Graphic card for cad programs

[kaneli]

Hi Guys,

I'm using my 3 years old pc for cad programs (VecorWorks, AutoCAD, 3ds Max etc.). As currently I do not have a budget to buy a totally new machine I have to stick with it but I would like to increase its speed as much as I can. Can you suggest the best graphic card? Also I would like to increase memory to at least 4GB. Or maybe 6GB? Not sure if it helps a lot as cad programs parasitize on a poor CPU.

PROCESSOR: Intel Core Quad Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS IPIBL-LB (BENICIA-GL8E)
GRAPHIC: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT
MEMORY: 3GB
OP. SYSTEM: Windows 7 (64bit)

Thanks,
Magda

 

[mosox]

AutoCAD and 3ds Max rely heavily on the CPU not the video card. You must urgent need is the RAM, after that see what improvements have been made. What RAM do you have?

 

[kaneli]

PC2-5300 MB/sec DDR2 SDRAM
Should I go for 4, 6 or 8GB?

Magda

 

[mosox]

Do you know the make, model, we need that to see the voltage? You have three 1GB sticks or 1x2G and 2x1G? Ideally you will keep some of your RAM and add some more.

 

[kaneli]

I have 2x1GB and 2x512MB so all slots are taken. Don't now model.
Will a better graphic card won't change anything? Is it worth buying a new motherboard and switch to DDR3?

Thanks

 

[mosox]

No, DDR3 isn't faster. Don't you know the brand of the RAM (like Kingston, Corsair, etc?) you can keep the 2x1GB and add on the other slots. Do you use CUDA or in general GPU acceleration in any of your applications? If not, the video card is in there just for displaying the stuff and the CPU gets all the job done. You can overclock it to 3.0GHz and you need an aftermarket cooler in order to do that.