Cheap Video Cards for CAD

[GrahamPayton]

Hi All

 

 

First new thread here as a member so please be gentle.

 

We have a classroom of 24 PCs we are using for CAD. They are Core 2 Duo machines with 4GB of RAM and running Windows 7 32bit. A nice spec to be fair.

 

I have managed to get all our CAD software upgraded for some fantastic pricing over the summer so we will be running: Solid Edge ST4, SolidWorks 2011-2012, and AutoCad Build and Design Suite 2012. Only trouble is all the old versions were really old and running on Windows XP, AutoCAD was 2006!

 

There are no actual video cards in these PCs at all. They have Intel DG33BU or Intel DG965SS motherboards and are using the onboard VGA. So yes they now run all the new CAD stuff pitifully slowly.

 

Obviously I need a video card that works with all 3 packages but the normal workstation cards like the NVIDIA Quadro 2000 is around £350 per card. The NVIDIA Quadro 600 is still about £150 per card. So does anyone know of any cheaper "mainstream" cards that would do the job well with these packages and Windows 7?

 

I am guessing anything would be better than the onboard VGA as it will have it's own RAM for a start

 

 

Many thanks in advance

 

 

Graham

[Dos_Box]

Give ICT Direct (one of our sponsors) a ring. They often have batches of 2nd user Quadro cards in at silly low prices.

ICT Direct - distributors of branded refurbished computer hardware to UK schools and colleges.

[mavhc]

First make sure you have the proper drivers, often the ones built into windows don't do Open GL