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Why are certain video cards recommended?

Question asked by D. B on Aug 27, 2013
Latest reply on Apr 24, 2014 by Joseph Gunzel

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I'm trying to get an understanding of why certain video cards are "better" for solidworks.

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/videocardtesting.html

From the link above I've seen that these are recommended cards

Nvidia Quadro

Nvidia Quadro FX

ATI/AMD FireGL

ATI/AMD FirePro

I'm looking at getting a new laptop and to run solidworks on it. But what specifically about these above cards makes using Solidworks "better"?

From what I've read online, the cards above are better for 2D cad programs, not necessarily 3D ones.

Other cards I'm looking at are:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750M

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M

Dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M (NVIDIA SLI)

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Jeff Holliday Aug 27, 2013 5:00 PM
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Regarding the technical specs of the cards - Unfortunately I do not know the details.

As to why certain cards are "recommended" - This is an attempt by SW to provide a hardware recommendation that will result in SW running as trouble free as possible including add-ins that some may find worthwhile. One of the main advantages that the recommended graphics card provides is the ability to use the "real-view" display on parts. You may not need this capability but it is nice. Also, the graphics cards listed generally will result in a person using a "workstation" class computer which will process 3D info more reliably and quickly.
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Jerry Steiger Aug 27, 2013 8:27 PM
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D.B.,

Why the "pro" cards are recommended is the subject of much debate among those of us who have to choose whether or not to pay the big bucks to buy a pro card. Many folks think that it is just an elaborate scam by the card vendors. Other, more charitable folks, think that at least part of the added cost is to pay for additional testing and code writing needed for the much smaller CAD market.

You will also see lots of arguments about how necessary a recommended card is. Many people seem to be happy with their cheaper gaming cards. Other people curse the day that they decided not to go for a pro card. I suspect part of it is how sensitive some people are to the problems that non-recommended cards can cause. If you are a student with lots of time to redo something if the card craps out on you and cost is really critical, then a gamer card may be your piece of cake. If you are a working stiff who is scared to death that a card problem could put you behind schedule on a critical project, then the money for a pro card is money well spent.

Jerry S.
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- D. B @ Jerry Steiger on Aug 27, 2013 9:26 PM
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  Thanks for the answers.
  
  Jerry, what is an example of "if the card craps out on you"?
  I'm having trouble understanding a scenario where the graphics card would fail because of Solidworks.
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  - Kelvin Lamport @ D. B on Aug 27, 2013 9:59 PM
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    Examples of using a non-approved card vary drastically. It can be as simple as ghosting of the cursor when moved across the screen, to SW not being able to start. Slow performance, invisible parts, not being able to select anything, menus missing, etc, are all common problems.
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Kelvin Lamport Aug 27, 2013 10:50 PM
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From what I've read online, the cards above are better for 2D cad programs, not necessarily 3D ones.
I don't know what online resources you have been reading, but the exact opposite is true.
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Chris Sattler Sep 3, 2013 3:11 PM
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My company purchased 2 laptops with i7's and the GTX 770M and could not be happier.
I believe the initial response was "WOW". Better than most workstations we have. So far no crashes or errors.

You PM me if you need Realview to work or want to boost performance with a custom Nvidia profile.
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Joseph Gunzel Apr 24, 2014 8:09 PM
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Isn't it wonderful how SW and Nvidia make the big anouncement on their partnership for the "Grid" but neither will give us a driver that supports the GeForce family of video cards.Hey guys wake up! Alot of us use our laptops and an overwhelming number of laptops have the GTX card. Please develope drivers or I like many others will not see any value in renewing my AUC.
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Why are certain video cards recommended?

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