good luck with the EP

ok so this may be some help: https://forum.solidworks.com/thread/227344

but if you havnt already, checking with the company if your graphics cards should work would be my next step

if you are paying what the program costs then 500 for a graphics card may not be that much pro rata - or look at it the other way round - if you did not need the card, the program would cost a lot more....