Best bang for the buck?

[John_81]

Hello,
Looking for advice on upgrading a workstation video card from FireGL v3100, what would be the best choice in a $100-$150 range?

Processor is a intel 3ghz and board only has 2gb ram (2 slots 1gb each) this machine is not anything special just looking to keep it around a couple more years.

Thanks

 

[renz496]

what you want to do with the card? gaming or workstation related work? and what is you processor?

 

[John_81]

what you want to do with the card? gaming or workstation related work? and what is you processor?

processor is listed (3ghz intel single core), workstation gets used for AutoCad, Illustrator, Photoshop... no gaming, it is at work

Just looking for a little input before I buy a card, not looking to spend a lot of cash and this machine is at its last upgrade before replacement.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

 

[renz496]

maybe you can look into this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133274&Tpk=quadro%20fx380

if i'm not mistaken this is one of cheapest quadro in the market. but you can look on reviews about this card first before deciding

 

[paperfox]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/quadrofx-firepro_18.html#sect0

definatly that Nvidia Quadro FX 380 due to Nvidias better driver support in AutoCad.

 

[John_81]

OK, that looks good but I have one other quick question... the motherboard has a 16x pci slot, not the 2.0 version. Will this card still work?

 

[John_81]

And thank you both again for the help... the comparison charts were a good link, I am looking to upgrade at home too and it will help me make a choice.

not running 2 monitors here, but I forgot to add that we use Solid Works also so the added ummph in rendering will be a big bump.

 

[renz496]

OK, that looks good but I have one other quick question... the motherboard has a 16x pci slot, not the 2.0 version. Will this card still work?

most new card that are compatible with PCI-E 2.0 should be able to run on older PCI-E (i.e PCI-E 1.1) because it has backward compatibility.

 

[John_81]

Cool, Thank you.

 

[John_81]

Best answer selected by John_81.