[Maxwell Murder]

Well schools starting up soon and I'm hittin my 4th year of CAD and 3DS Max. Which card should I be buying? I was thinking the 9800 pro 128mb, but Is there something else out there that I could benefit from more?

[MooMasster716]

From what i know the 9800 is built for speed and not details that the cad people need. You need a workstation card, like a ATI Fire gl X1, 8800 or a Nivdia quatro or fx series. Pros use Wildcats and stuff but expect to pay 500 and up for new gen cards, i dont do cad and stuff but its what i know.

[TheGr8s1]

Originally posted by MooMasster716
From what i know the 9800 is built for speed and not details that the cad people need. You need a workstation card, like a ATI Fire gl X1, 8800 or a Nivdia quatro or fx series. Pros use Wildcats and stuff but expect to pay 500 and up for new gen cards, i dont do cad and stuff but its what i know.

I use Cad and stuff on a daily basis. The Nvidia Quadro is a really nice card to get. Runs better than the ATI Fire Gl as far as I'm concerned. We have both at work. Don't know about the others mentioned (wildcats?) but the Quadro is very good for cad.

[Evnas]

Wildcats are the best of the best when it comes to CAD and 3D art. But for that "best of the best" performance and quality, you get premium prices. The VP990 Pro (the best model to date for "average" designers) costs about $800, but comes with 512mb of DDR on a 256bit bus for those extra large projects.

The VP880 is also a damn good card, coming in at about $450 with 256mb of memory.

As for the 9800 Pro...you definatly dont want to go with that, unless you will be doing lots of gaming as well. The 9800 Pro, and other "regular" video cards, have drivers written for games, with little optimisation for 3D programs like 3DS Max and CAD.

Heres more info on the Wildcats

http://www.3dlabs.com/product/wildcatvp/

Now, of course you have the best, of the best, of the best from Wildcat, which can run you up to over $3,000, heh.

[TheGr8s1]

Now, of course you have the best, of the best, of the best from Wildcat, which can run you up to over $3,000, heh.

Geez that's more expensive then my entire system put together.

[TheGr8s1]

Ain't it late in Seattle. I'm a few hours north of u. 3:22am here.

[Evnas]

Originally posted by TheGr8s1
Ain't it late in Seattle. I'm a few hours north of u. 3:22am here.

Na...its early (morning, but thats not the point )

And yea, those Wildcat cards are expensive, but nothing can come close to them in power, or quality

[Cowboy X]

If you can't afford the Wildcat get a Quadro , the Quadro drivers are currently better than ATI's workstation drivers though I think the ATI hardware is better .

If however you are like me and can't aford either , then get either a 9800 pro or 5900Ultra , you should look around at Rage3d.com or Nvnews.net and see if there are any easy software modifications which can allow these cards to be modded to their professional versions (ATI Firegl , Nvidia QuadroFX ) . If there are no mods , get the 9800 Pro , if there are mods for the 5900 or even 5800 FX cards then get one of them and quickly turn it into a Quadro .

[TheGr8s1]

Yes I heard of that softmod too but I'm not sure how it performs after the mod.

[emericanchaos]

he said he wasn't aware of a softmod. if you can find one it would be safe to assume that it works like a quadro and less like a gaming card.

[TheGr8s1]

But I do remember something from Guru3d. It requires a script and Rivatuner. I don't think I'm that far from the truth cuz I coulda sworn I read about it.

[pip]

do not skimp[ when buying a CAD card a softmod may seem like a simple solution but for hardcore CAD it will usually cause more harm than good go with a real quadro or fire gl or wildcat not a retail version with a half-assed softmod job

[Maxwell Murder]

Hmmm, I'm liking the Wildcat VP990 Pro. Is this absolutely the best card out there for this stuff?

[Evnas]

Originally posted by Maxwell Murder
Hmmm, I'm liking the Wildcat VP990 Pro. Is this absolutely the best card out there for this stuff?

In your price range...yes. Like i said, there are other Wildcat cards that can from from $1,000, to $3,000 (The Wildcat 3's and the Wildcat 4's)

[Oni]

Have you considered the Matrox Parhelia? The Parhelia's strengths are CAD programs, iirc

[Cowboy X]

Unfortunately for the Parhelia it just can't compare to the cards really meant for CAD . The Firegl and quadro easily surpass it . The Parhelia is a jack of all trades and master of none

[maxxshwagg]

i know i don't suppose to put for sale stuff up, but i have a pny quadro 900 xgl i am getting ready to list on ebay. runs CAD stuff like a dream. plays dx8 games pretty good also. i will sell it for $275 shipped with the digital to vga adapter. email shwagg01@yahoo.com

[maxxshwagg]

by the way, i had to sell my 9800pro (which is the best gaming card i ever owned, noticably faster and better IQ than the 5900 i have now) because it ran Pro-e so bad. don't buy an ATI consumer card to run CAD software. if you are going to buy a consumer card get a nvidia. my friends geforce mx ran Pro-E better than my 9800Pro.......If you a power user that also play some games get a quadro. if you only use CAD then get a wildcat.

[Atari]

Yea I have to agree.. I bought an 9800pro also, only to return it a few days later :/.. Great Card but its strictly for games (as it should be). Nvidia still has its hold on me I guess as I'm getting my 5900 this week since it'll run Maya / Linux / Games without trouble or having to softmod it to work right with the apps I use. Plus I use linux so kinda have to stay away from ATI :/.

[Maxwell Murder]

The computer is going to be used for half Video Games and Half CAD/3DS Max. What do you suggest then?