Originally Posted by
uchiha_itachi
I have always been under the impression that nvidia cards always performed better when it came to 3d modelling/rendering and general CAD operations. This was due to the nvidia cards use of openGL. However after reading the link which shaithis posted, it seems programs like 3dstudio max and maya are starting to rely on direct3d. If these are the programs you will be using maybe an ATI card would suit you better, (due to the general concensus that ati cards perform better at direct3d). However if you are going to be using pieces of software such as autodesk inventor, i-deas, catia, pro-engineer etc it maybe better to with nvidia as they are still openGL based. I'm still yet to make my decision, however I think I may get a geforce 7900gs.
Either way I need to make my mind up fast as my 2nd year of uni is starting and my course director has told me we will be using solidedge. alias studiotools and nx4 intensely this year. I'll maybe try and get some advise off him as to which graphics card would be best to get after a quadro.