Best graphics card for 3d rendering

[Rosco]

Hi all, I have a client who designs high-end cabinets and kitchens. They use the program Cabinet Vision. For the last 5 or 6 years, I have had a Quadro video card in the custom build. With the impending EOL of Windows 10, the client is looking for a new build.

I am parting out the build, and after doing some research, it looks like the Quadro cards are not as well-liked as they once were. Should I just put a RTX4090 in it or still go with the new Quadro line? Fast and efficient 3D rendering is the most important thing to this client. Thanks in advance

 

[phaZed]

Ya, for off the shelf hardware, grab a 4090. They provide "Studio Drivers" at NVIDIA which will be more suited towards Rendering/CAM/CAD work... as opposed to the Game Drivers.

 

[HCHTech]

You could also just go to the source. Take a look at the software vendor's site. They undoubtedly have a list of recommended or supported cards. Take a look there and see. We always do this for our architect & engineering clients. See if their software would benefits from a dedicated "scratch disk" for temporary rendering files. If so, a 2nd NVMe drive for that task will likely speed things up. See if they support SLI, you could also get two cards - that would speed things up as well.

The last machine we built for a mechanical engineer had an AMD Threadripper Pro, a Quadro RTX8000, 2 Samsung 980s and an insane amount of RAM. We spec-ed it all out in concert with the software vendor, It's been about a year and no complaints so far...

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

"Best" Heh...prepare to shell out a few tens of thousands, even more!
Even the higher end "average" nVidia Quadros...48 gigs of VRAM, price tag of over $2,500.00...but you can get some really fancy ones for the highest of high end graphics workstations past $25,000.00.

Now..what does your client need? What is "realistic"..and within budget?
I usually quote 3x different optioned out workstations, I recently sent a quote to an architect for one around $9k, one around $6k, and one "fire sale" workstation that came in just under $3k.

I look at what their current workstation is, how many monitors they run, what resolution they like to run at, and what software they use. And then...what size files too! Some people may work with a single monitor, or dual, and not very large. You can likely get away with a graphics card of 8 or 12 gigs. Others..may drive quad monitors...and run a very high rez and work with HUGE files. They may need a higher class card, get them something with say, 24 or 48 gigs.

I usually go with Lenovo ThinkStations (I use one myself, a TinyStation P340 with a Quadro).
The P620 "ThreadRipper" is the fastest beast out there! Love that beast!

Always look for professional graphics class workstations, with "ISV Certification"....so you know the hardware and drivers are tested and compatible with leading graphics software. While "hardware" may be similar between graphics class GPUs and gaming GPUs...the drivers..are not. And I have seen people try to use gaming rigs and spin wheels chasing quirks.
You can find articles on ISV certification at both Lenovo, Dell, HP, etc.

 

[fincoder]

Should I just put a RTX4090 in it or still go with the new Quadro line? Fast and efficient 3D rendering is the most important thing to this client.

I suspect the 4090 is overkill. The system requirements from the software publisher say:

Requires i5 (recommend i7) or Ryzen 5 (recommended R7).
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or better graphic card with at least 4 GB of native video RAM. Or Intel HD 630 or better.

CABINET VISION Minimum System Requirements

CABINET VISION Minimum System Requirements

hexagon.com

So an RTX 4060 with 8GB video RAM would likely be more than enough.

I like HP Z1 Tower PCs for this kind of work, not as demanding as heavy autocad use. Grunty but not over the top (so more affordable) and business quality/warranty unlike a custom build.
E.g. HP Z1 TWR G9, i7-14700, 32GB, 1TB SSD, GEFORCE RTX4060 8GB, WLAN, W11P64, 3YR WTY
AU$2599 plus tax

Z1 is also available with i9-14900 for AU$3069 plus tax. Different pricing and probably configurations in the US.

 

[Blues]

Is there any reason not to just upgrade the base system at this time and transfer over the current GPU particularly with the previous comment showing the software's requirements. I don't see a specific Quadro stated but hard to imagine the system is using one that is inferior to the GTX 1060 and when and if the software gets an upgrade a new GPU can be considered.