Radeon vs geforce - a poll

[gwubs]

First, let me say that I KNOW that running SW on a non approved card is NOT a good idea. I know that there can be many problems. Please do not reply about the suitability of running a non approved card or driver, thats not what I'm after in this post.
There, now that I've got that off my chest... I would like to poll the success of running Radeon vs. geforce. We need to buy a laptop that will be running Sw occasionally to review projects on the road. No modelling or rebuilding. Due to the cost (and weight) of a typical workstation laptop,a non Quadro solution is being considered I am asking if you have experience running SW on a laptop with Radeon or geforce graphics to let me know how it worked out.
Thanks very much
p.s. - we use a DELL M90 with good success in our engineering departmant, but it weighs something like 11 lb., so it is not popular for guys to take on travel.

 

[handleman]

It's a total crapshoot. We ran SW on Radeon's for a while due to an idiot buying our workstations. They ran OK for the most part. But, you never know. You might be OK running in Software OpenGL, in which case it doesn't matter a hill of beans whether you're running Geforce or Radeon. Or, SW might crash. I've heard plenty of instances of both. I've also heard of people loading SW onto netbooks with useable results for very, very small stuff.

Good luck!

-handleman, CSWP (The new, easy test)

 

[gwubs]

^handleman - good point about software OpenGL, it's slow but should be stable.

 

[steinmini]

Before I got the Quadro, tried on a cheapish Acer (Extensa 5220) laptop with integrated Intel mobile GPU and of course, it works. No Realview graphics, but sufficient to see or edit sketches, smaller assemblies, parts. Same applies to integrated Radeon 1200 (on AMD G690/LE1600-2.2G single core) & 4800 ATI GPUs. So, SW will work, but that's about it. Don't expect performance. My guess is that same applies for GeForce chipsets. Workstation GPUs are useful when the full capacity and performance of the application is required.
nVidia has a video on their site making comparison between a 150$ consumer and equally priced workstation GPU. The main difference is the time the consumer GPU needs to do the task (again, it's about the functions and demands the consumer GPU can not execute)

Whatever you end up with, you'll know when it got overstressed, it'll crash/freeze on you. Restart and avoid too complex files.

 

[Gurjjeet]

I use a Quadro system for last 3 years but before that I did use some Radeon or Geforce thing for about 5-6 years, no problems but I was doing small assemblies but complex parts with lofts, drafts & fillets etc. It worked fine with some crashes but having said that I get those crashes with 64bit processor & quadro GPU as well.

I think it is better to have a tested & tried GPU but if for some reason you cannot, the other cards will do the justice for its price.

 

[MechEng2005]

Could you get away with only using eDrawings on the laptop? I'm not an expert on these things, but I would think it would be easier on the computer all-around. And from the sound of it (review only, no modeling or re-building), it would probably be a good fit.

-- MechEng2005

 

[gwubs]

Hi all
Thanks for the responses so far. If you could just remark whether a non approved card was ATI or Nvidia, and let me know how it worked. Will reccomend based on results.
Thanks
Gwubs

 

[ChrisLundy]

I've used SW 2009 in the past with very little crashing/problems on my laptop with a radeon 3650.

 

[gp13]

I built a computer a couple years ago using a MOBO with integrated video (NVIDIA GeForce 7100). I know for sure I had 2008 installed, but I can't remember if I ever installed 2009 or not. It worked, without RealView of course. I only used it for minor home projects, like speaker boxes and TV stands, but I have since reloaded Windows on that hard drive and have not taken the time to reload SW back on.

 

[macduff]

I just bought a new Dell XPS 9000 and has a nVidia GeForce GTS 240 1024MB and I think it works just fine. I pulled up a large assembly with 1000+ parts and screams! In fact it works better than my workstation here at work.


Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2010 SP 3.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[fcsuper]

Radeon is unsupported by SW according to the last time I checked the certified graphics card on the SolidWorks website. Radeon have a bad reputation in the 3D CAD circles. I've seen systems with Radeons appear to be more unstable and with certified cards, including strange behavior in how models appear. I haven't done a case study or anything, so this is all anecdotal from me. However, I have instructed IT to stop buying systems for 3D CAD that include a Radeon.

Matt Lorono
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources & SolidWorks Legion

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solidworks & http://twitter.com/fcsuper

 

[PMarinshaw]

I have been using a GE-Force 8800 GTX with 784 MB RAM for more than 3 years. I do not have video or performance problems - probably in part because I use a high end gaming machine. I run SW 2010 SP4.0 with large assemblies all the time without any detectable waiting times or issues. Just get lots of RAM!

 

[SBaugh]

To be honest I NEVER tell anyone to buy anything but a workstation class VC card... but over the past 6 years (at home) I have been using the same machine, only recently had to change out the card, because the fan bit the dust... The machine is a Dell 9100 2.8GHZ Pentium(R) (its not even dual core). I was running a Geforce 6800GT and had no problems out of it, of course I knew if it crashed that was the problem. I recently upgraded to a GF 9800GT... same result and now I am running 2010 on this 6 year old 2GB non Dual core machine and it runs really good. I don't make large assemblies on it... maybe 50 or so parts at best, but I do a lot of renderings and animations on this machine, plus plenty of gaming. So you can probably guess if I had only a choice between a Radeon or GeForce card I think you know which one i was chose.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

"If it's not broke, Don't fix it!"

faq731-376

 

[KirbyWan]

I never thought about it so I just checked. I have a an ATI Radeon X300/X550/X1050 series card (not sure which without cracking the case) I use this for SolidWorks alot. It has crashed in SolidWorks. But that is not a regular things and I do create moderatly complex models consisting of ~20 sheetmetal parts with complex outlines. It will bog down with these models but is still usable.

-Kirby

Kirby Wilkerson

Remember, first define the problem, then solve it.

 

[aroundhere]

I thought only the quadtro would enable realview...

 

[macduff]

aroundhere,
I can't seem to get my nVidia GeForce GTS 240 1024MB to work with realview. It's greyed out in my toolbar. It's not a big deal because if I want anything fancy, i just use Photo360.

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2010 SP 3.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[steinmini]

... and ATI Fire GL...

However, RealView is not always necessary, some people will never find any real use from it. In fact, it's only good to have enabled when one wants to get a better perspective of how the final product will or might look like. Having a bunch of steel tubes and rods or blocks in an assembly doesn't make Realview graphics particularly useful. OTOH, IMHO, a 10K$ turntable (vinyl record player) designed and rendered with a lot of details, like a semi transparent acrylic platter, polished and shiny brass and chrome parts, wooden details on the cartridge, gold plated connectors, and shiny black marble underneath it, just may add the "touche" to the whole design, and that's what it's all about...
It really depends on who needs to see the design and what that person will want to see. If it's all about math, positions, clearances, dimensions, mass properties, stress/fatigue resistance, functionality, technical drawings etc, RW is not important at all.

I prefer to see more than just shaded 3D objects during designing. Whatever it may be, a downhill scooter, a turntable, a bicycle hub, housing/box/case for an amplifier, the final product *must* have that final touch of elegance, appearance and that "musthave" appeal... RW aids me with that significantly, and I appreciate that function and use it as soon as the design starts leaving the "purpose and functionality only" shape and starts taking it's final appearance...

 

[macduff]

ditto steinmini!

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2010 SP 3.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[gwubs]

Thanks guys. I'll let the powers that be know that the SW community has had reasonable success with various non approved cards, and will recommend geforce.

 

[macduff]

gwubs,
Becareful how you use/reference the word "recommend", Quadro is really the only recommended card.

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2010 SP 3.1
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer