New GeForce FX cards

[Robert Ouellette]

I am looking to build a new computer for home. I mostly play games but now and then I have to do some home work on MC 8/9. There is just so many hours I can spend at home before it starts to get buggy there. I am looking for a good grafics card that will run MC but not the real high end pro cards. I have searched the forum and you guys seem to love the geforce4 ti4200. but around my place they dont have it any more. discontinued. but they do have the new FX series. What do you all think about this new cards and which one would you recommend. my wife is hoping i dont have to break the bank either.

 

Thanks

Bob

[Rekd™]

bob,

 

Gaming cards differ greatly from CAD/CAM cards. 2 completely different monsters. Though they will work either way, they are designed to take advantage of the particular uses of each.

 

I would assume the new card is just as good or better.

 

'Rekd teh "Leg shot, that'll slow him down"

 

[ 08-10-2003, 11:59 AM: Message edited by: Rekd ]

[Bullines]

I haven't had the chance to use an of the FX cards yet, myself (I'm sticking with my Ti 4400 at home for a little bit longer), but I would assume that performance would be similar. The main differences between the GF4 Ti and GF FX series is faster clock rates, bigger memory bandwidth and DX9 support. As is the nVIDIA way...same drivers. Be certain, just like the MX line of the GF4 cards, to avoid the "wimpy" FX cards such as the 5200 and stick with the 5600 or 5900. But being a gamer, you probably already knew that Anxious for something new on this site?

[cadcam]

Bob the FX cards replaced the TI series of cards.

Now I am starting to test the cards.

 

The lowest card being the FX 5200 works but not a great settlement.

 

As for the 5600,5800 & 5900 those will work nice.

 

these are off the shelf buys compared to Quadro series of the new FX line.

[Müřlıń®]

Yo bob....If you can buy online, go to newegg.com.

 

They have the cheapest hardware on the net or anywhere else for that matter. I saw that card when I was looking for my hardware.

 

They have like every kind of video card ever made I think.

 

 

Murlin

[gcode]

I just purchased a PNY Quadro FX500

from Amazon for $289. That's cheaper than

anyplace else I've found. Hopefully, there's not a catch.

This is the card Dell is putting in their workstations these days. Its a 128meg 8X AGP card

designed for CAD, not gaming. I'm looking forward

to trying it out. I'll report back with results

once I've played with it awhile.

[crazy^millman]

Well do ask yourself this do you want tt go to the extreme's.

 

Here is a link:

 

http://www.3dlabs.com/product/wildcatvp/vppro/index.htm

 

I have found in my searches and the guy who I work with who I think is very sharp and repect alot think this is the most memory out there.

 

Good luck.

 

Dont go the ATI route came with our computer and nothing but trouble.

 

Crazy Millman

[Müřlıń®]

WOW that is even cheaper than newegg.....New egg is $332.....

 

Ya that is a real deal. They have one more left at that price. Must be OEM......

 

 

The others are $348.

 

Nice buy....

 

I will be bookmarking this site also

 

 

Murlin

[Mick from CNC Software Inc.]

I own various Nvidia and ATI cards and I have to say that the current ATI's, imho, rule. I have an ATI 9700 pro 128meg running on the latest Catalyst drivers and it performs excellent in CAM and gaming. I just upgraded my sons gaming rig from a GeForce 2 64meg to a FX5200 128meg and was very dissapointed with the performance, the old GeForce 2 'blows it away' even my daughters old TNT Pro 32meg looks and runs better than the 5200! I do realise the FX5200 is the low end of the new crop of nVidia cards but even still I would have thought it would run and look better than a couple year old GeForce 2.

[tmachine]

I purchased a new PC last month and it came with a FX series card. The computer store guys said it replaces the MX series not the Ti series. It behaves like the MX does, ie; white squares in graphics area, lines not visible, etc.

 

I pulled the Ti4200 from the old machine and installed it in the new machine.

 

Just passing on my experience with the FX card for those interested.

[cadcam]

tmachine , Sorry but you need to tell us which FX card you got.

 

They are not the cards to replace the MX series.

The FX 5200 is the closet to the MX series.

 

But the highers ones are like the TI series.

 

But I also found if you take the FX5200 and use the latest drivers from Nvidia the card actully does well .

 

Not the best but the problems you speak of will not be there.

I have tested this my self.

 

Just trying to help along with your thought.

[M. Anderson]

I have just purchased a Dell Precision 360 - it came with the Quadro FX 500.

 

While I am still running MC V8.1, the card runs very well with MC. Solids rotate and move very well - not the jumpy stuff I have seen on some cards. Verify is smooth - no real problems too report.

 

While this card is not the top of the line - it seems to handle what MC can use of its abilities.

 

I would definately purchase this same card for anther system.

 

Just my $.02.

 

Mark

[gcode]

I have read on the SolidWorks Support pages

that the next release of SolidWorks (SW2004)

has been optimized for the Quadro FX series.

I just ordered an FX500 today. Now I'm wishing

I'd paid for next day shipping

 

gcode teh impatient

 

[ 08-10-2003, 11:03 PM: Message edited by: gcode ]

[Fig sign]

Mick ,in what games have you tested your ATI cards?

I rather doubt that it will work good with games like Unreal Tournament 2003.

I had a lot of bad experience with Radeons and older cards , even Geforse 4 MX440-SE instead with Detonator drivers rocks with UT2003 not to mention TI!

Hadn`t tried FX series though .

Try the last detonator drivers from Nvidia site .

 

 

Iskander teh in Nali war cow skin holding the rocket launcher with unhuman voice :I`ve got you back !

[Mick from CNC Software Inc.]

plasttav,

 

In the past I have always gone with nVidia cards using detonator drivers and they performed very well, however, the last couple of machines that I have purchased came with ATI cards and like I mentioned earlier their performance has really ramped up over the last few years. UT2K3 runs awesome on this ATI card with all the eye candy maxed, having said that this PC is running 1.5 gig ram and a P4 3.02 HT CPU which doesn't hurt either

[Bullines]

I have to agree with Mick. We bad-mouth ATI a lot here, but keep in mind that they make very solid cards. It just happens that their cards have a hard time getting along with Mastercam (I have my theories as to why but that's a whole other thread I don't want to get into). Otherwise, ATI's Radeon 9800 Pro smokes any GeForce at the moment

[tmachine]

Hi CadCam, it was a FX5200 with the latest drivers. Easy to get latest drivers on nVidia cards now that they put this little icon in my system tray that goes and checks for latest drivers for you. Very cool I think. Anyway, the reason I had them put it in the box was because the store guy said it was better than my Ti4200. It wasn't. I am just passing on what I was told and what my experience was.

[Müřlıń®]

quote:

---

I have an ATI 9700 pro 128meg running on the latest Catalyst drivers and it performs excellent in CAM and gaming.

---

Thats great news....

 

I play a couple online games and they told me that the 9700 rulz for their 3-d graphics.

 

 

Thanks Mick....one question....

 

Will a 350W power supply be enough for that card?

 

 

Murlinn teh building a hotrod PC for work and play

[cadcam]

Tmachine try downloading the main Detanator drivers instead of te basics for that card.

 

Hope this helps.

[Mick from CNC Software Inc.]

Murlin

 

A 350W power supply should be fine.

[gcode]

I got my new PNY Quadro FX500 via UPS from Amazon.com yesterday. I installed it this morning

and it seems to run MC very well.

I had a little trouble installing it though.

When I first hooked everything up, I had both monitors hooked up. It would not accept the video driver installation.The driver install

seemed to run normally, but after rebooting,

they were not installed.

I tried it again with only one monitor hooked up

and the drivers installed correctly on the first try.

The MC work I did today was petty mellow stuff

(a mill/turn lathe job) and not tough for any video card.

I'll be doing a pretty big 5X mill job next week

and that should stess the card pretty good.

I'll post the results, good or bad, next week.

So far the card looks good and well worth the money.

I did notice one thing. The Quadro FX500 is an 8X AGP card and my motherboard only has a 4X AGP slot. I won't be seeing the card's full potential unless I get a new motherboard.

 

edit-- This is a Quadro CAD/CAM video card, not one of the FX series gaming cards that were the original subject of this thread.

 

[ 08-17-2003, 12:44 AM: Message edited by: gcode ]

[gcode]

I've been running my new Quadro FX500 video

card for a week now. I have no negative issues to report. I can't say that I've noticed any

performance increase running Mastercam, but

redraws in Predator are noticeably faster.

My old card was a GeForce 4 Ti 4600.