DecisionalReview.info

Good Card for 3D and CAD Apps if You’re on a Budget

Just a preface: If you’re a 2d illustrator or gamer, there is no big benefit to get this card.

In case anyone is wondering this card scores about 6.5 on the Windows7 Experience Index (Max you can receive is a 7.9)

If you’re working on CAD and 3D and need a bit of a boost but have to budget, you should get this card.

I specifically bought this card so I can get into the 3d realm of work. I am actually an illustrator and put this into my new Quad desktop.

Unlike the Smart Buy version which is for HP machines only - otherwise you’ll break the warranty if you install it on a non HP machine, the PNY also comes with an additional VGA adaptor cable for your cable along with an HDMI to DVI and another adaptor for VGA.

Setup on the motherboard was easy, it has an SPIF you can hook up, but this thing needs no extra power and will easily fit in your CPU.

There is only one issue I have for this card is that if you want to register the card, you’ll have to make sure to get the serial number off the card first, BEFORE you install it, or make sure you have a chasis that’s somewhat easy to take off without issues. I find it somewhat irritating to have to look for a serial number when I already have the card installed so I can register for warranty. I’m installing the card, it’s not like it’s easy to see or readily available. Even WD got smart and has a utility that let me get serial number info since …well I installed it into the computer already. Granted the serial # is on the outside edge of the card…but still.

I don’t recall any other issues though I’m am a bit put off by “universal manuals” Manuals that really aren’t specific to the card you have installed in case you have questions. This throwing of Asterisks around because someone doesn’t feel like making a paper manual for people purchasing the card and making sure there are no issues before installation is a bit annoying.

Don’t you get tired of ** Varies on the Model when you aren’t sure which model those pretty asterisks are referring to?

Really somewhat minor though, since it’s really about the performance of the card.

Personally I find the packaging for this card a bit extreme, since it’s mostly Empty box. I’m referring to manufacturer packaging, not Amazon’s packing. If they’re trying to go green with manuals, they can do the same with the box. It really wasn’t made to protect the card anyways.

Other than that, again this is a budget card, low end for CAD and 3D artists, but I also noticed it does some nice handling of Adobe Photoshop CS4’s layers too. It works fine for CS4 if anyone is curious.

Update (2/7/2012): I also found some auctions for this item here.

The featured review for this product, PNY NVIDIA Quadro FX 580 512 MB GDDR3 Graphics Card VCQFX580-PCIE-PB Electronics, was written by S. Jenkins.

The average rating for this item is 5 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.