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If your about to buy or are planning for new hardware to run SolidWorks make sure the graphics cards you purchase for your workstation or Laptop Workstation will work with future versions of SolidWorks.
SolidWorks is updating their graphics performance shaders for the next version to be compatible the OpenGL 3.0 Shader Library Standard. This promises even greater graphics performance for SolidWorks. To gain full use of this new technology when you make the move to SolidWorks 2008, which will be released this fall 2007, it is recommended that you install one of the graphics cards listed below with the certified driver for that card.
If you are already using one of these Graphics cards in GREEN, you are ready for the next level of SolidWorks graphics performance.
Recommended Graphic Cards for SolidWorks 2008 |
Purpose |
NVIDIA |
ATI/AMD |
Laptop |
Quadro FX3500M |
ATI MOBILITY FireGL V5250 |
Quadro FX2500M |
ATI MOBILITY FireGL V5200 |
Quadro FX1500M |
|
Quadro FX350M |
Driver |
SW 2007 certified driver* |
SW 2007 certified driver* |
Workstation |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 |
ATI FireGL V7350 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600 |
ATI FireGL V7300 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500 |
ATI FireGL V7200 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 |
ATI FireGL V5200 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500 |
ATI FireGL V3400 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500 |
ATI FireGL V3350 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 560 |
ATI FireGL V3300 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 550 |
|
NVIDIA Quadro FX 350 |
Driver for all above: 91.36 |
Driver for all above: 8.323 |
*(Note: These drivers are specific to the laptop vendor, so look for the driver under the machine vendor and not the card vendor)
All other graphics cards based on previous OpenGL Shader Library Standards will have some level degraded or poor performance and will not be recommended for use.
If you are currently using one of these Graphics cards in ORANGE or RED, you may want to consider upgrading your system to take advantage of the New SolidWorks graphics performance.
The following cards will support all SolidWorks 2008 graphics capabilities, but have a performance penalty for self-shadow and reflections. |
Will work with SolidWorks 2008 RealView but not Recommended |
Purpose |
NVIDIA |
Laptop |
Quadro FX Go1400 |
Driver |
SW 2007 certified driver* |
Workstation |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4400 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3450 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3400 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1400 |
Driver for all above - 91.36 |
The following cards are still capable of supporting GPU shaders, but have real performance problems with self-shadows and long shader programs. Self-shadows have been disabled for these cards. They use the same shadow style as SolidWorks 2007. |
Not Recommended Graphic Cards for SolidWorks 2008 RealView |
Purpose |
NVIDIA |
ATI |
Laptop |
Quadro FX Go1000 |
ATI MOBILITY FireGL V5000 |
Quadro FX Go700 |
ATI MOBILITY FireGL V3200 |
|
ATI MOBILITY FireGL V3100 |
ATI MOBILITY FireGL T2 |
Driver |
SW 2007 Certified Driver* |
SW 2007 Certified Driver* |
Workstation |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4000 |
ATI FireGL V7100 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 |
ATI FireGL V5100 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 2000 |
ATI FireGL V5000 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1300 |
ATI FireGL V3250 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1100 |
ATI FireGL V3200 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 700 |
ATI FireGL V3100 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 540 |
ATI FireGL X3 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 500 |
ATI FireGL T2 |
NVIDIA Quadro FX 330 |
Driver for all above - 8.323 |
ATI FireGL X2 |
ATI FireGL X1 |
ATI FireGL Z1 |
Driver for all above - 91.36 |
Driver for all above - 8.163.1 |
*(Note: These drivers are specific to the laptop vendor, so look for the driver under the machine vendor and not the card vendor) |
