Graphics Card For Revit

[nsinha73]

Specs. for my PC:
Intel
Xeon CPU 2.80Ghz Dual Processor
2GB Ram
NVIDIA Quadro FX3000 installed.

I am planning to upgrade to a better graphics cards.
Which Graphics card is best for Revit which will give me good performance without cracking my wallet.

Thanks guys

[iru69]

That sounds like a very old computer. P4 Netburst based. Your motherboard likely uses an AGP slot (old technology) for the video card. If that's the case, there's nothing to "upgrade" to.

Why do you want to upgrade the video card?

[Andrew Dobson]

A new graphics card will do nothing to speed up Revit, but some graphics cards are much more stable than others. I have a Quadro FX1500 which is rock solid in Revit 2008 and 2009.

4Gb of Ram and a faster processor will be much more beneficial, but you may need a new PC for a Core 2 Duo based processor.

[greg.gebert978266]

A new graphics card will do nothing to speed up Revit, but some graphics cards are much more stable than others. I have a Quadro FX1500 which is rock solid in Revit 2008 and 2009.

4Gb of Ram and a faster processor will be much more beneficial, but you may need a new PC for a Core 2 Duo based processor.

I agree with Andrew. I have a Quadro FX1700 and another guy has the Quadro FX4600 he has seen no performance gain over mine and his was about $1000 more. Our 3D Max guy even swapped his card ($2000+ Graphics Card) for the Quadro FX1700 because it was more stable. I don't know that going over 3GB of RAM helps unless you are running 64bit and if that's the case load it up. Processor speed and cores are crucial, especially when rendering.

[patricks]

I posted one of the fastest rendering benchmarks in the old Accurender benchmark thread using only a Quadro FX550 128MB card (dual DVI out). A big honkin' graphics card really is a waste of money for Revit purposes. You'd be better off upgrading processors, memory, etc.

[AP23]

I have very good experience with the Quadro FX 4600 (and the Quadro FX 3600 for laptops). But as Andrew said, a good graphic card will speed up any 3d application except for Revit.

[Andrew Dobson]

I have found the following:

3Gb Ram with 3Gb switch off = stable, but only on smaller models (Revit only gets 2Gb RAM)
3Gb Ram with the 3Gb switch on = stable on smaller models but unstable on larger ones as Revit tires to hog all of the available memory
4Gb Ram with the 3GB switch on = most stable (Revit can use 3Gb, Windows gets about 500Mb)

I havent triend using more than 4Gb Ram on a 64-bit OS

Ram is cheap - it costs hardly anything to upgrade to 4Gb and the stability benefits are really worth the cost.

Quad Core is no faster than dual core except for when rendering. 3Ghz Core 2 Duo will be faster than 2.4Ghz Quad Core for day to day use.

By a workstation graphics card for stability not speed - Quadro FX1500 is more than adequate.

[patricks]

By a workstation graphics card for stability not speed - Quadro FX1500 is more than adequate.

That costs about 3 times as much as an FX 550 and 2 times as much as an FX 560, both of which are more than adequate for Revit. The difference of the 560 over the 550 is about 50% faster memory bandwidth.

[SCShell]

I have found the following:

3Gb Ram with 3Gb switch off = stable, but only on smaller models (Revit only gets 2Gb RAM)
3Gb Ram with the 3Gb switch on = stable on smaller models but unstable on larger ones as Revit tires to hog all of the available memory
4Gb Ram with the 3GB switch on = most stable (Revit can use 3Gb, Windows gets about 500Mb)

I havent triend using more than 4Gb Ram on a 64-bit OS

Ram is cheap - it costs hardly anything to upgrade to 4Gb and the stability benefits are really worth the cost.

Quad Core is no faster than dual core except for when rendering. 3Ghz Core 2 Duo will be faster than 2.4Ghz Quad Core for day to day use.

By a workstation graphics card for stability not speed - Quadro FX1500 is more than adequate.
Hey there,
Does this support Open GL turned on?
Thank you
(I am looking into upgrading my machine too.)

[patricks]

I have been running OpenGL turned on with my FX 550 graphics card for several months now, no real issues that I've seen.

[Andrew Dobson]

All I can say is that we had no end of problems with Open GL in Revit 2008 and earlier versions when we used Radeon and GeForce cards. Since we got the PNY Quadro FX1500 cards, there have been no problems in any version of Revit with OpenGL turned on. We dont have any of the speed problems that seem to have beset 2009 either, thats why they are worth the money for us. Graphics dont seem faster in Revit, its just so much more stable, and OpenGL always works.

I only have experience of the PNY Quadro FX 1500 as it is what Autodesk recommended that our IT dept purchase for Revit and AutoCAD, but it would be interesting to know if the Quadro FX370 works with Open GL turned on in Revit 2009, as we could save some money here.

Mind you, Open GL has been fine on my Sony Laptop with a GeForce card since the later versions of 2008....

[SCShell]

Hey there,
Thank you Andrew for that.
I have never had an issue with open GL, I have had 4 or 5 different video cards since using Revit, both on my desktop and laptop machines.

Thanks
Steve

[j_p_rogers]

Hi, I'm looking to get a new computer soon, and having trouble deciding between Nvidia Quadro and GeForce graphics cards. I realise that Quadros are better in terms of working on the building model (orbiting etc.), but I have been having trouble finding out how Quadros compare with GeForce cards when it comes to rendering within 2009 with Mental Ray. I can get buy a much higher spec GeForce card compared with a Quatro card for the same price. I'd just like to know whether anyone has got any information about rendering performance of the two, and whether Mental Ray in 2009 supports two cards in SLI? Cheers J-P

[greg.gebert978266]

Hi, I'm looking to get a new computer soon, and having trouble deciding between Nvidia Quadro and GeForce graphics cards. I realise that Quadros are better in terms of working on the building model (orbiting etc.), but I have been having trouble finding out how Quadros compare with GeForce cards when it comes to rendering within 2009 with Mental Ray. I can get buy a much higher spec GeForce card compared with a Quatro card for the same price. I'd just like to know whether anyone has got any information about rendering performance of the two, and whether Mental Ray in 2009 supports two cards in SLI? Cheers J-P

I not a pro at this, but I don't think the graphics card affect rendering at all. That is more based on number of cores and speed of processor. There is a substancial difference between GeForce and Quadro, especially when using Revit.

[iru69]

Hi j_p_rogers, welcome to the forums!

The following threads are pretty much required reading if you're looking to buy or upgrade a computer for revit:

http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=70735
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=70738
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=70896

:beer:


Hi, I'm looking to get a new computer soon, and having trouble deciding between Nvidia Quadro and GeForce graphics cards...

[t1.shep]

Hope someone can shed some light for me...
If processor and memory is king, why are there graphics cards with GB of memory that cost $1000's?
What's the point is having a graphics card with 1.5gb vs. 128mb?
Is this only true for Revit? Do programs like 3ds Max take advantage of the greater memory available from the graphics card?
I thought that if you rendered something that it would utilize the graphics card memory before the RAM? Or if you were working in a 3d view and orbiting, the graphics card would handle that?

[sbrown]

Mainly for gaming and real time rendering applications. In the future you may need one of these if you plan to use something like newport or other realtime rendering software. But rendering is a static process. you need highend graphics for things that are changing quickly, ie video games.