hi, iwant to assemble a new machine that will run on xp prof. i will use it for my 3ds max learning and also for gaming. whenever i was going through different specifications of graphics card people are recommending nvidia quadro fx series graphics card for graphics workstations. but different pc magazine says newer nvidia gtx 280 & ati radeon series are the fastest card available and they are best for gaming. my question is if they are the fastest why are not we using them in warkstation also so that we can do both work & gaming on a same computer? what are the advantages quadro & ati equivalent has over pricey gaming cards? i am amateur & confused. thank you all. hope someone will solve my confusion. thanks again. sidhu

It would help the discussion if you'd have listed your system specs. If your questions are in regards to a system with a P4 2.8GHz & only 512MB RAM, an extremely high end card like the GTX280 would be a waste. The P4 is a highly inefficient CPU & 512MB RAM isn't enough memory for decent gaming or CAD work...you should have at least 2GB RAM. And keep the video card choice in tune with the rest of your system specs. Another important consideration when selecting a card is the power supply. High end cards are power hungry & can draw up to 200W or more. The power supply MUST be capable of handling the load or it will need to be replaced/upgraded. As for the video card, the nVidia Quadro series is specifically designed for CAD/workstations. The difference bewteen a workstation card & gaming card is not so much the hardware design as it is the software. Many Quadro cards use the exact same GPU as GeForce cards...the differences are in the BIOS/firmware & the drivers. In some cases it's possible to flash the firmware & "transform" a GeForce into a Quadro, or vice versa. BTW, ATI's counter to the Quadro is the FireGL series. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireGL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia...

thanks jam, i want to put aside my prehistoric machine. i want to assemble a new machine on which i can run latest games & also go through 3ds max lessons. i could not decide how to proceed. i am in dillema which card to choose. thanks again

Set a budget and work from there. State what items you intend to supply from your current hardware, if any, and what you are looking to buy. Things like a monitor, for instance. Also, what OS you intend to run.