I built a new home computer gaming rig in April 2012. I have 16 gigabytes of memory, 3.6 ghz quad-core i7, and two nVidia GTX 680 in SLI that cost me \$500 each, two weeks after the first release of the new card.

Many programs that use OpenGL run smooth as glass on my dual GTX 680. Minecraft uses OpenGL and runs with maximum quality, "far" view distance... no problems at all. GTA4, max quality on all settings, 1600x1200, parked by the ocean as the waves dance and splash, and the card fans are running like a space heater, but still smooth as glass operation.

But oh dear, the nVidia GTX 680 is not on the SolidWorks certified graphics card list???

Ooops, guess I'll just have to throw them out and buy a Quadro 400 for \$100, if I want to reliably use the SW student version at home.

It's pretty clear that these high-end consumer 3D video cards will likely run SW just fine, but for some reason the company is specifically choosing to not test them.

So what exactly are the tests that are done to "certify" than a 3D card works properly with SW?

If we end-users were told what the tests are, we could "certifiy" our own non professional graphics cards without the company having to spend their corporate time and money to do this themselves.

There could be a user-run testing process documented on Wikia that lists all the official certification tests done, and what passed and failed for the various consumer 3D cards.