Which Professional Graphics Cards Should I Get?

[Black-Bird]

Hey everyone i am building a computer for a friend, and when it comes to building gaming computers, it's easy for me but i have no clue what "Professional Graphics Cards" to get, i don't know what should i be looking for and also for a monitors. I don't care about price at this point just need a idea, snice this feels like a whole new ball game.

Thanks To All

 

[runswindows95]

What programs exactly? The professional cards, such as ATI's FirePro and Nvidia's Quadro lines, are made for high end engineering programs, such as CAD, Maya, and 3D rendering.

 

[legendkiller]

Best bet is Quadro but they too overpriced so get a GTx 580 3GB for $500
GTx 680 lack of something that GTx 580 makes a better choice

 

[Black-Bird]

AutoCAD, SolidWOrks, 3DS MAXS and lightwave, what's what i have on paper he gave me

 

[Black-Bird]

What programs exactly? The professional cards, such as ATI's FirePro and Nvidia's Quadro lines, are made for high end engineering programs, such as CAD, Maya, and 3D rendering.

AutoCAD, SolidWOrks, 3DS MAXS and lightwave, what's what i have on paper he gave me

 

[runswindows95]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/firepro-v3900-review-benchmark,3153-13.html

For CAD and such, The FirePro/Quadros will be the best for they are designed for those applications.

 

[maxinexus]

Here is quite useful info on the subject...however the price of these cards is staggering...close to 2k or more
www.nvidia.com/object/quadro_geforce.html
The pro software require pro hardware and pro pay so price should not be an issue.

 

[Black-Bird]

CPU: AMD FX8150 with a heatsink "Thermaltake Frio"

MB: ASUS Sabertooth 990FX

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR 3 1600

SSD: Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe SATA 3 120GB

HDD: WD 1TB Caviar Black 7200RPM Sata 6GB 64MB Cache

PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850 GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply.

Antec Eleven Hundred Black Super Mid Tower Computer Case Full Upgraded Fans, With 6 Fan Controller

LG Blu-Ray Burner


So This is what i have so fair, but when reading forums i also heard that you need to look into finding a right monitor and again what monitor and GPU

 

[runswindows95]

Far as GPU, see what the programs require / recommend. Far as monitor, it's a question of budget. The Dell 2412 is around $400, and is a great monitor. Again, see the system requirements for each program to get an idea of what GPU to get. Also, for CAD and such, I would suggest 16GB of RAM.

 

[janiashvili]

Hey, if he uses OpenGL programs - buy quadro, but if he uses Direct3D software - buy gaming card.

for AutoCAD - quadro 600(or similar priced FirePro) will be enough
for 3ds Max - quadro 4000 and geforce 460 together will be enough

those are enough for most users, but ask him about his previous rig and if it was enough for him.


AutoCAD uses OpenGL as I know, so Gaming card will be useless(gaming cards have blocked true OpenGL performance, or pro cards have somehow accelerated, so difference is big)

3ds Max uses Direct3D, due to this good gaming card should be enough, but now and then he'll encounter a lot of crashes(I'm 80% sure you can solve this by installing Quadro driver(you can search how to)), and for this you should buy Quadro 4000, quadros below it are useless and above it costs too much, so also buy cheaper Geforce card, then SLI them(compatible ones) - you'll basically get faster Quadro card(especially good for GPU rendering)

For monitor - it should be good quality one(e.g. display good quality images, have good contrast ratio. just check pro. monitor http://www.necdisplay.com/p/desktop-monitors/pa301w-bk ; then compare much cheaper monitor to something like this)

and, as someone said, buy 16GB memory, some people even have 64GB, but that much is useless, that can even slow down performance of PC.

 

[Sunius]

I really advice against going with FX8150. Get i7 2600k instead. It will be faster and better for such applications.

 

[Black-Bird]

Best answer selected by Black-Bird.