Advice - add video card to an older system

[transphorma]

Hello everyone,

I have (as a second computer) a HP Compaq D530 Ultra-slim desktop, with a Pentium 4 2.80 Ghz, 2 Gb of RAM and Intel Extreme Graphics 2 onboard, running Windows 7 32-bit. This machine has a usable PCI slot (simple PCI, not PCI-Express), so in theory I could add an old - second-hand - video card to it.

I was thinking about a (dirt cheap) Nvidia Quadro 280 NVS, with 64 Mb.

My question: would this be worth it? I mean would I see real improvement when running various graphics intensive software (like Autocad for instance)?

Than you very much

 

[PP Mguire]

This card was really meant for dual display output, not really for intensive applications.

 

[transphorma]

PP Maguire: thank you very much for answering my question.

Allright, let's forget about that Nvidia Quadro. But with another PCI video card, would I see a real improvement if I install it?

 

[PP Mguire]

Short answer, no.

Long answer: If you're wanting to increase compute power by utilizing GPGPU to increase processing power for the application the PCI bus itself will severely hamper the throughput. Simply put if you want to process things faster you need to update your machine. PCI based video cards are used nothing more than to put stuff on a screen these days. If you want to improve regular user experience then something like the GT 610 PCI is the best you can get to my knowledge but it isn't worth it for increasing productivity in a CAD program.

Think about it like putting a fast SSD on an IDE bus.

 

[transphorma]

Thanks a lot! A very helpful answer.