forum.datacad.com

Ok so now thinking I need to look into a new video card any recommendations??

The GTS 250 has been good to me.

The following two cards have been recommended to me for a new computer I'm having built to used primarily for CAD, Sketchup and Thea Render:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130794
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Dual-Link-Di ... 714&sr=1-3

scottbldr wrote:The following two cards have been recommended to me for a new computer I'm having built to used primarily for CAD, Sketchup and Thea Render:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130794
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Dual-Link-Di ... 714&sr=1-3

I'd look for something with out a fan. The fans have been the thing thats killed all the cards with fans I've had. Can't buy replacement fans 2 to 3 years down the track. Will only buy fanless and mount an extra case fan if I think it's needed.

Dave

NewEgg lets you search for video cards without fans - they use larger heatsinks and there is plenty of air flow inside the case with the exhaust and PSU fans on many cases.

Dave wrote:I'd look for something with out a fan.

Definitely.
If you are games player, you can justify a video card fan in order to impress your mates at school but, if you are a serious hairy-chested DataCad professional, there are other priorities, DataCad doesn't need it, and a fan is just something else to go wrong.

One of those priorities is a quiet computer. This is not hard to achieve these days, but adding a video card fan is not a good way to do it.

Well budget minded got me at the EVGA GTX 660ti.

Besides I can save up for hairy chest badge!!! so I can unite

Then get newer I-7 and stuff when rendering is past learning and at production????? It sounded good right????

Okcsailing wrote:Well budget minded

Good idea.

On matters budget, yesterday I actually clicked the above new-egg link and what I saw was simply absurd. At $570, that joke would be about $500 more than you need to pay in order to run DataCad.

Yep...the video card is more than you need to run DataCAD. For some, like myself, DataCAD is just one of many tools I use on a daily basis. Considering my first rig back in 1997 I purchased cost around $2200 having the best and fastest hardware I can afford is a steal these days.

Robert

My question is: The way DataCAD goes about its calculations to run its program, is it better to get a workstation type card or a gaming type card? Its my understanding that the workstation cards use algorithyms that are quicker at CAD type calculations but slower at FPS.

I currently run a Firepro V5800 but I can't say I noticed much difference between the NVIDIA it replaced (about 2 years ago). And workstation cards are more money. I do run 3 moniters but I see that many of the new gaming cards support 3 also.

So-called "workstation" video cards often only work faster with specific programs that have specific video drivers, and they won't speed up DataCAD or SketchUp. I think the days of DataCAD being limited by the video card are long gone.

The sun shader is probably the main thing that would benefit from a faster video card I would think. I'd dump my money into the fastest processor I could afford for speeding up Datacad. 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge I7 Intel processors are a great bang for your buck these days.