QuadroFX cards?

551 Views 16 Replies 8 Participants Last post by eclipseaudio4, Apr 27, 2009

mcogan10

Discussion Starter · Mar 11, 2009

Hey, I'm building a rig for a friend to be used with Solidworks '09 and all the cards listed as "recommended" are the QuadroFX series of cards...I know that they have the same hardware specs as their desktop counterparts, but they cost much more...is this due to special drivers or something? Could I just use a desktop GPU and be fine? I'd hate for my friend to have to spend so much for a card that has the gaming ability of my 8800GT...

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Sacre

· #2 · Mar 11, 2009

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Originally Posted by mcogan10

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Hey, I'm building a rig for a friend to be used with Solidworks '09 and all the cards listed as "recommended" are the QuadroFX series of cards...I know that they have the same hardware specs as their desktop counterparts, but they cost much more...is this due to special drivers or something? Could I just use a desktop GPU and be fine? I'd hate for my friend to have to spend so much for a card that has the gaming ability of my 8800GT...

They're geared for commercial apps, not gaming, and are focused towards OpenGL.

I've heard of people flashing the BIOS to turn them into their GeForce counterpart, and then you can use the GeForce drivers and get the same performance, but I've never done it/confirmed it and not sure if it would work the other way around. So make sure you look into this specifically.

And yes, the QuadroFX series seriously does better with Solidworks. Was running Solidworks on my 8800 Ultra and it lagged a bit. A Quadro from one generation earlier handled it no problem. Drivers/BIOS make the difference.

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iampoor

· #3 · Mar 11, 2009

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Originally Posted by Sacre

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They're geared for commercial apps, not gaming, and are focused towards OpenGL.

I've heard of people flashing the BIOS to turn them into their GeForce counterpart, and then you can use the GeForce drivers and get the same performance, but I've never done it/confirmed it and not sure if it would work the other way around. So make sure you look into this specifically.

And yes, the QuadroFX series seriously does better with Solidworks. Was running Solidworks on my 8800 Ultra and it lagged a bit. A Quadro from one generation earlier handled it no problem. Drivers/BIOS make the difference.

CPU did a guide on it a few months back, its really easy. It didn't provide the perfarmance of the quadro card, but it did improve it quite abit.

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G|F.E.A.D|Killa

· #4 · Mar 11, 2009

i thought quadrofx cards are just geforce cards with a different bios so the drivers know what to do with the card.

mcogan10

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 11, 2009

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Originally Posted by G|F.E.A.D|Killa

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i thought quadrofx cards are just geforce cards with a different bios so the drivers know what to do with the card.

Exactly...so how can I get an 8800GT to do the job of a QuadroFX 7300 for like an eighth of the price?

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G|F.E.A.D|Killa

· #6 · Mar 11, 2009

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Originally Posted by mcogan10

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Exactly...so how can I get an 8800GT to do the job of a QuadroFX 7300 for like an eighth of the price?

i think if you search around you can reflash the bios to the card making it a quadrofx, im not sure though, i havent done this since the 7 series cards.

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iampoor

· #7 · Mar 11, 2009

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Originally Posted by mcogan10

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Exactly...so how can I get an 8800GT to do the job of a QuadroFX 7300 for like an eighth of the price?

Its not going to be as good, but yes you can.

FOr the price/performance you cannot beat it.

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mcogan10

Discussion Starter · #8 · Mar 11, 2009

Found this article, think it should work perfectly! http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.a...tno=539&pgno=3

Any objections to me doing this? I think I just saved my friend a bunch of cash. I could just get a new graphics card and he could take my 8800GT and softmod it into the QuadroFX 3700, a perfect match.

Sacre

· #9 · Mar 11, 2009

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Originally Posted by mcogan10

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Found this article, think it should work perfectly! http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.a...tno=539&pgno=3

Any objections to me doing this? I think I just saved my friend a bunch of cash. I could just get a new graphics card and he could take my 8800GT and softmod it into the QuadroFX 3700, a perfect match.

If you're confident you can do it - then go for it. You'll get a far better bang for buck.

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RaBidRaBit

· #10 · Mar 11, 2009

Just read an article in CPU mag on how to change from GeForce to Quadro. Did a google search to find the article online and the first thing that came up was a OCN link!!

Here ya go....

http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/4534...5600-soft.html

Pretty straightforward softmod.

They were also able to go from quadro back to GeForce so you should be fine.

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mcogan10

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 11, 2009

this is perfect! Now I can give my friend my 8800GT and I can buy a new graphics card...I'm sure he won't mind getting one since I am saving him like $700 bucks.

sgdude

· #12 · Mar 11, 2009

yes, then go for the gtx 260 they are like $180 shipped now!

Sacre

· #13 · Mar 11, 2009

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Originally Posted by mcogan10

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this is perfect! Now I can give my friend my 8800GT and I can buy a new graphics card...I'm sure he won't mind getting one since I am saving him like $700 bucks.

Just make some money off it. Remove the stock coverings (that say 8800 GT all over it) and tell him you got him a Quadro, charge $350 bucks, and bam, profit!

Nah, can't do that to friends.

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mcogan10

Discussion Starter · #14 · Mar 12, 2009

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Originally Posted by Sacre

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Just make some money off it. Remove the stock coverings (that say 8800 GT all over it) and tell him you got him a Quadro, charge $350 bucks, and bam, profit!

Nah, can't do that to friends.

Nah haha, wouldn't do that to him. I explained that he was getting my graphics card and he was happy to buy me a new one...I mean, I did save him like 600 bucks

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another_bryan

· #15 · Apr 27, 2009

Ive been a solidworks power user since release 97, im both certified and spend approx 6 hours of billable time on it per day. Ive used both high end nvidia gaming cards and nvidia workstation class cards and can assure you that both will work. there are some features that are intentionally crippled in the gaming card graphics driver (like realview) but aside from that - a good gaming card does everything quite well. For anyone who chooses to use a gaming with Solidworks, remember that you have a fail safe built into the software called "use software OpenGL". Its located in the options --> performance tab.

A decent gaming card has more then enough horsepower to power even heavy assemblies, games like crysis are far more demanding on hardware then your solidworks model.
On the flip side, most workstation cards run games terribly; in fact I have yet to experience an exception.

I am currenty running an Nvidia 8800 GTS with 640 Meg of Ram on my assemblies. I don't use RealView and I have the Software OpenGL checkbox enabled just to be safe - its been running like a champ without exception for the past 3-4 years. And yes, my designs are production ready and highly detailed, not cubes and teakettles.

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mcogan10

Discussion Starter · #16 · Apr 27, 2009

Thanks for that post, I wasn't able to flash the card because the option wasn't there in rivatuner so this is great news for my friend and for myself...rep +

eclipseaudio4

· #17 · Apr 27, 2009

I think you need nibitor to flash the card.

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