How do I tune my video card settings?

[Cadastrophic]

My system consits of Windows XP Pro, socket 939, AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 processor, Nvidia Quadro4 890 XGL graphics card and 3GB of ram.

I can't find any info on the net about tweaking the settings in the Nvidia control panel.
For instance, the default antialiasing setting is set to 'Aplication controlled' (as is anisotropic filtering). Should I modify these settings?

What about any of the other settings? Since they made all the settings configurable, I figure I should investigate them in case I'm missing out on some mind-blowing improvements! :D

[ReMark]

Normally I would not recommend trying to override application controlled settings.

Do you have the latest drivers for your graphics card? The card itself has to be 4 to 5 years old by now, right?

The Quadro4 980XGL was a high end 8X AGP for its time (128MB vidRam, correct?) but it might be a little past its prime now. Unfortunately you can't upgrade the AGP slot to a PCIe without changing the motherboard. Once you go that route you might as well upgrade the memory (faster), the CPU (faster), etc., etc., etc. It never stops, does it?

[Cadastrophic]

Yes, it's about that age now. What's the current hot setup within a reasonable budget?

[ReMark]

Are we talking brand spanking new built by someone else or tearing out the guts of one's own computer and rebuilding it yourself?

What type of budget do you have to work with?

Current setups revolve around duo core or quad core if you can spare a few more $$$.

Will you be upgrading from AutoCAD 2004?

What software do you use the most, AutoCAD or Inventor? I'm thinking it is Inventor.

[ReMark]

You could go with the following and spend about $1650 (less if you shop around):

Intel Core Duo E6750 2.66 GHz 1333MHz FSB 4MB L2 cache
Nvidia Quadro FX570 PCIe 256MB vidRAM
2MB DDR2 1066MHz memory
320GB HD 7,200 rpm SATAII w/16MB cache, 9ms seek time
DVD+RW/DL/+R-R Lightscribe Double media drive
Onboard sound and network connection
Keyboard and mouse
Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit
17" or 19" Flatscreen monitor depending on make/model

Or ask StykFaCe to build you a rig. I'm sure he would be happy to oblige.

[Cadastrophic]

Excellent, thank you! That would be well within my budget and I could trim it back to the basics as this place is coming down with monitors, keyboards etc.

I don't know for sure and it's always better to ask for confirmation, but would the above recommendations still run OK on XP Pro, or is there some fiddley necessity to run Vista?

[ReMark]

The above configuration would run quite well under XP Pro. If you have a few extra bucks consider investing it in a little bit larger monitor such as a 22" Viewsonic, Samsung or LG.