Is my Laptop suitable for 3d Studio Max?

[Anonymous]

Hi there...I´d like to know if my new Laptop is suitable for running 3d Studio Max 2015 or 2016

Here I go:

- HP intel Core I5, model 15-ay012la

- 64 bit Windows 10 Home

- AMD "Radeon graphics" 2GB video card

- 8GB RAM

- 1 TB HDD

Any help will be very appreciated!

[irishman_team_kilber]

I would not go for an 8gb ram because it take 7gb just to install it, that will leave you with 1gb remaining, i would go for a 16gb or 32gb of ram, i would look for a laptop with a VGA shader built into it IMHO 

what is you objective in when you use 3ds max

example Animation, architectural design, character modeling, video games?

[Alfred.DeFlaminis · Accepted solution]

Hello @Anonymous and welcome to the community!

You can find the system requirements for 2015 and 2016 here, hopefully this helps to answer your question.  8 GB RAM should be fine for both versions and RAM is cheap if you ever need to upgrade it.  4GB is the minimum for both versions so 8GB should be no problem for you.  

Best Regards,

[irishman_team_kilber]

8gb is enough the amount of stuff you will have setup in your scene can slow it down depends on what you are going to use max for max can use up alot of ram the amount of calculations it goes through from rendering, special effects models animation weather or not you use MR GI vray or whatever.

max can use up a lot of ram because it's very memory intensive program that is the first thing tutorials teach you and even in school

[Anonymous]

Hi irishman_team_kilber !!

thanks for your help...I´d like to use 3d studio max for architectural design...So it can work if I only extend the RAM?
I´m planning to extend it soon (to 16 GB)

Hello Alfred (DeFlaminis)

Thanks for all your concern, you say 8GB would be fine for me, but what about my 2gb Graphics card? (would it be right?)

[irishman_team_kilber]

there are some good tuts on youtube for architectural design that are free for beginners but if you want to buy some tutorials then some books that deal with just 3ds max architectural visualization  are written in different languages which can be annoying they write a book 3ds max architectural visualization advanced to expert but they took it off the market due to the price, the price was outrageous you were looking to spend about 200 USD on it now they only do the chaper on kindle

It was a good book from the writters. but still $200 was way over the top in my opinion nowadays you can probably find it online for about $70 USD or you can just buy the chapers your interested in 

Link http://www.cgarchitect.com/2010/02/3ds-max-2010-architectural-visualization-advanced-to-expert-book-...

[lightcube]

In my experience, 8GB will be plenty of RAM unless you start doing a lot of VFX/Particle work or are working with very large material libraries. How crazy your scenes are will determine how much RAM you need.

In the last 16 years, I've had issues in Max with every system using an ATI card. Very often there are visual glitches in the viewport. The last time I had a laptop with an ATI card, it was practically unusable in Nitrous for many months until Autodesk made a patch. Similar in previous card (over ten years ago). It's anecdotal, but my experience has been that using ATI cards are iffy with Max.

But you never know for sure until you install it and take it for a spin.

[Alfred.DeFlaminis]

Hello @Anonymous,

2GB on graphics is doable but would require some scene management.   You'll experience some lag now and again but with proper proxy management, layers, and viewport settings it will be manageable.  There's no doubt 4GB would be better but 2 GB can be done. 

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

Thanks a lot to all the posters for your kind help!

Greetings to all...