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CAd-specific GPU for light CAD use, or higher spec consumer card?

mattie

mattie

mattie

Associate
Joined
9 Nov 2005
Posts
89
Location
Bath, UK
Hi all

My old GPU messed up last year so I've been using my i5-based machine with inbuilt graphics for a while. it's got 8Gb RAM and an SSD so it's not been too bad, however I've started suing AutoCAD 2016 and it's stressing the machine a bit.

It's also - as you might imagine - not too great with games, anything beyond L4D2 gets far too blocky to be playable so I've switched to PS3.

Would a dedicated low-end CAD-specific card offer any advantage over a standard consumer card? I note that the technical specifications for the CAD-specific really don't look that great in comparison, for example clock speeds at equivalent price points.

I'm looking at around £100, which just about gets me into the bottom end Quadros and Firepros, but it feels like I'd get better bang for buck from something like an R7. I'd consider second-hand or ex-demo for either type.

Any advice or recommendations appreciated.

I'm only running one monitor but will be looking to shift to 2, at present I'm running VGA only as I use an analogue KVM switch between my machine and my laptop dock but will be upgrading to a digital KVM when I change monitors - outputs on graphics cards could therefore drive monitor/KVM switch upgrade choice, although laptop dock is displayport or VGA I'd be happy to use a converter if required.

Cheers!
 
750ti would be good for that budget if you can take advantage of the cuda cores. Whether it's better for what you need depends if you're doing things that need quadro specific drivers but it doesn't sound like it so a consumer card will prese t much better price:performance
 
750ti would be terrible......

autocad has opencl hooks for it - which run better on AMD cards; I'd look at what kind of budget you want to spend and look as some of the lower end pro cards from AMD. They are usually far better priced than Nvidia's lower end cards; far better support for opencl aka they are faster.

Drivers are what make the difference with the pro cards; they are cert to not fail or do wonky things in your rendering. That's the difference; Nvidia game cards are neitered compared to their pro cards....

AMD game cards aren't but don't have the hooks and plug-ins their pro cards have for the software.

Honestly if you're going to go a lot into cad; getting a pro card would be a good thing. Figure that out first; then budget.....let me know and I'll help where I can as I've had buy a lot for my cad engineers in my old job.

Sorry missed the 100 pounds....hmmm

w4100 is a solid card........but if you really could come up with 150 pounds more the w5100 would honestly be the card you'd want to look at......

but to get your feet wet. Honestly w4100 would be the one to look at......
 
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Ta for comments, most useful!

I take it the AMD V ranges and the W2100 are to be avoided - they're £30+ cheaper, but assume they're too compromised in terms of performance? (I'm a cheapskate but have learnt through painful experience to try to avoid the absolute cheapest!)

I'm using machine less and less for games and more and more for CAD for 3D printing, so will look to go for a CAD-specific card. I can go to £130ish for the W4100 if needed, but couldn't quite stretch to £300 for the W5100.

One small question - I'd look to use a DisplayPort KVM to connect my CAD machine and my laptop (needed for different jobs at different times), the W4100 has mini DP outs, assume I could just use an in-line adapter into the KVM? I get reduced image quality on the current VGA KVM, although I realise that going to a digital connection will alleviate a lot of this I'm worried that other problems could be introduced.

Thanks again!
 
Your right the middle one is the best one, the W2100 has 5 Compute Units 320 stream processors, the W4100 has 8 - 512 stream processors and the W5100 has 12 - 768 stream processors.

For the KVM, is that a DP to DVI Adapter you're looking at?

I don't know but if the KVM input is DVI (Which is analogue) it may not like the Digital signal from the DP, there's got to be some sort of relay inside to split the signal and it may not recognise the Digital signal.

Don't quote me i may be entirely wrong, i don't use them. it just peaked my potential conflict alarm.

Edit. i'm thinking of the older blue plugs, DVI is digital...... :eek:

What input is on the KVM?
 
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humbug said:
Your right the middle one is the best one, the W2100 has 5 Compute Units 320 stream processors, the W4100 has 8 - 512 stream processors and the W5100 has 12 - 768 stream processors.

For the KVM, is that a DP to DVI Adapter you're looking at?

I don't know but if the KVM input is DVI (Which is analogue) it may not like the Digital signal from the DP, there's got to be some sort of relay inside to split the signal and it may not recognise the Digital signal.

Don't quote me i may be entirely wrong, i don't use them. it just peaked my potential conflict alarm.

Edit. i'm thinking of the older blue plugs, DVI is digital...... :eek:

What input is on the KVM?
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I'll admit I'm a bit worried about clashes and conflicts, the less in the mix the less chance of it messing up.

My current KVM is an analogue VGA - I had budgeted to change for a digital version anyway, getting a DisplayPort KVM as both the W4100 and my laptop dock have DP connections.

I might keep the current analogue for the 'KM' part and run separate video leads from laptop dock and from CAD machine to the monitor - it has a DisplayPort connection so will only require an adapter/appropriate cable between mini DP on the graphics card and DP on monitor (Mini DP to DP cables are less than a fiver). When using it, I'd just need to change input selection on my monitor as I change the KVM switch setting.

Avoids potential conflicts, and saves me buying a new KVM as well (DP KVMs are not cheap!)

I'll look to order a W4100 this week, unless there are any other good ideas - thanks to all for comments.
 
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Hey np; w4100 is a solid card to wet your feet with. w5100 is pretty big step up and then prices while start to go high; they tend to be worth it if you're doing a lot of cad and rendering :)

let us know how it goes :)
 
Righty-ho, some feedback.

Card supports CAD nicely, all renders well and responds well to changes in view etc. Much better than before! Not tried any games on it yet, as my quite small SSD is now filled by CAD software so no headroom for games.

Sadly, the card is behaving erratically - every few weeks it for some reason resets to 640 by 380 on waking from sleep, and claims it only supports that resolution at 59 or 60Hz. I can't change resolution through windows display properties or the AMD tool - there are no other clickable options or alternative resoltions. The machine only recognises a generic monitor, despite me having installed the appropriate Dell driver for it. Restarting the computer gives me a blank screen, and the only fix is to remove card and run of motherboard VGA.

This is, to be frank, a massive pain in backside as it rather kills workflow.

Anyone have anyideas what's likely to be causing it? I'm running W10 btw. I'll maybe start a new thread on it if needed.
 
mattie said:
Righty-ho, some feedback.

Card supports CAD nicely, all renders well and responds well to changes in view etc. Much better than before! Not tried any games on it yet, as my quite small SSD is now filled by CAD software so no headroom for games.

Sadly, the card is behaving erratically - every few weeks it for some reason resets to 640 by 380 on waking from sleep, and claims it only supports that resolution at 59 or 60Hz. I can't change resolution through windows display properties or the AMD tool - there are no other clickable options or alternative resoltions. The machine only recognises a generic monitor, despite me having installed the appropriate Dell driver for it. Restarting the computer gives me a blank screen, and the only fix is to remove card and run of motherboard VGA.

This is, to be frank, a massive pain in backside as it rather kills workflow.

Anyone have anyideas what's likely to be causing it? I'm running W10 btw. I'll maybe start a new thread on it if needed.
Click to expand...

This should be a good place to get advice. :)

https://community.amd.com/community/support-forums/amd-prographics-technologies
 
mattie said:
Righty-ho, some feedback.

Card supports CAD nicely, all renders well and responds well to changes in view etc. Much better than before! Not tried any games on it yet, as my quite small SSD is now filled by CAD software so no headroom for games.

Sadly, the card is behaving erratically - every few weeks it for some reason resets to 640 by 380 on waking from sleep, and claims it only supports that resolution at 59 or 60Hz. I can't change resolution through windows display properties or the AMD tool - there are no other clickable options or alternative resoltions. The machine only recognises a generic monitor, despite me having installed the appropriate Dell driver for it. Restarting the computer gives me a blank screen, and the only fix is to remove card and run of motherboard VGA.

This is, to be frank, a massive pain in backside as it rather kills workflow.

Anyone have anyideas what's likely to be causing it? I'm running W10 btw. I'll maybe start a new thread on it if needed.
Click to expand...

is sleeping necessary? Maybe switching off over night, and just leaving on idle during the day would be enough, since at idle PCs usually don't use much power
 
on the other hand, completely unrelated to latest issues of OP: my work's IT department realised that their supplied Dell idiotic so called laptop will not cut it for CAD and photoshop, so they asked for requisition form for £1600 CAD workstation :D It took them 3 months to realise that the laptop they supplied will be underpowered for those programs. The funny thing is since I was waiting for CAD software to be acquired and installed onto my work laptop (for 3 months), I was using my own ultra low voltage AMD A4-1450 for light CAD work :D If it wasn't for small screen and slow single channel memory system (and catastrophic single thread performance at 1GHZ) my little wonder laptop would have been enough. :D
 
muziqaz said:
on the other hand, completely unrelated to latest issues of OP: my work's IT department realised that their supplied Dell idiotic so called laptop will not cut it for CAD and photoshop, so they asked for requisition form for £1600 CAD workstation :D It took them 3 months to realise that the laptop they supplied will be underpowered for those programs. The funny thing is since I was waiting for CAD software to be acquired and installed onto my work laptop (for 3 months), I was using my own ultra low voltage AMD A4-1450 for light CAD work :D If it wasn't for small screen and slow single channel memory system (and catastrophic single thread performance at 1GHZ) my little wonder laptop would have been enough. :D
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rotflmao - I can't remember if you stuck another stick in if it would still be single channel or not; most of the lifting in the A4 would be from the graphics end in cad :D

Which cad program are you guys using; if its solidworks; they normally have a couple certified drivers in their program which is a good place to start. I've had fun times trying to match drivers with cad programs in the past with both AMD and Nvidia :D

One set of drivers will work with solidworks; won't work with creo :D one that works with creo doesn't work with solidworks :D
 
meldarthx said:
rotflmao - I can't remember if you stuck another stick in if it would still be single channel or not; most of the lifting in the A4 would be from the graphics end in cad :D

Which cad program are you guys using; if its solidworks; they normally have a couple certified drivers in their program which is a good place to start. I've had fun times trying to match drivers with cad programs in the past with both AMD and Nvidia :D

One set of drivers will work with solidworks; won't work with creo :D one that works with creo doesn't work with solidworks :D
Click to expand...

I use AutoCAD 2015, but company will provide 2013 version. In 2015 GPU is doing fantastic, which is absolutely pleasant surprise, but CPU is way underpowered since AutoCAD is such single threaded beast, and as soon as you start fiddling with something more serious and grandiose it is waiting time and you just see single core freaking out while others are sitting idle :)
 
check autocad site or inside the program as there might be links to cert drivers; but if cad isn't the issue and its win 10; possible just an annoying win 10 bug :)
 
meldarthx said:
check autocad site or inside the program as there might be links to cert drivers; but if cad isn't the issue and its win 10; possible just an annoying win 10 bug :)
Click to expand...

win 8.1 on my laptop ;) and cad computations are single threaded. I haven't hit any multithreaded scenarios yet.
 
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