9260 and CAD

Hello, I am new to posting on the forum here, but have been reading for a couple years...Wanted to express gratitude for all the things I have learned!! Whether I needed to know or not... I really enjoy it. Thanks!

I run a small manufacturing shop, and we use CAD-CAM systems for design and machine programming. Most all of what I read here is aimed at the gaming market, which is understanbly a lot larger than the CAD market, but requires a slightly different sort of graphics capability. Most CAD stuff is Open-GL based 3D rendering, not direct-x, and the CAM system we use does not seem to run well on most gaming cards.
So, my question is, has anyone here who is in the laptop or CAD market ever built a machine similar to the 9260 for a cad customer? Will the 7950GTX card do Open-GL rendering, since no Quadro option is listed for this machine?

Sorry for the long post, I just haven't been able to find much info on this. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Steve

 

Welcome to the NBR forums.

There are Quadro options for all Clevo high-end notebooks.

If not on the website, just give the vendor/reseller a call, they will give you the pricing and other special options available.

Although I have been using my 7800GTX (pretty much equivalent to a Quadro 1500M) with Maya and 3ds Max. No problems.

The Quadro's are great, but for the price difference between them and their Geforce brothers... I would not say that they are worth it.

If you have the budget, then go for it.

 

Gophn, thanks for your reply! Budget is always a concern, and if the Quadro's do not provide any distinct advantage, then I won't spend the money. Do you have any Solidworks experience? That's the type of 3d stuff we get here, and we use the solid models to simulate cutting programs to make parts. Some models and their associated toolpaths are so large that a Quadro FX3400 on a desktop will run the sim at about the equivalent of 2 or 3 frames per second...the machine will actually cut the part faster than the computer runs the sim! Processing speed is also a premium, as the number crunching involved in a single toolpath will sometimes take hours, even on a dual core desktop. We sometimes leave it for overnite batch processing, because there isn't enough time in the day...
I guess what I'm saying, is that speed is critical in these CAD renderings, and I don't know enough about the gaming graphics or the cards involved to make a judgement.
So, I thank you for your input!

Steve

 

just be sure not to be on vista for your open gl accelerated cad work just yet.. I am having to work in software mode for any sort of stability when it comes to GL accelerated scene view. In vista, Games in GL may work.. but for my gl viewports for viewing my 3d Modeling and stuff I had to switch to software mode for stibility.

 

Any business computer should NOT use Vista, even Microsoft knows that.

svp2, the 7950GTX will perform slightly better than the Quadro 3400 that you were referring to. There is an option for a Quadro 3500M (brother to Gefroce 7950GTX) in these Clevo notebooks, quite costly (about an additional $500 to the pricetag)... might as well get two 7950GTX's and SLI them.

If you get the Clevo D900C (a.k.a. Sager 9260, ProStar 9191, etc..), this beast will be the top gun for any mobile workstation since it is about to become the first Quad-Core notebook, as well as having SLI and 3 internal HDDs (w/ RAID support).

 

Exatrive, thanks for the heads-up! All I've heard so far is to STAY AWAY from Vista! Ok, I can do that...

Gophn, I did not know that a 7950 is faster than a Quadro.. Do you know what exactly is the diff between these two? Why is the Quadro so much more expensive? Sorry for all the noob q's.
Are you affiliated with a business? You don't mention it if you are, but I'd be willing to sign on as one of your customers...pm me if thats the case.
If not, take it as a compliment that you seem that knowledgeable...
Thanks again.

Steve

 

The Quadros are more expensive for a couple of reasons:
- supposed better support (software and hardware)
- designed to accelerate CAD and DCC in workstations with optimizations in OpenGL
1) A unique feature of the Quadro GPUs is to support antialiased lines in
hardware. This has nothing in common with the GeForce full-scene
antialiasing.
- It works for lines, not for shaded polygons, without sacrificing performance or
taking extra video memory for oversampling. Most professional applications
support this feature because it is standardized by OpenGL.

2) On consumer and workstation adapters, OpenGL is used for different purposes:
-- Most common applications for GeForce adapters are full-screen OpenGL games.
-- CAD/DCC/3D applications are working with OpenGL windows, in combination with 2D elements

and so on....

So the Quadros are designed going to perform better in multiple DCC work (windowed or full screen), while the Geforce line may do the same, it lacks some optimizations for windowed 3D work and loses some performance.

It just comes down to your budget, if not strict, then the Quadros are recommended...
if strict than a Geforce will still get the job done (w/ the cost of some performance).

 

Thanks Gophn. That's just what I needed. I guess I'll have to try each one out on my individual application and see...