Best graphic card for the money

[caustin]

I am looking to do alot of CAD and mapping with my workstation. What is the best video card (I am assuming GL) to accomplish this for $350-$500?

I have been weighing the differences between the FireGL's and the Sapphine Radeon X1300 - X1800's, feel free to comment on the pros and cons of these cards.

 

[Pain]

2D cad, or 3D cad?

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=178333&highlight=

 

[caustin]

2d cad

 

[Pain]

Then you don't need any special/professional card. If you mean you plan to map for gaming, then get what ever one you want based on the performance reviews and your system specs.

 

[Propain666]

Fire GL for sure...


go with the ATI FireGL V7350

 

[cleeve]

I'm an Ati fan, but for CAD OpenGL stuff... Nvidia's drivers are better.

You could probably get away with a cheap 6600 GT. But a Quadro would do well also, not asure if it'd be worth the premium over the 6600 GT though.

 

[Pain]

He said he's not doing 3d cad, so if he intended to map for gaming then I think he needs to pick a card that performs well in the games he likes to play. He won't go wrong with nvidia or ati, but some cards as we all know perform better than others in certain engines.

As for the firegl or quantro, I think that's a waste of money for what he wants it for, i.e. no 3D CAD work.

That link I posted above has good information on soft moding nvidia cards to quantro's. ATI probably has a similar thing for firegl cards.