FireGL or Quadro???

[Joel_A]

Hey folks. Sorry if this question's been asked before, but I want some input.
I see that the ATI FireGL V7700 is currently on sale for a ridiculous price of under $200, while the Quadro FX1700 is still expensive at around $500.
I am a 5th yr senior architecture student and am leaning towards the V7700 (mostly for the price), but is it any good? Should I lean more towards the Quadro FX1700?
I currently use a krappy Geforce 9400GT, and it is excruciatingly slow.

Other programs I use are the typical: Sketchup, AutoCad, Photoshop, Illustrator, FormZ (rarely use nowadays).

Oh yeah, my specs:
Revit Architecture 2010
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.83GHz)
8GB DDR2 RAM

[Wes Macaulay]

Both are great cards -- I'd probably lean to the lower cost one myself!

The question is compatibility of the card, driver and Revit's hardware acceleration. I can't even guess which of those two might work 100% with Revit. But they will both work well, and with any luck future releases of Revit will work out these bugs.

Frankly, the apps you listed won't use the power of those cards. So either are a relatively safe bet.

[Joel_A]

Both are great cards -- I'd probably lean to the lower cost one myself!

The question is compatibility of the card, driver and Revit's hardware acceleration. I can't even guess which of those two might work 100% with Revit. But they will both work well, and with any luck future releases of Revit will work out these bugs.

Frankly, the apps you listed won't use the power of those cards. So either are a relatively safe bet.

Thanks,

I will install the V7700 this weekend and hopefully I'll see improvement. If it is noticeable enough I will let you know.

[patricks]

Why not go for a 512MB DDR3 Quadro FX 580 for $189 from Newegg? Should be more than enough for Revit use. I've been using a 128MB FX550 card for 3 years now and am just now starting to over-tax my graphic resources with the Windows 7 Aero stuff. Before 7 it was fine.

[Joel_A]

Why not go for a 512MB DDR3 Quadro FX 580 for $189 from Newegg? Should be more than enough for Revit use. I've been using a 128MB FX550 card for 3 years now and am just now starting to over-tax my graphic resources with the Windows 7 Aero stuff. Before 7 it was fine.

I already ordered the V7700. Thanks for the suggestion, though.
I was looking at their specs and the v7700 looks to have better specs, like a faster core clock, memory, and the interface is 256-bit as compared to 128-bit for the fx580.
I hope those all translate to a better card.