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Graphics cards for Allplan
Allplan from version 2011
Parts of Allplan 2011 have been reprogrammed and are completely new. Allplan uses a graphics library, which has been developed especially for CAD programs and visualization tasks. Depending on the data type and application, the display speed of Allplan is much higher than that of earlier versions, and refresh operations are considerably shorter. What's more, you can create hidden line images in real time.
This new technology is not a one-to-one implementation of the software-based solution in the previous version. Instead, a hardware-based approach is used. When it comes to data processing, the graphics card takes on much of the work. The different behavior of these two technologies that may occur in some parts is inherent. Therefore, the resulting display and refresh operations may differ slightly from what you are used to.
General graphics card requirements for Allplan
To fully exploit hardware acceleration capabilities, you require an Open GL 2.0 and DirectX10 (chip-based) compatible graphics card with 512 MB or more memory. Although Windows XP does not support DirectX10, Allplan only requires the chip-based support of the graphics card to manage the graphics library. OpenGL 2.0 is used in 2D and in visualization windows. These changes employ the latest technology in graphic display, so selecting a capable graphics card, and using the proper drivers is essential.
For more information on graphics card specifications, go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_AMD_graphics_processing_units
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_NVIDIA_graphics_processing_units#Quadro)
Professional graphics cards versus Consumer-Level cards
Graphic card manufacturers typically have different product lines targeted for "gamers" and "professional users". While the hardware setup is very similar in case of both cards, there are key differences in their firmware and driver. "Consumer-Level cards" (such as Nvidia GeForce and AMD/ATI Radeon) are optimized for 3D games and technologically designed for DirectX10, as speed is more important than image quality.
Typically a 3D model in a game contains a low number of polygons with textures applied to them, while in CAD applications polygon count is high, and the image quality of wireframe models or shaded models is more important than navigation speed. Also, professional cards' memory usage is optimized for using multiple application windows, while in gaming this is not relevant.
Another key difference between the two product lines is the way they are delivered and supported. Professional cards (such as Nvidia Quadro and AMD/ATI FireGL/PRO) are built according to the video chip manufacturer's references, so you can always be sure that the driver delivered by the video chip manufacturer (such as Nvidia or AMD/ATI) fits your card.
The manufacturers of Consumer-Level cards (such as ASUS, Sapphire, Gigabyte, PNY and so on) may diverge from the chip manufacturer's references, so their drivers may not be compatible with the chip manufacturer's reference driver. Also, the product life cycle and driver release cycles are much shorter in case of gaming cards, usually 6 months up to 1 year at most and a 1-year warranty period maximum.
Example: comparison of graphics cards
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Products | Radeon | FireMV | FireGL/Pro | Mobility FireGL/Pro |
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Professional graphics cards versus Consumer-Level cards
Professional graphics cards differ considerably from "Consumer-Level cards" for private users with regard to specific market segments with special requirements:
- Extensive application tests and certifications with CAD providers
- Optimized and advanced support for API as well as further developments
- Longer product life cycles and availability
- Direct product support
- Longer warranty period
Nemetschek Allplan GmbH cooperates with Nvidia und AMD to test graphics card drivers for the Nvidia FX Quadro/ Quadro and AMD/ATI FireGL/ Fire Pro series. These product lines are tested, certified and recommended for Allplan by Nemetschek Allplan Systems GmbH.
For more information on certified graphics cards, go to:
https://connect.allplan.com/support/tested-graphics-cards.html
There are four different categories and areas:
Graphics card | Application | Quality tests | Status |
Gaming graphics cards | 3D Games | Tested / not tested | Not recommended |
Professional graphics cards | 3D basis | Certified and recommended | End of life |
Professional graphics cards | 3D performance | Certified and recommended | End of life |
Professional graphics cards | 3D high performance | Certified and recommended | End of life |
Recommended graphics cards for laptops (Windows)
For reasons detailed above, we cannot recommend any specific card and driver combination for laptops. However, there are professional graphics cards available for high-end laptops such as NVidia FX Quadro & Quadro NVidia "M" or AMD/ATI FireGL & FirePro "Mobility".
These graphics cards are just as good as their desktop counterparts.
Laptops with Consumer-Level cards have been tested only briefly and cannot be recommended. We have had bad experience with on-board Intel graphics cards.
Graphics cards drivers for Apple Macintosh
Since Macs come with a default graphics card (on-board or gaming), and the drivers are bundled with system updates, we cannot recommend a specific card.
Graphics cards for MacOsX 10.6 (Leopard) or later and Boot Camp support Open GL 2.0 and DirectX10. Currently, there is only one series that is equipped with a professional graphics card: Mac Pro with NVidia FX4800 for Mac.
Notes for Allplan and Macintosh:
- There is no provision for a direct installation under Macintosh.
- Access to Windows must be straight from the Boot Camp installation.
- For performance reasons, Parallels Desktop cannot be used in conjunction with Nemetschek Allplan.
We kindly ask you to understand that Nemetschek Allplan cannot provide support for Boot Camp installations.
Installing graphics cards drivers (Windows)
Graphics cards only work properly if they have a hardware provider supplied driver (not system built-in driver) installed correctly. It may happen that remnants of a previous installation interfere with the current driver installation. If you experience display issues with the drivers listed below, please "clean-install" the driver again. "Clean-install" means removing all previous driver files before installing a new driver. Unfortunately, a simple uninstall may not efficiently remove all components of a driver. There are tools that can do it, like ATI's cat uninstaller or third-party tools like driver cleaner or driver cleaner pro 1.5.
Graphics card drivers for laptops (Windows)
In most cases, graphic card drivers for laptops are supplied by the laptop manufacturer, and graphic card provider supplied drivers will not install on laptops. This makes it practically impossible for us to test laptop graphics cards. If you are experiencing display issues with your laptop, and your supplier does not offer you a driver update, you might try - at your own risk - to tweak a desktop driver to work on your laptop. Note that this is obviously not encouraged by your laptop supplier.