Video Card Visions of Grandeur

I am a geek.  This is self-evident from my postings - well, all three iof them if you count this one.  Just trust me.  Postings aside, you really know I'm a geek if you have seen me in person and know what I look like, as several folks at the recent BE Conference who met me could tell you.  Like a lot of engineers, though, I got my start and had an interest in an AEC profession in large part due to my geekiness.  Having such proclivities wihtout a doubt leads to other, similar interests. 

Like computers.  And if you're really looking for fun or frustration (take your pick), you learn how to build your own.  And so I did oh... eight years ago, and I have learned a lot in that time.  One thing that always made me curious, though, was the dearth of information for self-builders when it came to CAD.  When I would ask about specs for systems to run CADD, the boards I was on at that time usually ddn't have much infomation.  Those boards were (still are) usually populated by gamers, not fellow CADD users; they are briliant at making a computer for maximum FPS, and do so despite their age frequently being double digits behind my own. 

Anyway, what this lead to for me is that I invariably got into CAD, but it also meant that I was soon helping out IT with CADD administration.  That inevitably led to the hardware required to run MicroStation (and any of the verticals with it), and my learning about another term: OpenGL.  While all this was going on, the gaming world, meanwhile, was making great strides using another, Microsoft-only technology: DirectX. 

 ...and then Microsoft made a decison that may well change the face of CADD and what we need to run it.  A decision that could make your future PC a lot cheaper. 

 Ever hear of Vista?  No, I've not used it in a production enviornment, not even tested it yet.  I think a lot of folks will acknowledge it has it problems, but it nevetheless is the future.  It is staring us in the face.  If you work in AEC, it needs to be your OS of choice, and yes, I say that never having used it in a production environment.  

Why?  Just take a look at the flagship products for both Bentley and Autodesk.  In 2005, when Bentley first announced a the Direct3D display subsystem for MicroStation XM, it was big news.  Leave OpenGL by the wayside?  And Autodesk held firm on its insistence that it would never embrace Direct3D for use in its products.  But along came the 2008 products... and Direct3D was now supported.  No small task to rewrite.  But why?  The answer is Microsoft's latest, not-so-great, love-to-hate OS.  Direct3D is Microsoft's baby, and if you've seen or played games lately, it takes not many a brain cell to see it's a technology that has matured.  So much so, that Microsoft has made DirectX the preferred display system of choice on Vista.  You want snazzy DirectX 10 graphics?  Well then, you'll need Vista to take that advantage, because it will not run on any other platform.  That to say nothing about OpenGL. 

So Bentley and Autodesk both saw the writing on the wall, and decided it was best to embrace change, and so they have.  Which brings me full circle. 

CADD has, by and large, been an Open GL world.  And pro gear costs pro dollars.  Does anyone else remember the 3DLabs Wildcat series of cards?  "It costs... how much?!?!?!?"   Things today are better but not so different.  Even now, a good Nvidia FX5600 will set you back almost $3,000. 

That said, allow me to point you to a link.  It is the link to the results for the MicroStation XM graphics benchmark, a tool Bentley has provided for our use, to see how well our systems run MicroStation.  One can also examine the results from users who have already sent in data... and those results per video card can be seen here

Notice anything?  The 8800 series seems to dominate, challenged only by the Quadro FX4600. 

The Quadro FX 4600 costs between $1,000 and $1,500. 

A GeForce 8800 GT costs about $200 - $250. 

And the performance is identical, if not slightly better for the 8800...

So, next time you order your Dell/HP/Whoever workstation, you best make sure you get the 8800- wait, you can't do that.  On a gaming machine maybe, but not a workstation.  Or, if I was building something for myself, I could and would get the 8800.  But good luck if you're going through one of the larger system OEMs.   They don't like to offer the gamer cards with the workstations. 

What can one then say for CADD about the more recently released 9800 and 200GTX GPUs from nVidia, which promise to be even bigger DirectX monsters? 

Why, why are the gaming cards not offered with the workstations, when they provide such a better value for the money? 

Certified stability?  Maybe.  But why, when a gamer very rarely complains about their supposedly inferior video driver stability? 

If the card breaks, is it the ready availability of the same card?  But why, if when the card breaks I may as well take the opportunity to upgrade? 

Why, when Keith Bentley himself mentioned at BE that the gamer cards are better for MicroStation? 

  • Hi Thomas-

    OK, I'm a month late in responding :-)  The 9800 series is quick card for the money.  The GTX 200 Series is even faster, if that's an option I'd explore it.  Either way, you'll have well in excess of 512 MB of memory, and that's a good thing.  Either card is heavily DirectX, so that's good too.  

    Jeff

  • Nice to read your blog about cards. Do you have any updates on the situation now 0812?

    Going to buy a new and have no first hand kmowledge. For general cad work, Bentley Architecture, running on a XP64 box with two screens. Normally I have mosts view windows in wireframe, but one I keep rendered for rotations on screen  - and that is my primary demand on the grahics card.

    Read some on the net and for som reasons decided on NVidia and 1GB and 9800GX2 for 3570SEK/approx400USD (here in Sweden). Not the cheapest, but I am prepared to pay a bit more even if I know the last 50 USD doesn't give much more.

    Any comments?

    /Thomas Voghera

  • Good questions all.  I always liked Open GL especially since it always seemed to work well on the low to mid-range graphics cards (I always like the old matrox ones) which were great for general CADD work and the occasional renderings.  Direct X  is a bit to hardware dependent for my taste but what can do (trying to figure out exactly which version your hardware supports can be fun).  

    As far as buying machines go ahead and buy the gaming machine (low-end ones are cheaper that workstations)  if it can run halo then MicroStation should be a walk in the park.