Graphics Card Question.

andyc · 17 Jan 2008, 10:50

Does anyone have any experience of the 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2600 graphics card?

Always had nvidia cards before, but I've got my eye on a new machine with this card.

Specs say it supports OpenGL 2.0, so I'm assuming there would not be any problems running SketchUp with this ?

Any advice welcomed.

Thanks,

AndyC

Jim · 17 Jan 2008, 10:56

Google Guide Tommy says "the Radeon series on Windows trends to be problematic."

http://groups.google.com/group/SketchUp3d/browse_thread/thread/c41179cc25754151#

juju · 17 Jan 2008, 11:12

AndyC, just to clear things up - I'm an ATi fan. However I had an ATi HD 2600 Pro 512MB that I replaced with an ATi X 1950 GT 512MB after testing the two, the ATi X 1950 GT 512MB was faster / more responsive.

I've read about plenty people complaining about SU performance with the ATi HD 2xxx series cards, as well as some with the ATi HD 3xxx series cards.

I understand though, that the nVidia cards don't seem to be as problematic - as long as you choose one that has enough "horsepower", but that argument holds true for all hardware. I'd think you'd need at the very least a nVidia 8600 card for SU, the nVidia 8800 cards would be better.

Keep in mind that all of the above are gaming class cards. Workstation class cards (ATi = FireGL and nVidia = Quadro) are more expensive but more stable and, depending on the software you use, sometimes have optimised drivers for various applications which tends to offer speed increases - they are no good for gaming though.

I hope the above helps somewhat.

andyc · 17 Jan 2008, 14:44

Helps a lot, thankyou. Was considering spending the extra for a Nvidia Quaddro. Seems like the sensible thing to do.

A.

Loewenkatze · 17 Jan 2008, 15:13

AndyC,

I experienced the same with ATi HD 2xxx series cards... not the best solution to use with SU...

For my new machine I chose a Nvidia Quadro (FX2500 / 512MB). It works perfectly for SU.