Originally Posted by: Steve.M ...that has no problem with the latest solidworks/ solid edge CAD.
sure, the GeForce series may work too but 'not having problems' is not the real question, at least for professional users dependent on a working system.
actually the question is, if the user can be sure, that the current OpenGL stack is fully and reliably supported which is typically not the case with consumer/gamer video cards, especially with the ATI Radeon series under Windows.
Originally Posted by: Steve.M It is really down to the implementation made by the vendor. VC/Shark on openGL is not good
you are mixing up cause and symptom, the cause of OGL problems is obviously not the application making use of features of the recent OGL stack but the user who is of the opinion, that low-end video sub systems are fine for OGL based 3d modelers... which is not valid even for cheapies as e.g. SketchUp.
Therefore many makers of CAx applications as e.g. SWX etc. are certifiying the compatibility of video cards/drivers with their CAx systems, typically with the CAx series of graphics card makers only.
According to the latest [URL="http://www.heise.de/kiosk/archiv/ct/2009/2/124_Grafikkarten-fuer-professionelle-CAD-und-3D-Design-Anwendungen"]concerning test[/URL] of the #1 computing magazine c't in 01.09, the OGL optimized drivers of the CAx series do perform much better in the sense of performance and stability than the consumer cards even using slower GPUs.
btw, in the meanwhile the Quadro FX series starts from roughly U$ 125.-...
htc,
Norbert