XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 card for Matercam?

[Darin]

I have a new i7 pc that has a Quadro FX 380 card now . It runs Mastercam pretty slow in verify. Will this XFX ATI Radeon HD 5870 video card work with Mastercam and SolidWorks? I can get one for $60. I want to play games and use for 3D solids and high speed surfacing tool paths. I just don't wnat to pay the $800 to $2000 for a high end or mid range Quadro FX card that won't play the games as good. $60 to $1000 is a big difference. Why are the Quadro FX cards such a cash cow?

Thanks

[Guest]

Why are the Quadro FX cards such a cash cow?

 

Because Nvidia spends the time and effort, so they work as Cadcam cards.

 

Radeon cards are toys, there isn't a certified card for Solidworks that isn't of the FireGL level from ATi.

 

At home I run twin GeForce 8800GTS cards.

 

A $60 card isn't going to serve you well as a work card.

 

Solidworks certified card

 

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/videocardtesting.html

[mkd]

i've had success with an ATI5870 for mastercam.

i think i had more glitches with solidworks.

 

google for invidia quadro Hacks. the main difference are in the firmware. there are certain gaming cards that can be hacked into quadros, but i have never done it.

[Darin]

Because Nvidia spends the time and effort, so they work as Cadcam cards.

 

Radeon cards are toys, there isn't a certified card for Solidworks that isn't of the FireGL level from ATi.

 

At home I run twin GeForce 8800GTS cards.

 

A $60 card isn't going to serve you well as a work card.

 

Solidworks certified card

 

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/videocardtesting.html

 

 

Thanks for the info. What about GTX 460 or GTX 560? I found these for $150. It has better specs then the 8800GTS card. How do you run two video cards? Do you have to have two monitors and a special motherboard for two video cards? What is the advantage of running two cards. Because most high end video cards have two DVI outputs for two monitors right? Will the high end Nvidia cards like the Quadro FX 5000 play video games ok?

[Guest]

The GTX460 recently got a very good review from a user.

 

The 8800GTS's are a few yrs old now, so I would expect newer cards to have better specs.

 

I run in SLI mode, doesn't do anything for Mastercam but makes gaming graphics MUCH better and yes the motherboard I use is design with the ability.

 

http://www.slizone.com/page/slizone_learn.html

 

I have tested a couple of Quadro's for game play and for high end games, the performance is not good.

 

Which ever way you go, if you get a gaming card you WILL have performance loss in Mastercam and/or Solidworks, if you get a CAD/CAM card you will have gaming performance loss.

 

If you really have to have a system to do both, get a "good" GeForce card, avoid the cheapies, they will cause problems somewhere along the way.

 

Now there is probably one other caveat, if you do a lot of surface machining as opposed to 2D work, do yourself a favor, build 2 systems. You'll eventually want the performance the Quadro will provide for that kind of work. So let the kind of work you anticipate doing on that machine factor into your decision as well.

[Darin]

The GTX460 recently got a very good review from a user.

 

The 8800GTS's are a few yrs old now, so I would expect newer cards to have better specs.

 

I run in SLI mode, doesn't do anything for Mastercam but makes gaming graphics MUCH better and yes the motherboard I use is design with the ability.

 

http://www.slizone.com/page/slizone_learn.html

 

I have tested a couple of Quadro's for game play and for high end games, the performance is not good.

 

Which ever way you go, if you get a gaming card you WILL have performance loss in Mastercam and/or Solidworks, if you get a CAD/CAM card you will have gaming performance loss.

 

If you really have to have a system to do both, get a "good" GeForce card, avoid the cheapies, they will cause problems somewhere along the way.

 

Now there is probably one other caveat, if you do a lot of surface machining as opposed to 2D work, do yourself a favor, build 2 systems. You'll eventually want the performance the Quadro will provide for that kind of work. So let the kind of work you anticipate doing on that machine factor into your decision as well.

 

 

Great thanks. I have a X58B-A2 Black Series mother board with my i7 980x. I see it can use two video cards. If I buy a GTX 560 and a Quadro FX 4800 can I run one for Cad/Cam and the other for Gaming? Or how does the two video card thing work? Thanks. I have two 27" Samsung 1080p HDTV's for monitors. I am thinking of going to just one 32" Sony LED instead.

[MotorCityMinion]

"google for invidia quadro Hacks.'

 

I may be mistaken , but I think the hack he's referring to required a bios update for the video car and a app called Riva Tuner, which according to my recollection was only valid up to the 7900 series of Nvidia cards. After that, the crack failed. Monkeying with a video card bios can get you into big trouble quickly as well.

[Webby]

If I buy a GTX 560 and a Quadro FX 4800 can I run one for Cad/Cam and the other for Gaming? Or how does the two video card thing work? Thanks. I have two 27" Samsung 1080p HDTV's for monitors. I am thinking of going to just one 32" Sony LED instead.

 

 

No. Right from nVidia's SLI Zone website, "No. For example, an XXXGT cannot be paired with a XXXGTX in an SLI configuration." It goes on to say that the largest deviation from two identical cards you can do is getting the same card from different manufacturers.

 

While there's certainly nothing stopping you from using TVs as monitors, it definitely isn't my preference. I guess it depends on how far away you sit from your "monitor". For me, while 1080p does offer decent resolution, the dot pitch is still too high (you can see space between each pixel). Before Christmas I moved to Dell's 27" U2711 monitor with 2560x1440 resolution. With an IPS screen, that thing is a beauty and a beast!

 

I was actually playing around last night with a few benchmarks between laptops - one with an FX1800 in it and another with a GT460M. No comparison. The latter trounced the former (in a gaming benchmark). Of course there were other hardware spec differences as well, but they were both Core i7s. So in the end, I suppose it really depends what your priorities are, or as was suggested - build two rigs.

 

 

 

 

[Darin]

No. Right from nVidia's SLI Zone website, "No. For example, an XXXGT cannot be paired with a XXXGTX in an SLI configuration." It goes on to say that the largest deviation from two identical cards you can do is getting the same card from different manufacturers.

 

While there's certainly nothing stopping you from using TVs as monitors, it definitely isn't my preference. I guess it depends on how far away you sit from your "monitor". For me, while 1080p does offer decent resolution, the dot pitch is still too high (you can see space between each pixel). Before Christmas I moved to Dell's 27" U2711 monitor with 2560x1440 resolution. With an IPS screen, that thing is a beauty and a beast!

 

I was actually playing around last night with a few benchmarks between laptops - one with an FX1800 in it and another with a GT460M. No comparison. The latter trounced the former (in a gaming benchmark). Of course there were other hardware spec differences as well, but they were both Core i7s. So in the end, I suppose it really depends what your priorities are, or as was suggested - build two rigs.

 

 

It is hard to pay $1000 to $1500 for a 27" or 30" high end monitor when my 65" 1080P Plasma cost $1400 new and has zero motion blurr. I see some good samsungs for $250. But I am sure they don't compare to the 1500 x1600 dells or Nec's.

[Müřlıń®]

No. Right from nVidia's SLI Zone website, "No. For example, an XXXGT cannot be paired with a XXXGTX in an SLI configuration." It goes on to say that the largest deviation from two identical cards you can do is getting the same card from different manufacturers.

 

While there's certainly nothing stopping you from using TVs as monitors, it definitely isn't my preference. I guess it depends on how far away you sit from your "monitor". For me, while 1080p does offer decent resolution, the dot pitch is still too high (you can see space between each pixel). Before Christmas I moved to Dell's 27" U2711 monitor with 2560x1440 resolution. With an IPS screen, that thing is a beauty and a beast!

 

I was actually playing around last night with a few benchmarks between laptops - one with an FX1800 in it and another with a GT460M. No comparison. The latter trounced the former (in a gaming benchmark). Of course there were other hardware spec differences as well, but they were both Core i7s. So in the end, I suppose it really depends what your priorities are, or as was suggested - build two rigs.

 

 

I thought you could have 2 non SLI PCIE Video cards in the same box and Windows would boot with the one that was plugged into the monitor and ignore the other one. No?