Professional Workstation Graphics

[YellowMenace]

I'm building a workstation for some moderate CAD, 3D, and rendering applications and I'm looking for a professional GPU (preferably NVIDIA for CUDA advantages) for under $400-$500 to fit the bill. $400 is the limit and $500 is stretching it, but doable.

 

Summery for those whom don't want to read:

What GPUs do you guys suggest for strict 3D rendering applications for $400-$500?

[Hirad123]

get a quadro card in whatever your budget is if you are dead set on nvidia.

[wpirobotbuilder]

I'm building a workstation for some moderate CAD, 3D, and rendering applications and I'm looking for a professional GPU (preferably NVIDIA for CUDA advantages) for under $400-$500 to fit the bill. $400 is the limit and $500 is stretching it, but doable.

 

Summery for those whom don't want to read:

What GPUs do you guys suggest for strict 3D rendering applications for $400-$500?

What software are you using?

[YellowMenace]

What software are you using?

3Ds Max, AutoCAD, Inventor, Blender, and other programs like that.

[piplupgao]

get a quadro card in whatever your budget is if you are dead set on nvidia.

Make sure it's a k quadro as most non k quadros are verrrrry out dated and you would be better off with a 770

[wpirobotbuilder]

Blender gets good performance boosts from GeForce cards too, but other than that modern Quadros and Firepros are suited for your application.

 

This review by Tomshardware covers a bunch of professional cards, they test with some of your applications too.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-workstation-graphics-card,3493-19.html

[YellowMenace]

Blender gets good performance boosts from GeForce cards too, but other than that modern Quadros and Firepros are suited for your application.

 

This review by Tomshardware covers a bunch of professional cards, they test with some of your applications too.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-workstation-graphics-card,3493-19.html

I'm not just looking for rendering speed, I'm also looking for quality, most of the cards in the test were way out of my price range.

[brownninja97]

Get the quadro k600 or the k2000. I think they are in your price range. On the other hand you could get crazy and buy a k6000

[wpirobotbuilder]

I'm not just looking for rendering speed, I'm also looking for quality, most of the cards in the test were way out of my price range.

What I meant is that you could buy a GeForce card within your price range and the benchmarks would tell you the best one. The only application you wouldn't get benefit in is Solidworks

[YellowMenace]

Would SLI-ing a actual professional gpu and a standard gpu give any better performance?

If so, which should I use?

(still under $500)

[onionring]

Would SLI-ing a actual professional gpu and a standard gpu give any better performance?

If so, which should I use?

(still under $500)

No SLI doesn t improve rendering performance at all. But having 2 card (not slied) does improve the performance of rendering.

 

here you have 2 choices.

a real professional gpu or a gaming gpu.

 

gaming gpu would have WAY more cuda cores for the price but might have less features enabled.

 

if those features are important to you, (depends of the program), i suggest going with a quadro k2000(384 cuda cores)

 

BUT if you can verify, it might be faster (depending on the prgoram) to use a quadro k600(192 cuda cores) with a gtx 770(1536 cuda cores) as a dedicated cuda card.

 

btw pretty shure solidworks doesn t get any performance boost from a gpu when rendering (program is limited to cpu speed)

[YellowMenace]

So what would be more worth it, a more expensive professional GPU, such as a Quadro K2000, or something like Quadro K600 with a 700 series GPU both equaling about the same price? 

[wpirobotbuilder]

So what would be more worth it, a more expensive professional GPU, such as a Quadro K2000, or something like Quadro K600 with a 700 series GPU both equaling about the same price? 

It's hard to say. You will see a benefit in some software with the GeForce card for a much lower price, and all programs can benefit from the Quadro. It really depends on what you want to prioritize. Blender (from personal experience) will be able to take huge advantage of the GeForce card, while all your rendering programs will be able to take advantage of the Quadro's optimizations. There is no simple answer.

 

If you use Blender much more than the others, I would grab a lower-end Quadro and a 700 series. Otherwise, just go for a bigger Quadro.