2D And 3D CAD
AutoCAD 2015: 2D and 3D Performance
Autodesk uses Microsoft’s Direct3D (instead of OpenGL) across almost its entire product line. This means that any special optimizations are pointless, and consumer graphics cards, with their normal GeForce and Catalyst drivers, perform well.
The 2D performance is almost the same across the board. That it looks like there’s a difference in the graph below is due only to where the axis starts.
It’s the same for 3D performance. But let’s be realistic: all of the cards in this test are more than sufficient for these types of workloads.
SPECviewperf 12
The newest version of the popular benchmark suite SPECviewperf 12 contains the original source code for an assortment of professional applications and corresponding workloads for them. End users wouldn’t be able to afford the licenses or the work it takes to generate the model files for the suite's software. We like SPECviewperf because it gives us a general idea of where these cards (and their drivers) land relative to each other.
If you're interested in learning more, check out Workstation Graphics: 19 Cards Tested In SPECviewperf 12. A detailed introduction to each of the suite's tests is available in that piece.
The SPECviewperf 12 results demonstrate that desktop graphics cards generally have a hard time with professional applications due to missing driver optimizations. Then again, and very interestingly, this isn’t the case for all professional applications, either.
It’s surprising to see just how much missing driver optimizations affect the performance of gaming cards. Even a monster like Nvidia's GeForce GTX Titan X can’t compete in the workstation graphics space, conceding that role to actual workstation graphics cards. Even AMD’s small FirePro W7100 leaves its desktop-oriented competition in the dust, as demonstrated in these last two examples:
