A VC for SolidWorks?
 

I'm having to re-spec my system, because i want to make sure that I'll be able to run SolidWorks, to its full capability.

I know that we've discussed this before...

Here's the compatibility chart, from SolidWorks:
http://www.solidworks.com/pages/serv...rdtesting.html

So I'm looking at the VP560 card, here:
http://www.3dlabs.com/product/wildcatvp/index.htm

... just because I need a sub $200 card. The next step up is a VP 760, at ~$240 (which is still an acceptable choice for me)

So according to the SW chart, I'll have "RealView™" and "multi-head hardware accelerated" like this:

VP560, only under Win XP
VP760, only under Win 2k

(at least as far as I can figure; the page is kinda cryptic)


The VP880 card would give me both features under either OS, but the darn thing costs $330, and that's out.



I just need to check my version of SW and decide which OS I'll be using.

More later.

Update: "RealView™" is only available with SolidWorks 2004, which is *not* the version I have, so that's going to change my selection criteria.

Starting over...

SW version is 2003.

It's a lot better if you buy the best geforce fx you can, resolder the id resistors on the gpu and you'll have a top of the line several thousand $$ Quadro card. :D

do not get the wildcat vp series of cards.

if you are on a limited budget, and angling towards a precision card for CAD work, you would be better served by grabbing an older, and fully fledged wildcat. the vp has a rediculously bad track record for driver quality, support, and general performance. i had one, and i would never recommend it to anyone.

but a 'real' widcat i would recommend to anyone :)

hmm looks like my notebook will run it fine (FireGL T2-128). You've waited too long to build system Ben if my new notebook is superior :D

I haven't purchased the card yet. The FireGL T2 supports "multi-head hardware accelerated" with driver 7.98.5 only (SolidWorks 2003). Nice.

I like Nico's idea: I'll have to Google for it (I'll report results here).

If I can, i'll be more than happy to go with an NVidia solution over a 3DLabs one, because I know nothing about them.

Links to mods:
(disclaimer: some of these are Forum posted tips, so beware)

GeForce FX 5200 --> Quadro FX 500
http://forums.matroxusers.com/showth...078#post435078

(I'll update this post with more)


Some of these mods seem to involve the use of RivaTuner, here;
http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=rivatuner&menu=8

Is there a way to hack a FX5900 to a Quadro? That card's at/under $200 and at least is a decent performer in games and has good specs. The other FXs are frankly dogs

Fx 5700 to quadro fx 1100 here.

I need to find a confirmation if the 5900 series use the same resistors, I'm very tempted to buy a 5900xt and mod it to a quadro fx 3000 :D

I'm spending some time in the Guru3D forums, and the fx5900 to Quadro mod is possible, yes. [edit: yes, it's good, to Quadro FX 3000]

A Quadro FX 3000 would be sweet (it retails for $3'000, not that it would be exactly the same...)

Will report results.

Don't know if you're considering the ATI route (usually ill-advised for CAD, workstation graphics etc)...

....But, for what its worth it seems as though ATI finally fixed their solidworks (200x) compatiblity problems (ie: flickering/disappearing dimensions) in catalyist 4.3

Prior to that it made solidworks a real pain to work with on my 9600 but now it's fast and there's nothing to complain about. (Currently running SW 2003)

Cheers

Thanks ymboc.

I'm not putting out ATI either, in fact, I've always been happy with ATI.

In this case though, whatever gets me the performance I want, will work, NVidia or ATI. Solidworks 2003 is #1 on my list of wares, and I only run sim games which don't require any fancy graphics, so I don't really care much about performance, but I'd like to get my $200 ($250 max) worth of performance.

I put the Q out on Guru3D, here:
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread....threadid=84932


As I listed, the available VCs within my price range are:
NVidia chipset:
5200
5200 Ultra

5600
5600 XT

5700
5700 Ultra

5800

5900
5900XT
5900SE


ATI chipset:
7500

9000 Pro

9500

9600
9600XT
9600Pro

9700
9700Pro

9800
9800SE
9800Pro

FireGL 8800



BTW, the NVidia 5200 series looks like a poor candidate for a Quadro mod, so that's out (no big loss :D ).

A bit of progress...

I was advised on 3Dguru to search eBay for an OpenGL card, so I've narrowed my choices down to:

-ATI FireGl X1
-Quadro4 900 GXL

Now the hunt begins! :D

Out of curiosity, what are you using it for? Heavy multiple part scenes (ie, over say 100 parts) with mulitple lofts etc, high amounts of faces, or less intensive?

Actually, i wanted to make sure that it was compatible with SW 2003, as it seems that none of the popular cards are certified with it. Then my query evolved into getting some more performance.

I'll be drafting waterblocks.

Having used solidworks '99, solidworks 2001, solidworks 2001+ and solidworks 2003 on my system (with a Ti4200) id have to tell you that its all drivers. Im running solidworks doing entire KITCHENS and having no issues at all with my Ti fully hardware accelerated. Im using the 43.23 drivers. With the newer drivers, the performance is substandard and i get irregularities, but with these drivers i have no issues. Something to think about before blowing mega bucks on something you may not need ;) I can also tell you that for waterblock design and rendering, SOFTWARE acceleration is more than adequate :) The only thing that the hardware rendering really helps in is when rotating the model - it appears smoother, and that is seriously the only difference i notice with it.

Im in favour of 2001 plus as its really great as far as system performance goes. 2003 is a bit of a whore actually (read: i bloody hate that version) because its far too intensive. The biggest bonus it has however is its input and output formats (which i believe are more than probably very important for what you) are very much improved through to programmes like autocad etc for output to programmes like cncmaster etc for cnc programming.

I hope this helps somewhat.

Edit - using 45.23's not 45.43 :)

Hum... yeah, thank you! I will stick with SW 2k3, because the files will have to be exported to make machineable code, eventually.

The rotation is actually pretty handy, because it allows me to get a live view of the design, without holding it in my hands (very handy for visualizing the flow). I've tried the exported executables that Utabintarbo would send me, and it doesn't run well under the latest PC: the image takes a couple of seconds to redraw with full details (I get a blurb of a handful of polygons, which eventually clears up to full details).

The ATI FireGL X1, if I can get it for $250, I believe would fit the bill, and my budget too! Don't know why people on eBay sell them so cheap, nor why they sell them when they know that they're defective. The nice thing about it though is that it has dual output, which I thought I was going to have to sacrifice.

no problem at all :)
If you are running an nvidia card at the moment, i would suggest trying those drivers just to see if it makes a difference, actually on my machine under software rendering its just slightly jerky, i never get any problems with polygons - my system is fairly powerful though.

Can't argue with dual output though ;) definately my next purchase after my new trinitron.

The ATI 9000pro was listed as "G" in the list (passed all tests). The 128mb version is listed at $55 pricewatch.com.

EDIT: It looks like for $58 or $69. You can get dual outs too.

Yeah but I'm looking for more performance in general than what an ATI 9000 pro can do. I'm willing to spend 200-250 USD, just as long as it'll run SW 2k3.

I recently purchased a brand new HP laptop for CAD and school work featuring the GeForce Go 5700, 128 mb, graphics card.

I am having trouble when changing between open windows of solidworks (the window fails to completely refresh and leaves fragments of the old window all over the place) unless the "hardware acceleration" is turned completely off, in which case Solidworks' 3d performance goes down the toilet. I was wondering if anybody here had ever heard of this before, and if you know what I can do to fix it. I already updated the drivers and everything, as well as changed the resolution and color settings of the screen, with no luck.

your help would be greatly appreciated as HP tech support hjas no Idea what they are talking about, and solidworks won't help me either. :shrug:

Which are you using, OpenGL or Direct3d?
 

Games pretty much run Direct3D API and that's about it. But tech apps often times work better with OpenGL. I don't know Solidworks, but I know Discreet 3D Studio MAX pretty well, I use to sell, train, and set up ScreamerNet render farms for it, and the last I checked, OpenGL thumps Direct3D for MAX. So maybe that could be an issue. Keep in mind I know nothing about Solidworks however!

3Dguru is the Forum to help you here. I don't think that they think too highly of the GeForce Go 5700, but you might be able to run a Quaddro mod on it.

You might have to revert to an old video driver, but it'll work flawlessly, if it works.

Try the 45.23's, they're the one driver i have no issues with - i run a Ti4200 however.