97FormulaWS-6:
I would say that card is ok… but…
In the realm of things, when getting into 3D modeling and assemblies, the machine and VC make everything more efficient.
The company maybe small and the program cost $5K, but if you can only do the modeling/drawing slow as hell because the PC isn’t strong enough, what has the company gained?
A decent newer PC; doesn’t have to be dual-core or anything too fancy, but I would suggest atleast a 2.4GHz, and 1-2 Gigs of Ram; and spend the $500 on a video card, it makes a world of difference in productivity.
My company dragged all the engineers with base-model 4500 Dells back when I started; took me about a year of complaining about how I couldn’t do my job because Pro/E would take 20-40 minutes to open and render and assembly because of the computer. They finally realized this, and started buying the Engineers “real” workstations with workstation VCs instead of standard ones.
The only issue with the VC that he got you is that the ones typically at CC/BB are gaming cards, and are great for that; but when it comes to 3D modeling and that type of rendering, a workstation card is what is really needed; even if it is only the $500 entry-level workstation card, it will work better with the software than almost any gaming card out there. I have to compare it to trying to haul gravel with a Corvette; you can do it, but it doesn’t work very well; You use a Vette for speed (Gaming card) and a Pickup (Workstation card) for hauling.
I would talk to your boss in when he can afford it to step up to a real workstation with a good VC; it will increase productivity if you as a designer/drafter can utilize it.
Seeing everyone else is talking about what they use…
Dell 380 Workstation, Dual-Core 2.4GHz, 4 Gigs of Ram, Dual 80G HDs (Raid’d), Nvidia Quadro 3450 VC; 21" Samsung Digital LCD. The Video Card costs more than the whole PC (~$1500).
very true… here at work we gots P4 3.2ghz w/2gigs and a quatrofx 500 and it does make a world of difference over my home PC. When we start opening assemblys with 300+ parts you really notice a difference in the performance. I attribute that to the vid card though… I believe it’s an entry level card :\