Quadro vs GeForce

[roweathers]

I do no gaming. My applications are light CAD, video editing, graphics etc. I am considering building a workstation using the Quadro 3700 or the GTX 280.

Am I likely to see any noticeable differences in the quality of the rendering using the GTX 280 vs the Quadro 3700?

Secondly, given the prowess of the Quadros in this type of work... am I likely to see any noticeable differences in speed between the two cards?

[Tr1cK]

As far as I know, AutoCAD 2008 and newer can use Direct3D. CAD on Vista requires use of Direct3D. The only reason to get a Quadro is for OpenGL performance on Autodesk applications.

I am waiting for my company to upgrade CAD now so I can evaluate performance on a baseline Direct3D card instead of a Quadro. If your CAD usage truly is light, then I think the 280 is a no brainer. We draw full plumbing, piping, heating & air conditioning and structural building systems on our machines in 3D and they currently render very slow in OpenGL on AutoCAD 2007. I've seen some reports of people running faster with a 'gamer' card in Direct3D mode than Quadros on OpenGL.

[roweathers]

Thanks Bro, sometimes you can read too much and talk yourself into spending a lot of extra $$