Dad's new office PC.

[sswilson]

If you can find a copy of the july Computer Power User magazine they had a pretty good article on the different workstation GFX cards which are currently available.

Here's the link to the first little snippet of it Computer Power User Article - Pro Graphics Battle Royale , unfortunately it's a subscription service if you want to read the whole thing on-line.

[Cptn Vortex]

Thats weird.....What program are these running? I've never had a single complaint about a FX 5xx series or higher. The next step up is the FX 1700, you're looking about $500 each.... Then the FX 3700, which is just shy of $1000. If you are really brave, I have a few people who swear by the FX 5600.....but $3k is kinda hard to swallow..... I seriously think it is not the videocard being your problem, application depending of course

[SKYMTL]

Here is an easy fix:

By default, ever AutoDesk program pre-2007 versions defaults to the SOFTWARE RENDERER instead of the Hardware Renderer (your graphics card). Thus, if you do not switch to the hardware option you will get horrible performance when using any Autodesk program in 3D work. So, make sure that the hardware renderer is selected in Options --> Display and Render.

[Ankhwatcher]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Here is an easy fix:

By default, ever AutoDesk program pre-2007 versions defaults to the SOFTWARE RENDERER instead of the Hardware Renderer (your graphics card). Thus, if you do not switch to the hardware option you will get horrible performance when using any Autodesk program in 3D work. So, make sure that the hardware renderer is selected in Options --> Display and Render.

Uh nope. There is no 'Options' and I couldn't find a choice of renderer in preferences.

[SKYMTL]

In AutoCAD, go into the command line and type "OP" and press enter. This will bring up the Options dialog box.

[JD]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

In AutoCAD, go into the command line and type "OP" and press enter. This will bring up the Options dialog box.

Maybe try "3dconfig" as well? Not sure if it works in older versions, but it does in 2008 at least.

[3.0charlie]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

In AutoCAD, go into the command line and type "OP" and press enter. This will bring up the Options dialog box.

Works in 2005; under the System tab, click the Properties button next to the "Current Graphics Display"; next window, bottom right-hand-side choose Hardware. Done.

[Squeetard]

I wouldn't use 64 bit windows in any enterprise environment. Slower and buggier than 32 bit.

[misterd]

That's funny that Server 2008 is only going to be 64bit...

[CanadaRox]

Originally Posted by Squeetard

I wouldn't use 64 bit windows in any enterprise environment. Slower and buggier than 32 bit.

Using applications that support 64bit it would be much faster. And using 32bit programs, they are barely any slower.
An old article, but shows pretty much conclusively that 64bit apps are much faster than their 32bit counterparts: AMD Athlon64 PCSTATS Review - 64-bit Benchmarks: nvidia, mini-gzip, DivX