Non-Video Editing Graphics Adapter

The consumer version of Chief Architect http://www.chiefarchitect.com/home-designer-DIY/

And, I may have jumped the gun on looking for a newer card... back when I put Win8.1 on her computer and her 3D function stopped working, I checked for a newer driver and there was none, so I (seems in error) concluded that ATI was no longer doing drivers for that card

After posting this morning I checked at ATI, and there is NOW a newer driver... which I have installed

After my full drive backup completes, I will try Win8.1 again and see if her 3D function still works... if not, I will put Win8.0 back on and continue looking at newer cards

Win8.1 just finished downloading, and is going through the "several" restarts

If the 3D function in her program still doesn't work with the NEW device driver, I will look at nVidia as well as a newer ATI card

Had to restore back to Win8, so next step is to look at a different graphics adapter

Her budget is small, so a GTX 650 at "about" $110 is her limit (actually over, so for now she will stay at Win8 and just keep telling WinUpdate NO when it mentions the 8.1 update)

>suggest an Nvidia card

After searching in the Home Design forum and receiving a reply from the "main" contributor (writes books about the software) I will ultimately (to install Win8.1 for program updates) need to do 2 upgrades to her computer

1 - GTX 650 w/2Gig of Vram (he strongly suggests PNY) for "about" $120

2 - program upgrade to version 2014 for better Win8 compatibility for $175

Since we are in the middle of trying to sell our house, and not buying anything that is not absolutely necessary, we've decided she will continue to tell Windows Update NO when it mentions 8.1 and she will finish designing our new house with what she has... she also says that after finishing this house design she won't need to use the CAD program again... BUT she also does layout work for other people, so I have the idea that she will use the program again someday... besides which, 8.1 has program improvements that she "may" need someday... but the above upgrades won't be until after we build and are moved to the new house

When I'm "some day" ready I'll come back and ask about the "best" card

Actually, so I can put a note in my 'future' file... what brand (or brands) nVidia card do you recommend?

Interesting, but no mention (that I could see) of warranties and ease of dealing with companies... I guess that when I am someday ready to buy, I will search for warranty information for any/all brands I am considering

Well, wife is "soon" going to be doing more 3D work on the new house interior, so just ordered a GTX 650

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-NVIDIA-GeForce-PCI-Express-VCGGTX650XPB/dp/B009T0FDR2

The design program advisor STRONGLY advises PNY and the Amazon rating is 4.6 so I went with PNY

Should be here in a week or 10 days... I'll come back if there is anything unusual to report

This absolutely SUCKS !!!

Card arrived a couple hours ago... I first made a boot drive backup (as always... and a good thing!) and then uninstalled ATI card/driver

Power down and unplug so not even a vestigate of power to power supply or motherboard

Remove ATI and install PNY... properly snapped into place... and connected 6 pin power connector

nVidia/PNY says MINimum 400watt PS, have 550watt http://www.coolermaster.com/powersupply/extreme/extreme-power-plus-550w/

While doing advance reading, had done "go into bios, disable secure boot, enable legacy devices" to enable booting with the card installed

Plug in power cord and connect monitor... press power button

Computer went into an endless loop of trying to start up and show screen for about a second, then power down... and repeat

I even unplugged the 6 pin power cord and used the supplied adapter to connect to a different line... same boot loop

Before I contact Amazon for a defective card return... any great ideas?

Added Info... 550watt PS is driving 2 hard drives (500G + 1T Western Digital) and 32Gig of Ram and 4 case fans and DVD writer (which is not in use during boot) so not what I would think is too much of a power draw

Didn't work... on the way back to Amazon... wife will just have to keep using her 1Gig ATI card instead of 2Gig PNY card