Graphic card for Plant 3D

[milic.srdjan]

Halo to all,

I have several questions, and I think that experience of users can help,
and improve my PC 🙂

Does certified or recommended graphic card is really important for Plant 3D modeling ?
P3D Users, did You really see and feel improvements when You start using certified graphic cards ?
Can You post, type of graphic card (GC) when You answer to question above 🙂 ?
Are certified GCs are better then gaming cards for P3D, or You really need GCs that have only good support for OpenGL ?
Minimum memory on GC to have pleasant environment to work with large models ?
ATI FireGL or Nvidia Quadro ? (Please not make flames here, only inportant infos) I thought that NVidia have better OpenGL, but now I think that they are the same 🙂

OK, I know, many questions, but, but...

I have GeForce 9500 GT and many many problems, specially when I use hardware acceleration. I I had degraded settings and problems still exist.

Srdjan

[JohnHolder]

to be honest, I don't know.  I use a Quadro FX1800, and either using the latest Nvidia drivers ( non certified ) or Autocad Certified drivers, I have seen no noticable difference.

With hardware acceleration, I have had nothing but issues using it.  For me it is always off.

I just stick with using certified drivers.

With regards to gaming cards and professional cards, I cannot say one way or the other since I havn't really looked into it myself.

[dgorsman]

Given your litany of problems, I suspect you are very much an "edge case".

Quadro isn't so important any more, but I think there does need to be some management of expectations.  Replacing a $1000 video card with a $5000 will not turn Plant3D into Navisworks or Inventor.  Doing that with a barrel-scraping i3 with 6 GB RAM will only make a difference to your wallet.  The important factors between gaming and Quadro cards are the other software being run ie. ReCap, CloudWorx, or other OpenGL-based software.  Software which has a high dependency on OpenGL will require one of the workstation-type cards.

As always, when in doubt start looking at specifications.  Software will list the requirements and hardware will list the capabilities.  Ensure the latter meets or exceeds the former.

[JohnHolder]

Maybe I overstated the issues, I get small lines off all the endpoints in a drawing *sometimes* which is annoying. but I have an I7 with 12 gigs ram, not a barrel scraping i3, but it is getting a little dated.