justified. Sounds like a salesman's ploy to me. > > > > > > Any opinions? Like I said, I usually have about 3 drawings open at once, > > maybe averaging 1mb in size each. Occasionally, I get burdened with a 40mb > > drawing, but will usually block out or work around the size. > > > > Thanks > >