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    Games and Engineering Softwares

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by Batr, Jun 4, 2008.

  1. Batr

    Batr Notebook Consultant

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    I want a graphic card that i can play games and do some Solid edge, AutoCad with.
    I want to buy Dell M1530 with 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT. I heard it's good for gaming but is it good for Solid edge and Engineering softwares?

    *I have another question, I heard that Aero in Vista takes from the graphic card, can i have Aero and play WoW max with this card? (sorry for the newbie question but i don't know much about graphic cards)
     
    Batr, Jun 4, 2008
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  2. jonhapimp

    jonhapimp Notebook Virtuoso

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    definitely the 8600m gt should be able to handle those things
     
    jonhapimp, Jun 4, 2008
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  3. JCMS

    JCMS Notebook Prophet

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    Full screen application= aero disabled
     
    JCMS, Jun 4, 2008
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  4. Batr

    Batr Notebook Consultant

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    ^ I thought about this, but sometimes i use ALT-tab to browse while opening the game. I know i won't do both simultaneously but i'm asking if the laptop will crash or slow down too much
    and thanks for the fast reply
     
    Batr, Jun 4, 2008
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  5. Gravitator

    Gravitator Notebook Consultant

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    No it won't. I play wow on max settings, and have a bunch of other programs in the background (utorrent, itunes, aim, internet explorer, aero) and I also use solidworks and proE, no problems with any of that stuff (on 8600m gt).

    The only thing is that solidworks specifically does not support the 8600 gt officially, so if you do use it, you won't be able to get components to look photo realistic, but other than that u can turn all the performance settings up to the very top and no slowdowns whatsoever, or crashes.

    If you have a dual core processor (and I don't think u can get the 8600 on a single core processor) there shouldn't be slowdowns while alt-tab ing as long as u have 2 gigs of ram or more.

    I've played WOw with all the programs previously listed plus solidworks open, and again no slowdowns or crashes.
     
    Gravitator, Jun 5, 2008
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  6. Batr

    Batr Notebook Consultant

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    It's good to hear that.
    But i don't get "so if you do use it, you won't be able to get components to look photo realistic"
    What do you mean by photo realistic?
    I'll probably use solid works next semester. It was required last semester in a project to get a motor from solid works and put it in solidedge. Can it do that?

    Thanks
     
    Batr, Jun 5, 2008
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  7. Gravitator

    Gravitator Notebook Consultant

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    Solidworks has an option to render the part in a "realistic" way, I"m not sure exacly what the feature is called, but it makes your part or assembly have texture, and surface reflection, you can even have a custom lighting scheme and a background, but this is just cosmetic for when you are pitching something to investors, or giving a presentation. It has nothing to do with the functionality of the parts or assemblies you create. In the CAD lab at my school they have brand new mac pro's with quad core computers and 8 gigs of ram running xp and solidworks, and they run it much worse than my laptop. They dont' even support hardware openGL.
     
    Gravitator, Jun 5, 2008
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  8. Batr

    Batr Notebook Consultant

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    ^Thanks
    If i need to do that (I doubt i will) i'll transfer the file when i finish the project to one of the computers in our cad lab
     
    Batr, Jun 5, 2008
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  9. conzy

    conzy Notebook Guru

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    Aero is disabled if an application that uses the GPU is launched, After Effects, 3ds Max, solid works etc etc Even if the program using the GPU is not the active window
     
    conzy, Jun 5, 2008
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  10. Batr

    Batr Notebook Consultant

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    ^thanks that what i wanted to know
     
    Batr, Jun 5, 2008
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  11. Gravitator

    Gravitator Notebook Consultant

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    Then how come when I run solidworks in windowed mode, I still have transparency and all the other effects?
     
    Gravitator, Jun 5, 2008
    #11