Using a GeForce4 card with Solidworks

[8Complex]

Hey all - I'm building a new system for home that doubles as my everyday and Solidworks workstation. I'm having issues with spending so much money on a Quadro since it's performance other then professional applications is so low. Last time I bought an OpenGL card like this, my gaming was absolutely horrid.

I've found what I think to be a possible solution and wanted to see if anyone is using any of these programs.

Rivatuner -

http://download.guru3d.com/rivatuner/

Rivatuner is a program that you can go in and tweak your graphic cards' settings beyond what any normal manufacturer allows you. Not just overclocking, but many undocumented features and settings.

SoftQuadro4 -

http://download.guru3d.com/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=517

SoftQuadro4 is described as a way to emulate a Quadro card with a GeForce4 card. There is a gargantuan writeup on the linked page (within my above link) that explains all the ins and outs of what it does.


Personally, I'd be happy with a card that performs like a Quadro FX500 for professional applications, while performing as a GeForce4 5900 for gaming. Yes, I know, I want it all, and that isn't the easiest to come by.

 

[djw2k3]

I highly recomend soft quadro

but in saying that gaming on a Quadro FX Go 700 gaming is superb ;-),

Flight Sim COF maxed out with AA - smooth as

 

[8Complex]

What card do you have that you are using (used?) under SolidWorks with SoftQuadro?

Smooth is one thing, but with games like HalfLife2 and Doom3 coming up, I know I'm going to need all the performance I can get out of a card on the gaming side, as well.

 

[JNR]

djw2k3, are you saying you highly recommend SoftQuadro4 for use with SolidWorks 2004? or just for other things? There is an important distinction for forum users, particularly since there is relatively a lot of cash involved for some less affluent users and in all the many threads on this subject to date, I have not noticed any mention of it.

Personally, though I understand 8Complex's problem, I would avoid non-standard workarounds that the hardware manufacturers do not support. One other thing that makes me wary - I would think that the Quadro guys would be a little upset at their trade mark name being used by a product trying to simulate theirs on other manufacturer's hardware. I would hate to get to rely on something and then have the lawyers sue someone out of existance and get no more support. It has happened before, so I would advise you check this out before spending your hard earned cash.

John Richards Sr. Mech. Engr.
Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics

A hobbit's lifestyle sounds rather pleasant...... it's the hairy feet that turn me off.

 

[DrGonzo]

Just thought I would share my experience with soft quadro. I have a TI-4280p from Albatron. Rivatuner seems to speed things up a bit. Using softquadro I am able to convert it to a Quadro4 780 XGL. So it says. First few times I played with it I was seeing this in my device manager but it wasn't having any effect, I could tell, positive or negative.

I did a system reinstall a few months ago and tried it again. Poof I could access realview, although performance was horrible. When I say horrible I mean horrible, I couldn't even really do any modeling.

I since have reinstalled my system again and just use the card with standard drivers. I have decent performance, but I do have issues. Opening a part will sometimes leave me with an empty window. I move my pointer around in the window and it highlights edges so I know the part is there. Change the window size and there is the part. Switch between parts and assemblies similar things happen.

If you have any better luck or anyone out there has a method that worked for them I would love to hear about it.

Ideally I would just use a card from their list, but unfortunately I am not made of money. Nor will my company buy me one for home use

Dr Gonzo

 

[8Complex]

JNR -

I don't think it's more of a workaround rather then making the card work the way that it should to become a Quadro. I've been told (I've never checked or have any evidence here) that the Quadro series of cards are basically based on the same chipsets. With some firmware and a few modifications, the GeForce4 cards are basically Quadros.

I'm not sure on the copyright issues, but hacks like this have been going around for years for many different types of cards, so I don't think that nVidia would see it as enough of a threat to go after them.

DrGonzo - I have seen issues like that before, I believe it was with a TNT2 based card, though. I've also see where half of the screen just blacks out, and you need to drag the window around and out of the main view area until it all is "erased" by the edges of the screen. I've seen parts that are missing one solid edge and you can see right through to the inside of the opposite side (THAT took some getting used to).


Right now, the GeForce cards are tested and they say that they pass with the limitation of only not being able to 3d accelerate more then a certain number of windows at a time, depending on video memory. That shouldn't be much of a problem for me as I don't open a whole ton of parts at once much any more. I've learned ways around it and have been much happier with faster performance after that.

 

[djw2k3]

Have used an old 32meg Ge Force MX softquadro, with SW01 and SW01+, this card ran SW better than a 128meg Ge Force Ti 4200 (standard).

But now I am a very happy owner of the aforementioned quadro card (after getting over cash outlay). The performance in SW is great and IMHO gaming does not suffer terribly.