High-end cards and rendering

[Anonymous]

I'm not an expert with hardware but I've tried to study latest technology to know what to buy (if I buy a new desktop/workstation...one thing I don't realize is the difference between those two...)

What is the benefit of very expensive graphic cards specially in renderings? I could think that they are faster but how much? Gaming cards like GF7600GT gets all the stars in compatibility with AC but QUADRO/Fire GL don't....
My need for new pc is mainly Artlantis R which seems to use all possible power and even more! As much speed as possible would be good specially when testing shaders and lights, but how much of it comes from the processor, how much from memory, how much from graphic card......pc resellers are not experts in this.

[Anonymous]

Save your money.
No need to blow $ 400-$900 on a fancy-smancy Quadro-Fire video card for Archicad.
Fast render times depend on CPU horsepower and RAM.
A decent gaming video card will do just fine in Archicad IMHO.

With the latest-greatest NNidia cards coming out now......there are some great prices out now for NVidia 7800 of 7900 series cards.

I use a 7900 GTO 512mb PCI-E and its great for zooming, panning, orbiting in the 3D window, elevation/section/ plan windows.
Best part is that it only cost $ 275.00

I would spend the money on a good CPU ( Dual core for sure)and on lots n lots n lots of RAM (2GB min)

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice! Same card costs about 300 € here, so it's much cheaper than quadros. Pc shops always automically suggest "workstation" cards, when they here that you are going to use computer for CAD. Actually (only speaking about graphic card) I'm doing fine now with Radeon 9600Pro - with Archicad it works fine.