I'm looking at getting a mobile workstation (on a budget) mainly for demonstrating point cloud results and case studies to clients. What I've been trying to get my head around is the best way to go regarding Graphics cards. As far as I can see gaming cards and workstation cards are practically the same when it comes to hardware, but with the workstation cards (Quadro) you pay the extra money for the software performance drivers.
What I'm wondering is if I'm mainly using software like pointools or cyclone which doesn't have these performance drivers would a games card work just as well? The new pointools model for AutoCAD 2010 + seems to be using Direct x instead of OpenGL. I presume this is Microsoft asserting themselves with windows 7, does anyone know if this switch to directX will have any implications for the type of graphics cards I should be looking for?
Cheers,
Ben
Graphics Cards
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Re: Graphics Cards
Hi Ben
I know that a lot of the old 3D Open GL apps are erring on the side of Direct X these days... traditionally Quadro cards have always been more Open GL focussed and gaming cards more Direct X.
To be honest though the sheer power of todays cards mean that whichever way you go, you're probably going to be getting a serious amount of bang or your buck. Personally I'd be inclined to go with a cheaper gaming rather than workstation card - perhaps two of them in SLI/Crossfire? Coupled with an i7 (go on, overclock it... you know you want to!) and some triple channel DDR3 it should be ample for your needs.
What sort of budget were you thinking?
I know that a lot of the old 3D Open GL apps are erring on the side of Direct X these days... traditionally Quadro cards have always been more Open GL focussed and gaming cards more Direct X.
To be honest though the sheer power of todays cards mean that whichever way you go, you're probably going to be getting a serious amount of bang or your buck. Personally I'd be inclined to go with a cheaper gaming rather than workstation card - perhaps two of them in SLI/Crossfire? Coupled with an i7 (go on, overclock it... you know you want to!) and some triple channel DDR3 it should be ample for your needs.
What sort of budget were you thinking?