GeForce 6600gt vs Quadro fx 500/1000?

[jrocc858]

Hello all, getting ready to add some ram and a new video card to my Dell Dimension 8300, p4 2.8 533fsb to keep it ticking a little while longer. I was wondering what peoples experience/advise is on a low end pro card, the Quadro, vs a newer consumer card?
Looked around for a head to head of comparison of the two but haven't had much luck, any help is appreciated.

[Scott Hopkins]

A newer GeForce card will probably run Revit just fine but a Quadro card will do it better.

I am told that Quadro cards are generally more stable that GeForce cards. Presumably with a Quadro card your system is less likely to crash. The guys at the Revit Factory are always recommending Quadro cards because they do such a good job of adhering to Open GL standards. One other nice thing about Quadro cards is they perform full-screen anti-aliasing (smoothing out the jaggedness of angled lines). Quadro cards are also supposed to display graphics with more precision then GeForce cards.

Where Quadro cards fall short is in games. If you what to play Doom 3 with the highest frame rates then you are better off with a GeForce card. The most expensive Quadro's will run games beautifully but the lower end Quadros may be a bit slow for gaming. Then again, loading games on your work machine is a really bad idea to begin with.

Stick with the Quadro. The 540 is a nice one.

[Scott Hopkins]

also check out this post...

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=20859&highlight=QUADRO

[iru69]

Hello all, getting ready to add some ram and a new video card to my Dell Dimension 8300, p4 2.8 533fsb to keep it ticking a little while longer.
What's your current graphics card? It would be helpful to know what you're using now - no sense recommending a card that turns out to be not much faster than what you already have.

How much longer do you want to keep that ticker going (and what's a reasonable amount of money to spend for extending its life)?

I believe the Dimension 8300 uses AGP, which means it's highly unlikely you'll be able to use the card in your next computer (most "new" computers now use a "PCI-express" port for graphic cards). This is the kind of stuff that makes upgrading a computer so economically challenging (you won't be able to bring that new RAM with you either).

[jrocc858]

It has a radeon 9800 in it now. So either of the cards should run better. Nvidea drivers always seem to run smoother than catalyst in my experience. Recently the catalyst drivers have been particularly problematic and have acted up on me before. So I'm not really looking at another radoen or fire gl. I'm looking to spend 300 or so to keep it going. Was estimating around 80 for the ram 200 for the card. Figure it should keep me happy another year or so with the true 64 bit chips and operating systems around the corner. Or if they are farther at least until the dual core chips are cheaper. Willing to spend more on the card if it will make a bigger impact i.e. Ive seen GeForce 6600gt for $160, Quadro fx 500s for $200, and fx 1000 for $280.

[mlgatzke]

The GeForce 6800 is an AWESOME card! Especially as PCI Express. I've seen it playback a 1900x1200 HD file while the user was doing other things and the playback didn't stutter at all. And this was on the new Dell XPS notebook (Gen 2).

BTW, word is that Dell is going to be putting SLI architecture PCI Express video cards in their next generation XPS Desktops.OMG! I can't imagine.

[iru69]

It has a radeon 9800 in it now. Recently the catalyst drivers have been particularly problematic and have acted up on me before.
Yeah, I'm a big fan of the nvidia cards myself. I'm guessing that you're not going to see a very big performance increase - but that's relative to what you're hoping for. The RAM could give you the biggest boost if you're currently under 1GB.

Regardless, it sounds like the radeon isn't working out, so if it's between the GF6600GT and the Quadro FX500, I'd also go with the FX500 for the reasons Scott stated above.

One of the Revit computers here at our office is a Dell Precision P4@2.8GHz (800MHz FSB) with the FX500 and 1GB RAM - it's no speed demon, but there's no complaints.

The FX1000 appears to be a "retired" product and the law of diminishing returns might kick in.

Good luck on your upgrade and let us know how it improves things.

[Mr Spot]

I doubt you'll notice much of a performance increase from a 9800XT to 6800GT in revit... I'd hold off longer.. I'm currently using a X850XT PCI-E and i don't really notice much difference over my old 9800XT... Or get the quadro 3000 :) Pretty steep though!!

[Steve_Stafford]

...The GeForce 6800 is an AWESOME card!...Mike,
Just bought a new desktop for home that includes the GeForce 6800 card. I haven't been able to use Revit with OpenGL enabled. Are you? If so what driver are you using and where did you get it?

[Steve_Stafford]

Just downloaded the latest driver from Nvidia and installed it for my GeForce 6800 card...and for the the first time I can use OpenGL with Revit.
:Puffy:

(Interesting since the conventional wisdom thus far says we must make sure we use the drivers from our PC builder...which I did with no joy!)

[Wes Macaulay]

Steve, what brand of card came with your computer?

[mlgatzke]

Just downloaded the latest driver from Nvidia and installed it for my GeForce 6800 card...and for the the first time I can use OpenGL with Revit.
Yep. You figured it out. Though I don't personally have a 6800. I know someone that does have one and I've seen it running. Definitely an awesome card. . . and his is in the new Dell XPS notebook. All that card in a notebook - WOW!

Glad the new drivers worked for you. I seem to remember that the drivers have a specific performance setting for Revit. I believe it's in the Advanced settings.

[rookwood]

Here is an informative article explaining the differences between consumer grade GeForce cards and certified professional grade Quadro cards.

http://www.leadtek.com.tw/eng/support/faq.asp?faqlineid=44