What Graphics Card Should I Get?

After extensive research, I purchased the Nvidia Quadro FX500 $285 (inc shipping) this past December from
http://www.compuadds.com/product.asp?prodcode=D-VCQFX500BLK

I discovered that Nvidia Quadro are the most supported on SW (i.e. least likely to cause problems). This is not to say there aren't plenty of other cards that would be fine...but video card incompatibility is a real concern and I was willing to pay for a brand name in this instance. see

thread559-80512

RealView is a gimmicky nicety (unless you need it). I figured, "why not"...which limited the field to just several cards (from the solidworks website...check to see if there are additions): http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/Hardware.html

The following Nvidia« Quadro« graphics cards support RealView Graphics display:
Quadro FX 2000 $1250
Quadro FX 1000 $1000
Quadro FX 500 $276
Quadro4 980 XGL $500
Quadro4 900 XGL
Quadro4 780 XGL
Quadro4 750 XGL $325
Quadro4 700 XGL $350
Quadro4 700 Go GL
Quadro FX Go700 (built into Dell M60 laptop)

Solid Works 2001 benchmark spec
QuadroFX2000: 4.64
QuadroFX1000: 4.27 $777
Quadro4 980XGL: 3.96 $500
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/profcards/quadro2000.html

FX1000 is 50% faster than the FX500 for graphics intensive apps
http://www.spec.org/gpc/apc.data/specapc_sw2003_summary.html

RealView vs Std View for FX2000, FX1000, 980XGL and FX500
http://www.solidmag.com/ezine/PDF/SOLIDSeptOct03.pdf