CAD design hardware: is this a good deal?

[Clyde007]

Hey guys, I've been reading a while but I finally decided to register and post with this question I have.

I've been told that the nvidia quadro cards are great for cad and design. I'm working with cad and I need new hardware. I found this on ebay, and it seems like a good deal:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NVIDIA-Quadro-FX4600-PCI-E-DirectX-10_W0QQitemZ270108240249QQihZ017QQcategoryZ40161QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Can anyone tell me if this is a good card and how much I should be willing to bid for it? I looked for a new one and it looks like they sell for $2,000+.

The ad says it's used but I messaged the seller and he says it is basically brand new, they did some benchmarking with it and thats all.

Any advice?

[f700es]

Why are they selling a almost new card for half of what it is worth?

[CromCruithne]

That seller has never sold on eBay before and has no rating, which is something to be wary of. Also, the minimum of $999.00 is less than he will accept.

-Crom

[StykFacE]

Hey guys, I've been reading a while but I finally decided to register and post with this question I have.

I've been told that the nvidia quadro cards are great for cad and design. I'm working with cad and I need new hardware. I found this on ebay, and it seems like a good deal:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NVIDIA-Quadro-FX4600-PCI-E-DirectX-10_W0QQitemZ270108240249QQihZ017QQcategoryZ40161QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Can anyone tell me if this is a good card and how much I should be willing to bid for it? I looked for a new one and it looks like they sell for $2,000+.

The ad says it's used but I messaged the seller and he says it is basically brand new, they did some benchmarking with it and thats all.

Any advice?
i'm with Crom, i wouldn't go for this either. my question is what kinda CAD work are you doing that makes you need a $2,000 video card? if you're not even touching 3D design at all then throw any idea of the Quadro series boards out the window - it's simply not needed.

having this card on a computer drawing only 2D prints is like giving your grandmother a top-fuel drag car for running errands. :)

[f700es]

Well my GeForce 6600 works just fine for 3D and it was less that a $100.


i'm with Crom, i wouldn't go for this either. my question is what kinda CAD work are you doing that makes you need a $2,000 video card? if you're not even touching 3D design at all then throw any idea of the Quadro series boards out the window - it's simply not needed.

having this card on a computer drawing only 2D prints is like giving your grandmother a top-fuel drag car for running errands. :)

[Clyde007]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I actually meant to mention I'll be doing 3d work as well but since this is a CAD forum I just said CAD :)

I asked the seller some of these questions. He says that this card does have a higher reserve, and that it's still a good price at the reserve price. I figured if it's almost new it might sell for around $1500 by the end of this. I realize the card is worth this but I'm not sure how much I'm planning to spend, as I do want something that will be capable of running DX10 and right now this is all there is for that.

I'm coming off of a lower line card that has worked ok until now, and now I want to get the latest DX10-capable "real thing", as myself and the others in my office will be using this on the professional level and do appreciate some of the quadro features... I guess I'll wait to see how much it goes up to. Thanks!

[StykFacE]

I don't want to insult at all, and i'm "assuming" that you aren't going to be rendering a 30 story building fully furnished with office interior and landscaping in AutoCAD - because of the lack info you're giving us. so i'm going on a limb here and i have slight reason to believe that your 3D work will be no more than some of us guys that do it for fun on here.

What i'm getting at, is if you're doing more rendering than CraigP (seach the username for threads, and see some of his work) then you're not in need of this kind of video card at all. now, if you've got the cash ready, or your company has no problem dropping this much money for a video card - then by all means don't let our advice hold you back. you can do just fine in a $200 card if you're doing moderate to semi-high level 3D CAD design work.

performance for all of us is a must, but cost effeciency does draw a line somewhere. these cards are the same type of cards that CGI Movie Animators run.... guys with no budget and a serious time crunch, not to mention absolute highest res, lighting, physics, and full scale rendering @ 30fps if not more.

i'm certain this card is SERIOUSLY more than you're needing, or maybe if you could go into detail exactly what you'll be doing in AutoCAD then we can direct the advice to another card. That's what we're here to do. Please don't take offense to this, but i'm just cautious as to what you'll be doing with this much of a video card. 8)

- T

[Clyde007]

I don't want to insult at all, and i'm "assuming" that you aren't going to be rendering a 30 story building fully furnished with office interior and landscaping in AutoCAD - because of the lack info you're giving us. so i'm going on a limb here and i have slight reason to believe that your 3D work will be no more than some of us guys that do it for fun on here.

What i'm getting at, is if you're doing more rendering than CraigP (seach the username for threads, and see some of his work) then you're not in need of this kind of video card at all. now, if you've got the cash ready, or your company has no problem dropping this much money for a video card - then by all means don't let our advice hold you back. you can do just fine in a $200 card if you're doing moderate to semi-high level 3D CAD design work.

performance for all of us is a must, but cost effeciency does draw a line somewhere. these cards are the same type of cards that CGI Movie Animators run.... guys with no budget and a serious time crunch, not to mention absolute highest res, lighting, physics, and full scale rendering @ 30fps if not more.

i'm certain this card is SERIOUSLY more than you're needing, or maybe if you could go into detail exactly what you'll be doing in AutoCAD then we can direct the advice to another card. That's what we're here to do. Please don't take offense to this, but i'm just cautious as to what you'll be doing with this much of a video card. 8)

- T

I do understand it's a monster card, though as I said, from what I understand the only modeling/workstation cards in the world that can render DX10 right now are this card and 1 other from NVIDIA.

We do plan to work with DX10, and so that puts this card at a premium price, one that I kind of expected to pay. I realize the rest of the specs might be really high end but I figure the investment can't hurt for futureproof-ing as well as the fact that it's DX10-capable. Thanks a lot for your input. I'm still trying to gauge how much this would be worth to me personally.

[CromCruithne]

I honestly can't see how it's being DX10 would make much difference. Unless you plan on doing video game work, and top end video game work at that, it's going to make no difference. As for being future proof, it most likely isn't at all. It's a first generation card for DX10 and I never recommend a first generation anything.

-Crom