video card upgade- help!

[jnr]

I'm about to upgrade my matrox 450 dual head 32mb card to a new card as I can move faster than it can in vectorworks.

So, based on other posts on this board, I went looking for new dual head cards. I'm looking at ATI cards and am wondering if the Fire GL Z-128 or T-128 (both 128mb) workstation cards or the gaming Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb or 9600 256mb cards would be the better choices.

Is the question: How much does Vectorworks use of the on board memory of the video card? (thanks Andrew for the previous response-sorry to be a pest, but shopping for this stuff is very confusing!)

Or is the question, given the different architectures of workstation vs gaming cards, is one better suited for Vectorworks than the other?

I use Renderworks, a lot of 2D drafting, and would use more Open GL for design if my dual head card were capable of it, which is another reason for the upgrade.

In the past,(version 8) this software did not take advantage of on the card memory, nor was it marketed towards the professional workstation market. Has this changed? If so how? Where is the point of diminishing returns? In otherwords, do you reap the benifits of spending more on a 256 mb card than a 128, or for that matter a 128 that is more sophisticated?

[Ray Libby]

I have an Asus NVidia GeForce FX5200 Card 128MB. I think NVidia does a better job with drivers than ATI. I run two monitors, and it does a great job in VW. I did buy a workstation cad optimized card once (PNY Quadro FX 500) and saw no difference except for a lighter wallet. I think if you do not play games, this is more than you will need for video. You can pick it up on newegg.com for $85 or step up to 256MB for about $160.

[jnr]

Ray:

Thanks for your input, I was assuming I'd be looking at $360 to $400 for the ATI cards I mentioned! Workstation reviews I read said if you wanted performance, buy the NVidia, but that ATI had a better bang for the buck. I've got two Dell monitors, one 21" the other ,19" hung off one card. Are you doing a lot of rendering or manipulation of rendered objects in open gl?

[Ray Libby]

I don't use OpenGL at all so I can't help you there. All of the 3D work I do is cabinetry and I use renderworks or C4D. From what I read even my card would be able to handle the latest games, excluding DirectX 9 features which wouldn't apply here, at good frame rates so I would think it would handle VW. What is your goal, to be able to rotate in OpenGL and not lose rendering? Is that possible on complex models even with the best video card?

[jnr]

Ray:

Well if I didn't lose rendering, that would be idea, but if it costs $800 to do so, it wouldn't be worth it. Since I'm an architect, I'm looking at buildings and typically rendering with the provided textures. I spend too much time waiting for it to render, which I understand has more to do with clock speed on the CPU. However that being said, pan and zoom is not as fast with all of the real estate on two monitors. I would probably use more open gl for schematic design and quick studies if I had the card to support it. I mention the gaming card (I don't play them) simply because they are more readily availible and I would think be suited for using the animation capabilities of renderworks. Thanks for your input.