AGP card upgrade for autocad

[CuriousBuilder]

Looking to upgrade from an ATI Radeon 32mb DDR. Have been looking at an ATI 7500. Mainly 2D work, floor plans, elev. etc, maybe some rendering.
Have reviewed numerious threads and it appears this card is more than adequate or are there better? Did read a thread about compatability issue with this card and XP?

Would appreciate any recommendations, comments etc.

Sys. K7s5a, xp1800, 512mb DDR2100 Crucial, WD80gig HDD, TDK Burner, onboard sound, Antec 303 ps, os XP Home, Cheepoman Bios, oc'd to 150, runs stable/solid, CPU temp max. 44c, no chipset mod

[AllGamer]

yes it's true cheap and good

the ATI 7500 is perfect for business use, and occassional gaming inside the office

all my customers that works in AutoCAD 2003 and 3D Studio uses it

since every now and then they also need to do video capturing and stuff

so the ATI all in Wonder 7500 is their perfect choice

[Kruzin]

Matrox cards are unbeatable for 2D ACAD.

They have the best image quality of any card out there, the best multi-monitor support, and the best 2D performance.
Additionally, for any 3D use, Parhelia has a Hiedi driver for ACAD2003.

Depending on how much you want to spend, and how many monitors you want to run, you could get a G550(32meg dualhead) for under $100us, pre-order a P650 (64meg dualhead) for $169 or P750 (64meg triplehead) for $235 (both cards are expected to be released within a month), or if you want more 3D power, a 128meg Parhelia for $399 or 256meg Parhelia for $599.
The P650 and P750 are built with a new scaled-down Parhelia"LT" chip.

I have tried many, many cards for my ACAD use, and always go back to a Matrox card. I've gone as far as taking in my own Matrox to offices I've worked in, just because I can't stand to strain my eyes on anything less.

[CuriousBuilder]

Thanks, Allgamer & Kruzin.

I will research the Matrox card before a I make a decison. I have seen them in stores, but never paid attention to them.

Any other feedback anyone?

Thanks,
CB

[CuriousBuilder]

Have gone thorough a heap of posts on this site concerning vid cards. I found a number of the "ultimate members" rated visual quality of the following card manufactures:

1. Matrox, best 2D quality bare none.

2. Radeon, best do everything cards.

3. nvivda, best, gaming.

I am not interested in starting a card "war", but it appears from all of the posts the Matrox G450 would provide higher quality 2D performance than the ATI 7500 series cards?

[Kruzin]

Any Matrox card will provide better 2D than anything else out there. It has been their purpose in life for more than a quarter of a century. Even the original Millennium/Millennium II from years ago have better clarity and color saturation than most newer cards.

G450, however is an older card now. G550 is a little newer (but still getting long in the tooth), and includes a DVI port if you have, or plan to move to a DFP display in the future.

P650/750 and Parhelia take the visual quality a step further with 10bit gigacolor (the only cards in the world that do this), plug-ins for several imaging apps, and the Hiedi driver for ACAD. P series also have amazing glyph anti-aliasing capabilities that nobody else offers.

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Matrox does rule 2d! They always have. Second is ATI usually at a lower price point per speed and better for 3d. But your not gaming-get any matrox card. Youll like.

[Rugor]

If all you want is crystal clear 2D, go Matrox. Otherwise go ATI. For some reason Canadians do better visual quality than anyone else.

Nvidia is good for gaming, but not so good for working.