Help with a new CAD card

[DillerandScoff]

Hello,

Does anyone have any advice on which would be the best upgrade? I use for Revit, 3ds Max and Photoshop.

I say those two just because they seem to be the same price - it's a student budget. Most of what I've read seems to advise against gaming cards, I was looking at the HD 5770 though.

At the moment I'm leaning towards the Quadro, as I don't think I'd need to upgrade my PSU, and for cuda. But I'm a newb! The benchmark scores seem to be much lower, is that relevant for these programs?

It's for a dell 580, with an i3 530, 4gb ram, and integrated graphics, with a 300w psu. Maybe it'll be limited by the cpu anyway? I could get a cheap card instead..?

Quite a few questions I guess. Sorry. Be nice to hear from anyone though!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The 300 watt PSU is a big limiter. But w/o a screen resolution and budget, it's hard to give advice. For CAD, CS5 you definitely want CUDA. Whether you get the Quadro or a GeForce card depends on the relative usage .... the cards are very similar with most of the performance difference being driver related.

 

[DillerandScoff]

Thanks for that JackNaylorPE. About usage, I only really use CAD (mostly 3D) - Revit, 3ds max etc. and photoshop CS5. I don't use it to game at all.

The monitor's 1920 x 1080, and I'm trying not to spend more than £150 - I thought the quadro 600 would mean I wouldn't need a new PSU. I'm not sure though - do you think I'll need to upgrade anyway? I was looking at a 430W Corsair for £37.

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/3328/2595/-/16686768/Corsair-CMPSU-430CX-430W-PSU-Power-Supply/Product.html?ob=4&cpage=6

Thanks for your help - and Happy Christmas!