Intel G33 onboard graphics

[william-swc]

We are a Further Education College and have offered Autocad courses for a number of years. This year we have upgraded to Autocad 2010. It works fine on 2D work but crashes when working 3D. The computer specs are:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00Ghz
RAM: 3,576 MB total (3,150 MB free)
GFX: Intel G33/G31 Express chipset family
Plenty of free HDD space
Winxp SP3

I suspect the problem lies with the graphics card but before we invest in 60 new graphics cards I would like to know if anyone else had this experience or if they know that it is definately the graphics card at fault?

[Tankman]

I too suspect the graphic chipset. Why not try one new graphics card with some memory.

I use graphics cards with 512 meg onboard.

[f700es]

Not to pick on you but you really need to look at the hardware requirements on software before spec'ing the systems. 60 systems, whew that's going to hurt. Everything else looks fine on these systems. Maybe buy 1 card and give it a test run. Do these machines have PCIe slots? Check this 1st before buying any cards.

[ReMark]

Unless you bought a laptop with the capability to add-in an after-market graphics card you just might be out of luck. What is the make/model of the laptop?

[william-swc]

They aren't laptops they are desktops.

The computers were purchased before I started my employment here and originally they weren't intended for CAD but sort of got thrown into that roll. As stated above we are a Further Education College which means we have in excess of 500 computers on this campus alone, we have 4 campuses.

I've had another look at the machines and they can't take a full size graphics card. Are there mini pci cards that will run 3d Autocad? We have other desktops which are better spec'd and will take a full size card however they are currently performing a different role. We may need to swap a few computers about to get ones that are upgradeable.

unfortuneately we bought over 100 new pcs last month so our budget is pretty much blown!

[ReMark]

Desktop. Gotcha. What make/model of computer are we talking?

[ReMark]

Never mind.

What you're looking for is called a low profile graphics card. They can vary in price from $50 to over $250. How many PCs need to be converted?

[ReMark]

Here are some examples of low profile PCIe graphics cards:

http://www.xpcgear.com/pcielowprofile.html

[f700es]

Low profile as Remark stated will work fine just get ones that will run AutoCAD 2010.
Here is a good budget low profile card to look at.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187060
nVidia 9600GT

I use an 8600GT at work and it runs 2010 just fine.

[william-swc]

excellent thanks. yea I forgot what the term for mini graphics cards were, it's been a few years since I last worked in an actual computer store.

[ReMark]

We're just wannabe geeks.:lol:

[chelsea1307]

wannabe???

[ReMark]

Hi, I'm ReMark, and I'm a geek!:oops::lol: