GPU choice for hobbyists

[lgswensawing]

Hi all!
I'm new to building computers and just finished by first build. I still need a graphics card for it though. I am not a gamer, but I do a lot of CAD. I use Solidworks at work and school but I cannot afford a Solidworks licence for home use. Plus i have grown to love Inventor and Fusion 360. Both of these programs use DirectX instead of OpenGL. I'm trying to figure out what GPU to get. The most current gpu benchmark information I can find is an article from 2013.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-workstation-graphics-card,3493-7.html
I have a budget around $150 USD max. I'm confused at how to tell which card will give me the best bag for my buck. Autodesk only officially certifies FirePro and Quadro cards. But from the benchmarks from 2013 it appears that workstation cards are not necessarily the best way to go considering the higher cost.
Does anyone have any experience ruining workstation cards verses gaming cards? Or maybe some recent benchmarks with Inventor or Fusion 360?
Thanks

My current setup:
Asus z170-a
Intel Core i5-6600K 6M Skylake Quad-Core 3.5 GHz
Team Dark 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000)
Corsair CX 450M PSU
Corsair Force 240G SSD
be quiet! PURE ROCK CPU Cooler
Intel 7260HMWDTX1 Dual Band Wireless-AC

[AndrewSears]

Hi,

We do not usually like to recommend video cards so use this info as reference.  You can check out the System Requirements page for some more info on minimum system specs.  For GPU's, we show "Graphics Card: 512MB GDDR RAM or more, except Intel GMA X3100 cards' so that can be a start point.  Also, you can research this more on a site like Newegg.   The Newegg link is to one I found based on the info you gave, only took a few minutes to narrow down the search.  You can research this for your motherboard and available space.  

We test several GPU's from gaming cards to workstation cards. I have used GTX 760 to GTX 980ti and Quadro 2000 to Quadro 5000.  As expected, the lower end cards perform a little less but they will work and you can be productive.  Just might need to turn off shadows.  🙂  My only suggestion is to avoid using the on-board graphics for PC's. 

Good luck!

Andy 

[lgswensawing]

I usually don't put much stock in "system requirements." I have a Quadro FX and a ATI FireGL (both 512MB DDR3 RAM) and both of them make Fusion 360 run way worse than the on-board graphics. Their is a difference between running and running well. I'd really like to find some current benchmarks since the same GPU chipset can preform different depending on the card that it is attached to. 

[chengyun.yang]

Hi,

I would suggest you use a gaming card instead of purchasing a much more expensive workstation card. As you said, on Windows, Fusion runs on DirectX and the gaming card supports DirectX pretty well. In many cases, the workstation card is more expensive because it has many optimizations specifically made for OpenGL API in their driver. 

Thanks

Chengyun

Fusion Development Team

[Anonymous]

I've used Gaming cards for the last 4 years for Inventor without any problems, the best bang for buck I had was probably the R270x but that was quite a while ago. Don't worry too much with the Pro Cards for home use. I know what it was like being a student, get the best performing card you can afford that is made by a decent name test it and return it if its not doing what its supposed to. 😉

[AlexPetak_Autodesk]

Hi,

just based on my hobbyist computer builder experience in category under USD 150 I would go for the :

nVidia GTX 1050 2GB  - possibly You can find 4GB version just slightly above the $150

AMD Radeon RX 460 4GB - if You can get a deal for RX 470 4GB that would be great

These are both newest mainstream technology, practically the same performance and power efficiency, so Your 450W PSU will handle these just fine.

Both have decent and stable drivers in Windows 10.

Just before spending the money try to utilize the integrated HD 530 in Your Skylake CPU, maybe it will be just OK for Your needs.

Regards,

Alex

[Anonymous]

hi i am on procedure to build a pc .I would like to know some options for graphics cards which can run this 3ds max program. I am a home user. Any suggestions?