Attached Link: http://www.tomshardware.com/

The two most popular/powerful video cards (3D chipsets) these days are from nVidia and ATI. ATI makes and sells their own cards and also sells their chipset (and/or card itself) to a few other card sellers. nVidia only sells through other card manufacturers and there are lots of them. You pretty much want the same features on a card that make it a rocking game machine. Most 3D software (including D|S) won't use most of the features that a modern 3D game uses, but those cards are designed to do the things that 3D apps DO use - very fast. You also pretty much want to get the best one you can afford, except that: personally, I'd steer clear of the top-of-the-line model from any vender (you pay a premium for a few minor percent increase in gaming performance and those cards tend to be tweeked to near breaking point) and, pretty much ANY of the modern lineup will do a great job in your 3D apps... I'd be more concerned about getting a card with plenty of on-board memory (64mb minimum, the more the merrier), Some people think he's biased, but you can always get some good background facts and specs at Tom's Hardware (see link). He currently has a review of 46 cards there. My personal bias/preference is for nVidia-based cards. They have excellent OpenGL support and a unified driver archetecture that makes it easy to keep up to date with their latest drivers from their site.

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