i am looking far a videocard that will handel a dual monitor setup and have the performance for gaming as well as CAD. any suggestions?

Radeon 9800PRO Dual Mon support and kick ass for games, and not that expensive.

What kind of monitors are you going to be using?

Quote: Originally Posted by Red02 Radeon 9800PRO Dual Mon support and kick ass for games, and not that expensive.

I agree. What kind of CAD software you running?

I suggest a look at these

HIS IceQ 9800Pro ( I have this)

Sapphire 9800Pro 256MB

Gainward Golden Sample FX5900XT with eith 128MB or 256MB

MSI FX5900XT (my best friend has this card)

These cards all cost between $190-300USD pending on your budget and personal preference but any one of these would do well with CAD and Games

[EDIT] nVIDIA cards are know to handle Dual/Multiple Monitors better.

the version af CAD i will be using is a straight up version af AUTOCAD 2004, as for the monitor set up i will be using i havent quite decided on that. i can get a good viewsonic dual 17" setup for fairly cheap. any suggestions on the monitors?

Nvidia Quadro FX1000, high end graphics for both gaming and CAD, based on the NV30 chipset. If that's too pricey I would go with an FX500. I think that model is based on the 5200, but don't quote me on that.

And as for speed with your rendering and shademode displays, 3D Orbit, etc., a videocard won't help you too much. Take it from a CAD-Hoe with 5 years experience in AutoCAD, if you want to 3D Orbit faster and shademode faster, etc. etc., more processing power is your best ticket. I can't tell you guys what a difference an Athlon XP2400 makes over a Duron 1.4. Everything goes faster, shademode initializes faster, 3D Orbit looks smoother and isn't as choppy in framerate.

I would just go for a normal graphics card so you have really good gamming performace a 9800Pro will do cad just fine. I was doing some 3dsmax and my 9600Xt and 2400+ @ 2500Mhz ran it perfect on DX9 settings.. its mostly about the proc speed, from my stock speed of 2000Mhz to 2500, its a hudge diffrence.

Looked at your profile, a 6800 will be an excellent balance between CAD and gaming, and a lot less expensive than it's CAD-oriented cousin, the FX3000.

Since all your using is AutoCAD you don't need the latest and greatest video card unless you are going to be playing the next gen games. I don't what type of drawings you draw in Autocad but if all you do it 2D architectual drawings you really don't need much, but if your drawing 3D stuff like J-Dogg then I would get something a little nicer.

J-Dogg do you know of any places that still use AutoCAD to make 3D models?

You mean local establishments? A lot of architectural firms use AutoCAD, it's well-tailored for architectural drafting. A few machine-shops use it as well but other than AutoCAD the other big program that's soon becoming the new industry standard is Pro Engineer.

j-dogg barks the truth.

so you guys are basically saying i should go with a high end gaming card? what do you think of the msi fx5950? whould the 5950 be any better than the 5900?

Well seeing as the new 6800 is out if I were you I would be getting that, not the 5950, true the 5950 bests the 5900 but the 6800 blows them both across the hallway and into the trash can in the kitchen. All three are nice cards but the 6800 is much more powerful than the other two. I say stick to your guns. Save up your pennies and get the 6800, the only time you would really need a CAD card IMHO is if you are doing lots of 3DStudio as well. A 6800 is a fine balance between CAD and gaming and if you can afford it, get it. If you can't afford to shell out the bones for a 6800 then wait until they release cards based on the NV40 (6800) that are de-tuned, like a 6500 or 6400, etc. etc.

im holding back on the 6800 for now, until some revised drivers are released and the price goes down a rung. Yeh as above its the high end grpahics cards you need- the 5700 probably wont go 2 ways without some serious performance damage.