Graphics card debate - Geforce vs Quadro

[sprime1]

Recently upgraded from AutoCAD 2015 to AutoCAD Architecture 2016, and have noticed things are a lot more jumpy/laggy when performing most operations.

I konw there's been debate on whether or not Quadro cards benefit AutoCAD still, and was wondering if there is a final answer on the matter. I currently have GTX 570 and 670 cards in our workstations. We don't work in 3D yet (so we are still drawing 2d lines for all drawings, until we slowly transition into using the Architecture 3d components and what not.

Anyone offer help?

[ntellery]

2016 is supposed to be faster as they've done a number of things to speed things up.  I use Geforce but did spend extra for a Quadro only to find there were no longer any special drivers for autocad.  It was all done through directx but I do think it does like a quadro. Just not enough to justify the cost unless you do large buildings. 

There is scant information on the difference and it appears to be taboo to discuss.

I do residential, sometimes a number of units together all in 3D and find the geforce adequate.

[scott.a.green]

sprime1, 

   Looking at your cards, going back to 2011, I don't see them as being certified or recommended for use with AutoCAD. That doesn't mean that they won't work for you, but the GeForce series is usually recommended as gaming cards (though several were listed as certified in previous releases and should be able to handle the program), not workstation cards. AutoCAD 2016's system requirements for graphics cards are still fairly modest and any card with more than 128mb of VRAM should be able to handle AutoCAD. That being said, the Quadro cards are usually recommended for workstations, and for 2016, all of the certified and recommended Nvidia cards for AutoCAD 2016 appear to be Quadros. 

Certified Hardware:

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?id=18844534&siteID=123112

[sprime1]

I have a Quadro K2200 card coming in tomorrow, so I'll check it out, even though it's not a fair compairson because I'm not comparing it to the newer Geforce card, but I anticipate it working better.

[dbroad · Accepted solution]

Our school lab has Quadro K2000's and they have some nice desktop windowing features.  They work well with the Autodesk Master Suite, which includes AutoCAD and its verticals, Revit, and 3ds Max.

At home, I experimented with using a Geforce 680.  My son built the computer and I asked him to research the product. He couldn't see the justification for the large difference in price between Quadro and Geforce.  It is obviously a gaming card because the update process usually looks for games, but I have had no problem keeping hardward accelleration on and I do use 3D a lot.

Quadro's excel with floating point ops.  Geforce excels with integer ops and usually have a higher number of cuda cells than the corresponding price range of quadro cards.

At this point, I'm keeping the Geforce.  I've had Quadro's before and did not see much difference in AutoCAD operation.

[sprime1]

Just installed the K2200, and I see no difference. Still lagging switching between some tabs in certain drawings.

I've isolated it to Viewports @ 3/4" = 1'-0" scale.

[ntellery]

After using decent Geforces, I bought a K2000 Quadro and was very disappointed in the performance that I could not really identify as much better than the GF, certainly not for the extra $$.  So I will stick with GF's.

[scott.a.green]

sprime1, 

    If it is certain drawings, you may want to try working locally if they are drawings on the network, also you may want to check any xrefs to make sure you don't have any circular xrefs slowing you down. Perhaps this is a file issue rather than a card issue. 

[CreggerC]

That list would be more helpful if it was updated with the newer design suites. It would also be helpful if it reflected GeForce Cards at all.