New Video Card?

Billy · February 18, 2017, 7:59pm

What would you recommend I get.
I have windows 7 SU 2014 for 32 bit and using IntellGMA 3100 Card now.

Am looking for something with a quiet, easy to work with & fast if possible
price between 2-4oo$ ??

Thanks for suggestions

VahePaulman · February 18, 2017, 8:06pm

Try to get something from the NVIDIA brand. I’d personally avoid the ATI graphic cards as they are notorious with causing problems in SketchUp.

Billy · February 18, 2017, 8:19pm

Ive been looking at either GForceGTX 950 or 960?

VahePaulman · February 18, 2017, 8:23pm

Any difference in provided GB?

VahePaulman · February 18, 2017, 8:38pm

The Wikipedia page of GeForce 900 Series lists the 950 (released August, 2015) as slightly newer than 960 (released January, 2015).

Here’s a comparison chart I pulled out for you. I’m not an expert in video cards as I have only general knowledge but 960 seems to be the better choice. At least by comparing numbers, it wins against the 950.

Billy · February 18, 2017, 8:56pm

Thanks

Billy · February 18, 2017, 8:57pm

Also found this from other discussion
Sketchup doesn’t benefit from Quadro cards - a similarly priced or cheaper GeForce “gaming” card would give more bang for the buck. But keep in mind that the real bottleneck when zooming or orbiting is the CPU that has to take care of all the geometry (faces, edges) in a single processor thread while the GPU is processing the raster-based aspects (textures, shadows etc) of the model. This is why, usually, an expensive high-end graphics card doesn’t bring appreciable performance gains over a midrange and much cheaper one. Lags are usually caused by large (in face/edge count) models and a lot can be helped by skillful modelling.

VahePaulman · February 19, 2017, 1:38am

Yes this is correct. SketchUp utilizes only a single core of CPU. This is normal behaviour and other 3D modelling programs have similar algorithms when it comes to the 3D modelling process (not talking about rendering, just the modelling process). It’s better to have a high-clocked single core CPU rather than a multi-core low-clocked one.

Billy · February 19, 2017, 4:48pm

my tech guy recommended this card, any thoughts?
http://www.frys.com/product/8879222?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

He says he uses it for 3D software (including Photoshop, Premiere, SketchUp, Second Life, and Blender)

SketchUp3D_de · February 20, 2017, 12:19pm

what is your budget?

don’t buy predcessor models as e.g. the nVidia GeForce series 9 or worse an ol’ and lame GT 710… but the recent GeForce GTX series 10 as e.g. a GTX 1050/1050Ti/1060 (fast↔faster / cheap↔less cheap). Asus and MSI are fine, a silent twin fan preferrable.

Check space (2 slots space req.) and wattage of PSU before buying.

Billy · February 20, 2017, 5:04pm

sketch3d_de,
Here’s my operating system - What do you think? of using the EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB SC GAMING, Silent Cooling Graphics Card 02G-P4-2951-KR or https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Installed-Backplate-Graphics-04G-P4-3966-KR/dp/B00UOYQ5LA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1487448294&sr=8-2&keywords=GeForce+GTX+960M

SketchUp3D_de · February 20, 2017, 5:56pm

if price (or card length) is an issue:
Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB
if dual-fan preferred:
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 TI GAMING X 4G

Billy · February 21, 2017, 12:09am

Thanks, No, I’m more concerned about fan noise.? The other card we looked at doesn’t have a fan and was the one used by the tech that built my computer. The card I have now is part of the hard drive and only has 250megabites.

john_mcclenahan · February 21, 2017, 1:40am

Do you mean “part of the motherboard”?

I’ve never heard of a hard drive having a graphics chip!

SketchUp3D_de · February 21, 2017, 10:54am

dual-fan cards are silent by design, some of them do have a zero-fan mode if idling.

If passive cooled really required the brand new ‘Palit GeForce GTX 1050 Ti KalmX’ might be the choice:

Billy · February 21, 2017, 3:45pm

So the Palit GeForce GTX 1050 Ti KalmX has no fan? thank you

SketchUp3D_de · February 21, 2017, 3:49pm

obvioulsy (see above).

joshvt · December 18, 2019, 10:10pm

I don’t mean to crash this thread, but am also looking for some video card advice. does anyone have experience with an Nvidia Quadro P2200? Any issues relating to sketchup? I am looking at a new desktop and this is the base offering. I don’t do any rendering. I am a long time sketchup user, but under the hood specs lose me pretty fast. Based on what I have read seems like it might even be overkill. Thanks in advance for your input.

AK_SAM · December 19, 2019, 1:00am

Quadro P2200 is roughly equivalent to a GeForce GTX1060, if that helps.

It’s a mid-level card and will run sketchup fine. I wouldn’t say it’s overkill.

If you’re creating particularly large models with lots of shadows/effects, then a faster card would be beneficial.

You could possibly save money by getting a GeForce model rather than a Quadro…?

joshvt · December 19, 2019, 2:43am

Thanks for the quick response.

My work is all single family and not overly complex models. Occasionally, I create more detailed, larger models (although I guess larger is a relative term). Shadow performance is important to me.

The other VC options that are within my budget are Quadro P4000 8GB (+$400) or GeForce RTX 2070 Super 8GB (+$371)