Best Pro graphics card for CAD/3D modelling

[greenalien]

I'm looking for a new graphics card for a CAD / 3D modelling workstation. I've seen the Nvidia Quaddro FX 4600, but it's not exactly cheap at around £1100. I was wondering if a top-end gaming card might do the same job for less dosh - any recommendations?

[shaithis]

Not sure if its still doable......

You used to be able to buy a standard GeForce card and re-flash it to the Quaddro variant.

I believe the differences between them are how the firmwares are optimised for different tasks. Why they feel the need to charge so much for the same silicon with a different firmware is a bit daft but probably justified by supply and demand.

Might be worth digging around to see if its still possible.

[greenalien]

As far as I understand it, it's not just the firmware, the FX 4600 has different drivers plus some CAD-specific applications included, specifically optimised for better OpenGL compatibility.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Get an ATI HD3850/HD3870 and softmod it to a FireGL card!

Softmod HD3870@FireGL8600 with 8.44 - Guru3D.com Forums

[0iD]

Depends on what CAD software you're using. Most gaming cards don't have full open GL support but will do the job ok.
I've seen the latest incarnations of Inventor & Wildfire running perfectly well on a 9800GTS. If you're running Autocad, then go nVidia as they're partners. Solidworks or any Dassault s/w go ATI.
Again horses for courses doing a lot of ray tracing & rendering then a good workstation class card would be beneficial.