CAD cards vs Gaming Cards HELP!!!

I recently purchased an Nvidia Quadro FX580 CAD card and did some simple tests against an ATI Radeon 5750 gaming card in Autocad MEP 2010. I do HVAC system design in Autocad MEP and moving towards REVIT MEP.

The test I was running was to take a 2d drawing of some ducts and copy-move them. The redraw time on the 5750 was significantly faster than the FX580.

Is this a valid test of the two cards? Waiting on a re-draw really slows down my productivity so I am confused as to why the Quadro didn't redraw faster.

I installed the CAD performance drivers and everything but have done little in terms of tweaking them or the Autocad settings... Should I even have to to test the cards?

The Quadro FX580 was about 2x as expensive as the Radeon 5750.

I am going to get Revit MEP in the office. Will this make the Quadro worth it?

Am I doing something wrong or is there little reason to not just buy a really fast "gaming card" to do my CAD work in?

Thanks!

Mark

markjohnsonii@gmail.com

Please do not double post, your question will be read anyway. I have deleted your other thread.

Thank you very much!

Experience tells me that CAD cards are just marketing hype, and make no practical difference to the user. You'll notice the sales pitch for the more expensive cards always come coupled with benchmarked stats under idealized conditions which almost never exist in the real world. Save some scratch and go with the gaming card.

Thanks for your advice; any one else had any experience with this stuff?

Please stop posting duplicate threads asking the same question. You have already been asked once before. I have removed your most recent post and moved your question to the 'Hardware & Operating Systems' section where you may get a better response.

The reason for the duplicate posts is because not everyone reads every forum section... I wasn't sure what the best area would be and the first moderator didn't provide any direction in that matter.

I really appreciate you moving my question to the proper venue!

The reason for the duplicate posts is because not everyone reads every forum section... I wasn't sure what the best area would be and the first moderator didn't provide any direction in that matter.

 

I really appreciate you moving my question to the proper venue!

1. Everyone reads every post.... we all use the "Today's Post" feature which shows all the new post in order.

2. To answer your question, Autodesk has been pushing more video driver support and extensions for gaming cards. The reason workstation cards are more expensive is because of the price differences in the OpenGL driver extensions used vs the MiniGL driver extensions in the gaming cards. The hardware is exactly the same in most cases.

When in doubt use http://www.gpureview.com to compare what you are looking at.

1. Everyone reads every post.... we all use the "Today's Post" feature which shows all the new post in order.

 

2. To answer your question, Autodesk has been pushing more video driver support and extensions for gaming cards. The reason workstation cards are more expensive is because of the price differences in the OpenGL driver extensions used vs the MiniGL driver extensions in the gaming cards. The hardware is exactly the same in most cases.

Well then based on your response and the lack of others responses, I am surmising the following:

1. People in this forum don't know much about CAD cards vs GAMING cards (other than the specification differences) and can not provide any meaningful data, or advice relating to my post. (Since you said they ALL read EVERY new post, and only 2 of you have replied).

2. You have a severe lack of knowledge and thus should not be attempting to assist people, or posting facts from the late 1990's as current, relevant, or useful information. Go Google MiniGL and also what new video cards have in terms of OpenGL, DirectX, etc.

When in doubt use "gpureview.com" to compare what you are looking at.

I don't need hardware specifications or performance charts on video cards. I need real-world, engineer or CAD user experiences with the implementation of a NEWer video card vs an expensive, comparable CAD card. I don't know why I am getting such terrible responses.

I have always used gaming cards, Nvidia GeForce, without problems for programs like Autocad, 3DS Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, etc. I have never used a CAD card so I have nothing to add to this thread in terms of comparing the two. I think the majority of the members here are also in the same boat, which would account for the lack of responses. I don't think many of us have the time, or money, to be buying different cards and testing them against each other. Maybe you should find a good computer tech forum to ask these types of questions. But whatever you do, remember this: casting out insults and demanding responses is the quickest way to alienate yourself from the masses around here or on any forum. :wink:

Well then based on your response and the lack of others responses, I am surmising the following:

 

1. People in this forum don't know much about CAD cards vs GAMING cards (other than the specification differences) and can not provide any meaningful data, or advice relating to my post. (Since you said they ALL read EVERY new post, and only 2 of you have replied).

 

2. You have a severe lack of knowledge and thus should not be attempting to assist people, or posting facts from the late 1990's as current, relevant, or useful information. Go Google MiniGL and also what new video cards have in terms of OpenGL, DirectX, etc.

When I said everyone here reads every post, they do. What I meant by "everyone" was the people of importance that help out on a daily basis and have been a member on this board for years, including myself.

Tell you what. Go down PC Wizard and install it. Look at the OpenGL extensions installed on your machine running a gaming card. Now do the same thing on a computer running a workstation card, and see how many more OpenGL extensions are installed. If you're so smart and I'm so dumb then why did you come here and ask a question to begin with? I see you're a "Google guru".... next time why don't you use your search crutch instead of asking people who can give you experienced answers.

Oh and Autodesk doesn't use DirectX, it uses Direct3D which is a graphical extension of DirectX, which is a development of Microsoft. OpenGL is Direct3D's competitor and it's extensions has been heavily used in CAD related software until recently. Just.... you know.... "FYI" and all.... :wink:

The arrogance of people sometime..... I'm no guru at all, but I have put my own research into this for years now. Oh and have fun with that gaming card running Revit MEP.... we had an issue with that last year and the only fix was *gasp* to upgrade to workstation level cards. Sometimes it's not all about performance, and support will always rein. Good luck mi amigo.

I don't need hardware specifications or performance charts on video cards. I need real-world, engineer or CAD user experiences with the implementation of a NEWer video card vs an expensive, comparable CAD card. I don't know why I am getting such terrible responses.

Well when one has twice as much memory bandwidth (as an example) it becomes pretty clear

I myself prefer Quadro cards but I usually spec higher end qudros. My last one was a Fx3450 and was far and away better than the 8600GT I am using now. On basic 2D operations I see no difference but when I do thinkgs like a 3D rotate on a large scene I can tell the difference. The 8600GT is 2 years newer but it is slower in CAD now in HalfLife2 it would kick the quadros butt! Oh and they do not have the same hardware, they have completely different GPUs.

There was that clear enough?

Well when one has twice as much memory bandwidth (as an example) it becomes pretty clear

 

I myself prefer Quadro cards but I usually spec higher end qudros. My last one was a Fx3450 and was far and away better than the 8600GT I am using now. On basic 2D operations I see no difference but when I do thinkgs like a 3D rotate on a large scene I can tell the difference. The 8600GT is 2 years newer but it is slower in CAD now in HalfLife2 it would kick the quadros butt! Oh and they do not have the same hardware, they have completely different GPUs.

There was that clear enough?

Absolutely, thanks so much! Most of what I do is 2D although REVIT is a different beast. I appreciate your advice in comparison between them.

Oh and have fun with that gaming card running Revit MEP.... we had an issue with that last year and the only fix was *gasp* to upgrade to workstation level cards. Sometimes it's not all about performance, and support will always rein. Good luck mi amigo.

Excellent advice and information! I really appreciate the help. I have not tested REVIT yet in the comparison but have ordered the software. When it comes in, I will benchmark the cards visually and give an opinion on the results for everyone's edification.

Per your advice, I will keep the Quadro card and hopefully work will move towards a use that fully utilizes its capabilities!

Thanks!

P.S. what do you think would be a good, quick "test" to visually compare the two cards in REVIT?

I'm not saying you will have issues, just that you might with a gaming card. Have you taken a look at the Autodesk Certified Hardware List??

I'm not saying you will have issues, just that you might with a gaming card. Have you taken a look at the Autodesk Certified hardware List??

Yes, this is something I found after purchasing the Radeon 5750. Well I can confirm that the Radeon 5750 does work with Autocad MEP 2010

Thanks again for the help and I will keep a closer eye on this list for future purchases!

Typically, I think the Gaming cards will always have better results than the workstation cards, it's just the nature of the beast. The gaming cards will try to pack as much power and will try to support more standards to make sure that they will be able to handle anything that new games can throw at them.

Having said that, you'll be spending more money on the gaming cards, and may not need all of the power, but you'll definitely be better off than using a workstation card. (Assuming your card is supported by AutoCAD.)

Side note: nVidia has those CUDA drivers that might help with CAD performance.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_home_new.html