Video card for Autocad work

One of the shop office computers is an old Athlon 1.4Ghz and it's used extensively for cad drawing work. It has a GeForce 5600 ( or something close to that ), 1 Gig ram, XP Pro. It's just not cutting it anymore and they were talking about getting something else from the local computer store and possibly spending up to $1500.00 .

I said that I could build them a real good system for a lot less than that and I have been jotting down some Dual Core stuff from the Egg.

I need your suggestions on an appropriate PCI-E card that will handle any cad drawing apps. I don't know how the requirements for cad drawing stuff relate to gaming requirements, which is all I seem to hear about when cards are discussed.

Jay, the supervisor, said that they paid about $500.00 for the GeForce card about two or so years ago. I couldn't believe that they paid that much for that card...and it's surely only an AGP card.

Surely a much lower priced PCI-E card can handle any cad programs...but I just don't know.

The cad program that is being used is 'Inventory Suite 2008', by AutoDesk.

The Quadro's start at about $300, and go upto about $2000.

It depends on how extensively it is used, what is the software used for exactly? What monitors do you use?


Liam

Matrox, the original multi head video designed for CAD. Lots of options.

Matrox has a variety of graphics hardware solutions for AEC (Architecture, Engineering & Construction), CADD (Computer-Aided Drafting Design), EDA (Electronic Design Automation), GIS (Geographic Information Systems), MCAD (Mechanical Computer-Aided Design), and Plant Design. Matrox is the industry leader in multi-display technology and Matrox products feature exceptional image quality, reliable display drivers, and unique features.


http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/cadgis/home.php

Sorry for the delay in replying....long day.

On water heaters and other devices, the aluminum control and hook-up 'box' where the gas and electrical lines are connected is

made from a mold process. We make the molds from tool steel and the melted aluminum is forced into the molds under pressure. We also make the various parts that go into a complete aluminum control box. It is these molds and various parts that are drawn up with the cad program. These molds and other parts have extremely tight tolerances and the cad program is used to get 360 deg views so every possible viewpoint can be available...in other words...being able to rotate the drawing in every dimension.

I know that I didn't do the best job at describing what we do but I hope that is is enough to give you a good idea as to how the cad program is used.

I'm not sure about the monitors...nothing special...flat screen lcd's, I think.

I can get specific info about the monitors...didn't think about that aspect.

Quadro's...?? I'll have to Google that...don't have a clue what it is...a graphics card?

Well..I Googled 'Quadro graphics cards' and came up with a lot of cards! It seems that cad work requires a different type of card from the standard cards used for gaming and general use...I think..:confused:

It appears that I need to learn about these Quadro cards and then figure out which types( price range)will be good enough for our work.

Matrox...I'll look that up, too.

This is the daddy: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133189

The Quadro is Nvidia's workstation card.

The full Newegg list is here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=Quadro+series


Liam