Graphics Card Specifically For Cad And Engineering

[golgothurteen 0]

Greetings people! I would like to ask for input from the experienced computer graphics people who post in these forums. Since I really do not know anything about graphics cards, I decided to search online for cards that was specifically geared towards computer aided design. Alas, I came up with cards that cost upwards of 5,000$!!!I'm an undergraduate student planning to major in mechanical engineering and will probably be using programs like solidworks, AutoCAD and a host of other 3D design programs. I really would like to find out about what specific specs to look for and such (some starting links would be helpful). I am also looking for a graphics card that will not break my Wallet! The maximum amount of money I'm willing to spend will probably be around 800-900$, hopefully enough to get a decent card for these programs (mind you that this is not for 3D games, which require a different type of graphics card so I hear). If cheaper cards are found with reasonable performance I would be really happy. Thankyou in advance!

[cryptonx 0]

welcome ! I am in the same thing as well , but my major is Architecture , BUT I was looking for something TO SPEED UP MY RENDERING TIME for my 3D models , but I learned later that that graphics card has nothing to do with the RENDER SPEED , it's the processor and rams that will differ . so I gave up the idea .anyways these lines of graphics card will help you work MORE SMOOTHLY AND FASTER in very complicated CAD scenes .These cards are designed by the same companies that DESIGN the gaming graphics card ie Nvidia and ATi , as well as Matrox .Nvidias product line for ur request are called QuadroATis FireGL you can get a Quadro ( not the latest however ) for arround $450 if you FROOGLED for it ( FROOGLE.com , same as google yet for shopping ).I am not experienced with the FireGL from ATi . hope I helped a bit !

[golgothurteen 0]

Guess I gotta upgrade my RAM too. I'll look into that plus the Graphics card you recommended. Thank you so much!

[wutske 0]

You don't only need an über graphics card, but a good amount of memory. I know someone who runs Inventor on his home pc, it's just a simple computer, but it works.But on his work he has 4Gb of memory, wich is being used a lot, says enough I think .An other option is to look for quadro's/firegl's on ebay or other 2nd hand sites.