Agreed, I'm a Cad guy and unless you are opening very large assemblies and need the ram as well, the best user experience will be achieved primarily through a good video card. That being said, hardware has come so far now, you don't usually need to spend anywhere near what you did.
I have lost faith in Nvidia, and have been using ATI cards recently (all variations) and they are doing well. Check what your app is supported in, with CAD apps, it's not just being "supported" that matters, but some cards don't work well with certain apps. http://www.inventor-certified.com/graphics/ jlc From: N Parr [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 9:56 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: CAD Workstation Spec I would go off the software requirements and compatibility list. Usually the only thing that really makes a big difference is GPU type and driver versions. There are big differences between video cards and RAM isn't necessarily the deciding factor. You could spend $100 or $4000 on a 1 GB Video card if you wanted. After you figure out the specs required then upgrade the CPU and RAM beyond requirements if you have budget left over. ________________________________ From: Stefan Jafs [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 10:08 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: CAD Workstation Spec I need to upgrade a few PC's running AutoDesk Inventor to Workstations, question is how much horsepower is economically / practically needed? How do I compare i5, i7 or Xenon processors in CAD situations? RAM is pretty simple, Windows 7 64 bit probably 8 Gb should be ok. A video card with 1 Gb of DDR3 ram should be ok I Think. Any recommendations? -- SJ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
