First time workstation builder; I have researched but..

[Anonymous]

Hi guys,

Please before you start rolling your eyes at me, rest assured I have been researching for several days now, but alot of what I have read is completely over my head, and to be completely honest it's REALLY mind boggling.

To make things simple, I am going back to school. I left my job to go back and as advised by others I am preparing to build a workstation so I can do my homework at home. I have a couple friends who have taken the exact same program, and from what they tell me most of the work is 2D, however if in the 2nd year you choose to major in architectural design, there is more 3D work.

I've talked to several others, gotten quotes, compared prices, swapped parts but the graphics card issue still looms over me.

From what I've read, only the quadro 600 is certified by autodesk, but I've also read on the autodesk forums that some people have similar performance from the Geforce GTX 560 Ti and more people are moving over to Geforce cards now due to CAD no longer being openGL?

Some shops have told me get the quadro, others say get the geforce.

So which is really the better option for me? Im SUPER confused and overwhelmed

Thanks in advance

[TravisNave]

If price is a major factor for you, go GeForce with as much RAM as you can afford.  The nVidia drivers are usually pretty good and you'll be able to get a WHQL certified driver for a GeForce card. 

[Anonymous]

Well price is playing a large part, as a student I definitely dont have as much disposable income as a professional would.

My budget is about $1000 and I've pieced together something that I think will do the trick, I'm just trying to get to the bottom line and find out which is actually better for CAD and some light 3D work. It just seems like everything I have researched contradicts something else I read and leaves me back at square one.