Which NVIDIA graphics card to use

[sgermond]

I'm currently upgrading to a new laptop and am using Autocad 2011 & Inventor 2011. Debating which graphics card I should go with.

NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800M

or

NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M

Would there be a significantly noticeable difference in performance?

[blair]

You should be able to compare the spec's/numbers on the cards at the Nvidia.com web-site. If you are working on large assemblies go with the 2800 card.

With the move the last number of years in Inventor from OpenGL to D3D, Quadro cards (OpenGL) aren't really required. This being said currently all my equipment is running Quadro cards (still have some OpenGL applications). A fast GeForce "gammer" card should work well as well.

Possibly, the next system I will go to a couple of fast "gammer" cards in tandem SLI.

[Dennis_Jeffrey]

I no longer run any Quadros. I "retired" the last one about a year ago. My tests revealed that on IV 2010 and higher, the Geforce 1GB cards were actually a little faster than the best of the Quadro's performance. Today, I'm running about 15 systems with a mix of Geforce and ATI "gaming" cards with no real adverse effects. Save your money and up your RAM.

[coreyparks]

Dennis your running a bunch of different Autodesk apps right?  How about Navisworks?  I am hoping to get an upgrade here in the near future and the big CAD cards are a bit of a hindrance.  Besides the FX3700 I have in my machine has so many issues I can't really get any worse. 

[michaeldavis7418]

I'm with Dennis,

I'm using GeForce 9800GT/1GB and it works great. Cost me $100.00 and I haven't had any problems with it.

Up the Ram by saving on the card

[Dennis_Jeffrey]

I have navisworks, but it's currently not loaded as I'm upgrading systems to Win7. I'll see if I can get Navis loaded here in the next 2 days.

[blair]

You could do a test of couple of GTX cards in SLI running Inventor. Two 1Gb GTX cards in SLI should outperforme a Quadro card.

[beau-tech]

My 9800GT/ 1gb card was great until it took a dump about 2weeks ago (Of course it's out of warranty). Computer wouldn't start and that was it. Fortunately I had another card to stuff in it (ATI 1650 pro). It's running so I guess I'll leave it alone. However I do have a SLI capable motherboard, hmmmmm.

I haven't been having fun lately with computer/ software issues.

[kprom]

We recently purchased several new computers and the new GTX470s(around $200) outperform our two year old Quadras(around $1200).  Autodesk switched to Direct3D and now the workstation cards are no longer required. This might be a cheap upgrade for those who use large assemblies.

[Dennis_Jeffrey]

Navisworks 2011 is running fine on both NVidia and ATI gaming cards. Actually, system requirements published for Navisworks also have rather minimal VGA requirements.