I have experiance with both cards. I am running the Quadro on
mywork computer and an 8800GTS on my home computer. Both cards
runSOLIDWORKS just fine. It does seem that the Quadro is
slightlyfaster an more stable, but not by much.
Until SW switches to Direct X, the Geforce cards will never
be ableto touch the Quadro cards. I am not sure if they use
DX forSW2008 since it is Vista compatible now because I haven't
used ityet.
Nvidia throttles Open GL performance with their
Geforce /quadro drivers on the Geforce hardware (even though the
cards arealmost physically identical to Quadros)
The 3500 I am running is the big brother to the 3450 and I
have had some issues, but I can't really point to the card. After
reading some of the other threads, it may be an issue with running
the same system thru 3 SW versions without ever reformatting.
Although I do remove the SW install and do a fresh install of the
new version.
As to your workstation versus gamer card inquiry; there are quite
a few threads here on the subject, search around and you will find
them. My own personel experience: I run a GeForce FX5200 at home
with SW and it does a decent job for the small stuff I work with
there.
If you are doing relatively simple, small assemblies (less than
500 parts) and 1-2 page drawings you may want to try the gamer card
and save the extra money. You can get a 256mb GeForce for less than
$100 bucks VS. $500-$800 for a workstation card. If it doesn't work
out for you, your not out that much.
I benched a Quadro FX 3500 vs a Geforce 8800GTS 320MB and the
8800 performs about 80% of the 3500. For the nice realview effects
you want to get the Quadro. I don't think there is much difference
in stability.
Nvidia throttles Open GL performance with their Geforce /quadro drivers on the Geforce hardware (even though the cards arealmost physically identical to Quadros)
As to your workstation versus gamer card inquiry; there are quite a few threads here on the subject, search around and you will find them. My own personel experience: I run a GeForce FX5200 at home with SW and it does a decent job for the small stuff I work with there.
If you are doing relatively simple, small assemblies (less than 500 parts) and 1-2 page drawings you may want to try the gamer card and save the extra money. You can get a 256mb GeForce for less than $100 bucks VS. $500-$800 for a workstation card. If it doesn't work out for you, your not out that much.
Good Luck!