Graphics Card for Dell

[matt.worland]

We are looking at getting some graphics cards for our Dell machines. I was wondering if anyone has any recommendations that work well with Dell and Autodesk products. The list on Autodesk's website tell me what not to get and I am hoping you can tell me what to get.

Thanks
Matt

[madcadder]

What slot? AGP or PCIx?

[matt.worland]

I am pretty sure they are PCI

[kmyers]

Which model Dell are they? We have some OptiPlex GX280's and GX 620's that we are upgrading. The GX280 is AGP and the GX620 is PCIx

[matt.worland]

Which model Dell are they? We have some OptiPlex GX280's and GX 620's that we are upgrading. The GX280 is AGP and the GX620 is PCIx
Good call, many of them are GX620's, It didn't even look at the others. We have Optiplex GX260, 270, 280 and 620's

We have a few Precision 450, and 530MT's

I presumed they all would be the same coming from the same manufacture.

Thanks. I will have to check what the others are now.

[kmyers]

Since you have a lot of the same computers we have, you may be interested in what we are looking at. A few people have told me they like the ATI X1600 series. They seem to be the best bang for the buck for upgrading the older Dell's. Also I'm upgrading all of them from 1gb to 2gb of Ram.. In my experince RAM is always the best upgrade for the money.

I;ve had good luck with hardware from Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2000380048+4017+1305520549+106790809&Subcategory=48&description=&srchInDesc=

[Mike.Perry]

<SNIP>

A few people have told me they like the ATI X1600 series. They seem to be the best bang for the buck for upgrading the older Dell's. Also I'm upgrading all of them from 1gb to 2gb of Ram.. In my experince RAM is always the best upgrade for the money.

<SNIP>Hi

Personally I would not go anywhere near the ATI Radeon X1600 series ( personal advice after extensive research on ATI Graphic Cards ).

If your budget will stretch to ATI FireGL cards, you will not go wrong.

If your budget will not stretch that far, look at the below ATI Radeon cards...

X850 Series
X1800 Series
X1900 Series
X1900 Series

Some of the ATI Radeon cards are now supported for AutoCAD use...

AutoCAD 2007 Graphics Hardware Database Update (http://autodesk.blogs.com/between_the_lines/2006/09/autocad_2007_gr.html)

I agree with the RAM upgrade ( if you are currently running 1 GB RAM ).

Have a good one, Mike

[Ogre]

Hi

Personally I would not go anywhere near the ATI Radeon X1600 series ( personal advice after extensive research on ATI Graphic Cards ).

If your budget will stretch to ATI FireGL cards, you will not go wrong.

If your budget will not stretch that far, look at the below ATI Radeon cards...
I agree with Mike...If you can get the ATI FireGL or the nVidia Quadro FX cards then you will be in great shape...I have heard bat things about the nVidia NVS series and they can get rather expensive compared to the Quadro FX...It all depends on the type of CAD work you are doing...If you are doing basic 3D, then the Radeon will do you just fine with a few artifacts and the color not showing up in the selection window...If you are doing basic 3D, then the Quadro FX 330 and 560 should be great (between US$150 & US$250)...nVidia's mid-level line is the Quadro FX 1100-1400 series...Rather expensive at US$500 a pop...

If ATI is you bag, then go with the FireGL V3400...Stay away from the V3100...I really did not like that card...The V3300 is about the same price as the V3400, but you get double the pixel pipeline with the V3400...These cards should be at the upper US$100 to the lower US$200...

I hope this helps...