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New Inventor Workstation Laptop - This time it is for me so it can be anyting!

28 REPLIES 28
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Message 1 of 29
warrenandy
1262 Views, 28 Replies

New Inventor Workstation Laptop - This time it is for me so it can be anyting!

I need a new Workstation Laptop to replace my 3yr old one. I do some fairly heavy assemblies and then pretty complex Mold parts. On top of that I do Analysis of the assemblies and parts. So I need a pretty beefy machine and I want it to last ~2 to 3 years.  

 

Hardware I want:

17" Screen

Gen 3 i7 ~2.7 8M Cache

16 GB 1666 MHz RAM

256GB SSD + .75 to 1 TB 7200 RPM HD

Nvidia Quadro 4GB 4000 or 5000

 

I have to have Dell at work but Home I can get anything I want, so what brands do you recommend? What is the benefit going Quadro over the Gaming cards? In the past I have used the game cards with good sucess but Nvidia is telling me I need the Quadro to help with the Simulations?

 

My budget is going to be around $5k and I need it in the next month for a new project.

 

I have looked at Boxx in the past and have used HP as well. I want something reliable and with plenty of power. I want this to impress my customers as much as me. I have to have a laptop to go on-site.

Andrew Warren
Manager, Engineering Services Support
Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations
warrenandy@bfusa.com
andywarrenbc@outlook.com
28 REPLIES 28
Message 21 of 29
JDMather
in reply to: mikeweb74


@mikeweb74 wrote:
... it’s best to stay away from them especially on mobile workstations. Dealing with flaky graphics and software crashes is frustrating and a waste of time and time is money!

I've been running Inventor, SWx and Creo fine for a year.  Thanks for the information.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2019 Certified Professional
Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Certified Professional
Certified SolidWorks Professional


The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel


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Message 22 of 29
sam_m
in reply to: mikeweb74

Before anyone states you still NEED to use workstation cards please read:

http://forums.autodesk.com/autodesk/attachments/autodesk/78/442801/1/autodesk_inventor_opengl_to_dir...

 

It's a collection of posts from an Inventor dev at the time of moving form OpenGL to DirectX.

 

bottom line, gaming cards are fine - but I can understand an argument that if you are using OpenGL apps (like Solidworks) then there might be some benefits of a workstation card with a more complete OpenGL support.

 

Moving over to DX was a great move by Autodesk and rarely praised - it has reduced the hardware needs/price of our systems dramatically.  Without wanting to sound rude, I can only think that anyone still pushing workstation cards (for Inventor) are either hardware vendors wanting more profit or those not aware of Inventor's hardware needs (and thus shouldn't be recommending hardware).

 

(now someone will state some SPECviewperf benchmark to claim workstation cards are still better, ignoring that it's an OpenGL benchmark so moot).



Sam M.
Inventor and Showcase monkey

Please mark this response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question...
If you have found any post to be helpful, even if it's not a direct solution, then please provide that author kudos - spread that love 😄

Message 23 of 29
mikeweb74
in reply to: JDMather

I read the “Autodesk Inventor OpenGL to DirectX Evolution” its 6 years out of date. I have done some research and a lot of things have changed since 2007. DirectX is for Windows and the Xbox only, where OpenGL is well supported by OSX, IOS, Android, Linux….. Today most if not all of the latest GeForce and Quadro cards support both DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.3. Also the drivers for both GeForce and Quadro are WHQL now certified as well. As for Moving over to DX was a great move by Autodesk and rarely praised” don’t know! It seems to me that Autodesk jumped on the same bandwagon back in 2007 as the game publishers did by switching to DirectX (Closed Source). Because they thought that OpenGL (Open Source) was going to die out and because of Microsoft’s marketing, but the opposite is true. And yes you do NEED use workstation class graphics cards if want to run SoidWorks, Catia, NX, and SoidEdge because they still use and are optimized for OpenGL. I also checked the system requirements for the recommended and certified graphics for each of the above mentioned MCAD packages. All of them including Inventor list OpenGL capable workstation class graphics cards especially for large assembly design.

Michael Webster, CD, CSWP
Purdue SWT, South Bend
South Bend, IN

Home/Work: Dell Precision 6700M
Win 7 64bit Pro
i7-3820QM 8 GB
Nvidia Quadro 3000M 2GB
Inventor 2014.
Message 24 of 29
Ray_Feiler
in reply to: mikeweb74

We are running Catia V5 with a GTX card without issue. I'm not saying it wouldn't run faster on a Quadro, I'm just saying that it works without any issues what so ever on a gaming card.


Product Design & Manufacturing Collection 2024
Sometimes you just need a good old reboot.
Message 25 of 29
dgorsman
in reply to: sam_m

The Direct3D and other DirectX interfaces are standardized, well developed, understood, and supported, in large part due to the very large gaming community.  While it may not be "open source", that alone certainly doesn't make software inherently superior.

----------------------------------
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


Message 26 of 29
mikeweb74
in reply to: dgorsman

I know they are standardized, and supported. Inventor switched to DirectX so it could use GoForce Cards. SolidWorks and some other MCAD packages use OpenGL so they run better on Quadro Cards. Some of the features in software that uses OpenGL will not work correctly or are disabled on GeForce Cards. An example is RealView (Real Time Rendering) In SolidWorks, on a GeForce card that functionality is disabled. Go to autodesk.com and solidworks.com then look up the recommended and certified graphics cards. They both only list Nvidia Quadro graphics cards.  You have to hack (HardWare or SoftWare) a GeForce card to enable RealView in SolidWorks. I used to use software to change the hardware ID of GeForce Cards so to windows it looked like a Quadro to use RealView. If you have SolidWorks installed on a computer with a GeForce card check to see if RealView works.

Michael Webster, CD, CSWP
Purdue SWT, South Bend
South Bend, IN

Home/Work: Dell Precision 6700M
Win 7 64bit Pro
i7-3820QM 8 GB
Nvidia Quadro 3000M 2GB
Inventor 2014.
Message 27 of 29
JDMather
in reply to: mikeweb74


@mikeweb74 wrote:

.... An example is RealView (Real Time Rendering) In SolidWorks, ..


 

 

Does anyone in production environment really use SWx  RealView  (or the Inventor Realistic) while working (first thing we do is turn it off).
If I want/need a rendering I wait till I am done.

I always thought this was more of a marketing feature for dog-and-pony gee-wiz shows rather than something that real designers used. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2019 Certified Professional
Autodesk AutoCAD 2013 Certified Professional
Certified SolidWorks Professional


The CADWhisperer YouTube Channel


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Message 28 of 29
mikeweb74
in reply to: JDMather

I use it, it's sure nice to render on the fly with just one click. And it does it a lot faster and better than Inventor.
Michael Webster, CD, CSWP
Purdue SWT, South Bend
South Bend, IN

Home/Work: Dell Precision 6700M
Win 7 64bit Pro
i7-3820QM 8 GB
Nvidia Quadro 3000M 2GB
Inventor 2014.
Message 29 of 29
SeanFarr
in reply to: warrenandy

Not sure if you purchased a workstation yet, but I almost purchased a laptop from Sager,

they are a completely customizable laptop with many features and options. If you can't find something off there online selection, a simple email to them and they will adjust the build for you. I priced out a sweet machine for $4000 awhile back, but my boss decided that I didn't need the mobility of the laptop and bought a me desktop for half the price from a local PC shop..

 

 

 

 

Sean Farr
Product Designer at TESInc.ca

Inventor Professional 2014-Update 2 - AutoCAD Electrical 2014
Win7-x64 | ASUS P8Z77-V | i7 3770 -3.4 GHz | 32GB RAM |
240GB SSD | nVidia GTX 670 4GB - 320.49

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