128MB Card for 3DS, AutoCAD + Photoshop?

[discofly]

I wonder whether you can help me. The details of my current machine are:

P4-ATX MOTHERBOARD
INTEL 2.6 GHZ PENTIUM 4 PROCESSOR
1024MB (2x512MB) PC2700 DDR MEMORY (333MHZ)
40 GB ULTRA FAST (7200 RPM) HARD DRIVE WITH 2MB BUFFER
32 MB VGA GRAPHICS CARD
RUNNING ON WINDOWS XP HOME

I am looking for a new graphics card (128MB?) which will handle AutoCAD and 3D Studio Max rendering and other high-end graphics utilities (photoshop etc). Could you recommend a good one? I've heard the Radeon 9800 Pro is a good one? I'm UK based, and am willing to spend upto £300 or so - but could possibly pay slightly more.

Thanks for your help.

 

[smah]

The Radeon 9800 Pro is a good card for gamers, but from your description your better off with a workstation card. I have personal experience with ATI's FireGL line and the 3DLabs Oxygen products and would highly recommend either for CAD use. You should find the low ends of either of these lines in your price range. You may even be able to get to the middle range by purchasing on eBay or similar.

 

[GOLCPL]

Or maybe a Sapphire Radeon 9600 XT 256MB card

 

[SkipCox]

ATI 9500 Pro is an excellent card for ~150 bucks.

Skip

http://home.comcast.net/~skip9/index.html

http://scc.i8.com

 

[rclarke250]

ATI fire GL/XL or wildcat line are good for cad and 3d rendering, 9500 and 9600 are gaming cards, not the best choice unless you want to do gaming also.

 

[jznightmare]

get ATI's "FireGL" series or Nvidia's "Quaddro" series since it works best with the applications mentioned above.