If you use CATIA and needed convincing about upgrading your 3D accelerator…

I was planning to post another side-by-side video comparing CATIA performance with and without VBO, but as I was watching one of the demos captured live at the COE 2009 conference  I was struck by how impressive the FirePro VBO driver-accelerated demo really was.  It stands on its own without the need for a comparison.

If you are a CATIA user and not using recent 3D acceleration hardware, then watch the video below to see what you are missing.  This is a 5,000,000 polygon model (i.e. big) and it is being manipulated in real-time using a FirePro v5700.  At less than $400 street price, this kind of performance enhancement makes the v5700 a great investment for 3D CAD users.

(If you are keen on the comparison statistics, this same model rotated programatically 100 times in CATIA on a FirePro v5700 was 2.7 times faster with VBO then without.)