Hello
I am in need of a good opengl video card for SOLIDWORKS
I have been to their web site and they recomend video cards that are kinda old, I was wondering if some of you can tell me of a card that works well and is not too high end say $200 max. No offense , I prefer actual experience as opposed to heresay.
Thank you / Ed
No offense, you may find better answers in some other places.
Most people in this forum are gamers, they probably recommend you GeForce3 types of cards.
Most Solidworks users in my workplace use 3DLab’s cards, although I suppose they are all in at least mid-range.
With your budget, I would stay away from those so-called “coolest, fastest and newest cards” in the market that cost less than 200 dollars.
I’m not familiar with Solidworks, so take this with some salt, but I’d say that GeForce 2 family cards would be decent choices. They are pretty similar to the more professional Quadro based cards. There are some differences, I believe one of them is with antialiased lines – although there are tweaks to convert GeForce to Quadro. If you can get one for testing, I’d recommend that.
Although, considering the price of the software, I’d say that investing a little more in a graphics card might be a good idea.
As a SolidWorks reseller, I can tell you
the best buy right now is the NVidia Quadro
4 550 XGL. At an MSRP of $395, it can be
purchased from PNY for $199 if you identify
yourself as a SolidWorks customer.
If you are willing to spend a little more,
the Quadro 4 750 XGL, MSRP $895, can be
had for $399.