mzex

In my firm we are buying a new computers.
My boss wants HP workstations.
It will be mainly used for ArchiCAD. Now I have to choose between those three graphic cards.
Does AC use resources of openGL cards?I heard not.
Do we have to go for 4500 which is 3 times more expensive than 1500?. As I see 1500 has 7900 chip and 4500 has 7800 chip, but 1500 has higher graphic memory bandwidth (40 vs 33,6 Gb/s), while 4500 has more memory (512 vs 256 Mb).
3500 has the same specifications as 1500 with little bit higher graphic memory bandwidth (42,2 Gb/s)
4500 is 3 times more expensive than 1500.
3500 is twice as price of 1500.

okmijun

Zdravo Marko,

Do not look at those numbers, they do not have anything w/real work, from my opinion as AC user for last 5 years (switching from archicad<>Autocad) ArchiCAD do NOT use any kind of ANY hardware accelaration stuffs.
For AC is tha SAME do you use gaming card or "pro".
Stick w/7900GTO/GS or 7600GT, it will cost 10times less and invest int ogood ploters or monitors or for extra pay for some nice looking secretary.
Ofcourse, you should go "nvidia way".
again, AC is very bad w/HW support........

lost in 3d world

we have the 1500 cards, and use autocad and viz.

The card works very well with both applicationsss.

mzex

Pozdrav okmijun
fala na savjetu.

But as I see 1500 is not much more expensive (400 euros) compared to 7900 GTO, and my boss is buying that machines from authorized reseller for HP, so we don't have that good choice. Anyway in first configuration he was offered 4500, so he will save 1000 euros if he goes with my advice.

Thank you all.

Okmijun,
you could visit archicad.com.hr. It is site dedicated to archiCAD. It is in Croatian language, but with members from all of ex Yugoslavia.

Antisthenes

get a 6800GT and turn it to a 4000quardro for 75 euros

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mwhite

Not the same cards, but the same issue. I bought a high end (relatively) workstation 2 years ago with the nVidia Quadro FX 1300 for $481 since I didn't want to blow to much more than that.

Since day one the card has caused the computer to shut down in multiple applications. Tried the latest drivers, swapping my RAM - nothing worked. It got to the point I had to have autosave set for 1 minute since the computer was crashing none stop.

I got a job with brutal geometry and had to get things done, so one night out of desperation I ran to Staples and bought an nVidia GeForce 7300 GS which is pretty much low end entry level consumer grade for $69.

The computer has never crashed and I can say that I see very little if any difference between the two cards when modeling with very high polycount. Both cards bog down when I turn on the high details but work pretty much the same with moderate polycounts (I know thats pretty vague) - so I would not invest in the higher cost cards without first testing them on some real life models. I would agree that the numbers seem to be somewhat removed from real life 3D modeling.

Good luck.

GI Dude

I Use ADT 2000 with a Quadro FX 1300 128MB and it works pretty good,
Any Videocard with 128 MB is good for ArchiCAD, and you don't need a Profesional Video Card, yo can use a GForce FX, as long as you stay away from the autodesk line, you won't need high end hardware graphics,

The 1500 is a good choice, even for 3ds max because is a mid range workstation card, and it's relatively cheap, around 400 USD, as for the HP Workstation, i would choose dell since they are cheaper, and you can configure it the way you want...

www.dell.com

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