autocad 2017: which combination is better: I7/950MX or I5/Quadro

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Since I have been browsing around too long, I might as well post my question here:

My daughter will be using autocad 2017 on her school and maybe later on revit.

She needs a fast laptop and there are some choices left:

a) a € 3.500 costing professional laptop with door to door and screen cleaning service everyday 🙂 (not really an option)

b) an Intel I5 7th gen combined with a Nvidea quadro graphic card

c) an intel I7 7th gen combined with a 950MX graphic card

Both last options wil use win7 pro, an 256GB SSD and 8-16GB DDR3 RAM

What would be the best choice?

Autodesk leaves customers who don't want to pay many thousands for too powerful hardware in the dark, unbelievable they don't make any recommendations other than the simple guidelines that apply for all systems: I5/I7 - 2-4-8GB RAM and of course an uptodate OS.

The school isn't helpful either so I am very curius what the best (affordable) solution would be!

Thanks in advance for reacting!!

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

welcome @Anonymous!

>> unbelievable they don't make any recommendations other than the simple guidelines

They simply can't ... in the same way I can't tell you now if an i5 is ok or she'll need an i7.

The reason is I don't know how complex the geometry will be your daughter will have to handle in their school projects.

>> The school isn't helpful either

That is strange as they are the only ones knowing the project types and complexity of the projects.

And they (should) have experience from from the previous years which laptops the kids had (the school from my daughter sent a definition of what's at least needed and what would be optimum to have to get the jobs done).

Comparing to "which car do you need, a Ford F150 or a VW Polo" can not be answered as long as we don't know how often and how many (and how big) baggage has to be transported.

If it's a course of newcomers and don't go too much in depth (not too complex projects) I'm quite sure that an i5 and 8GB memory will be ok.

But again, I don't know anything about the data amount.

- alfred -

PS: I guess you already know the minimun system requirement page from Autodesk >>>for AutoCAD<<< and >>>for Revit<<<

[Anonymous]

Hi Alfred
Thanks for your swift reaction!
Still asking myself which of the above mentioned combinations (I5/I7) would be the. est for running autocad 2017 smoothly.
And at what kind of videocard are you pointing when mentioning the I5?
Integrated cards in my opinion should be avoided, reading along the internet.

Kind regards
Paul

[chriscowgill7373]

my opinion is, that you want to have a video card that is on the certified hardware list, and a processor that has the highest single core processor speed you can get, as Autocad only uses one core at a time.  Multi core processors are good if you are trying to turn other applications at the same time, but Autocad only cares about 1 core and its speed. I7 will run better than i5 most likely if you are looking at two proccessors with the same core speed.  16 gb of ram is preferred over 8.  Autodesk does have a certified hardware list as well as graphics list, if you stick to those the software should run well.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/syscert?siteID=123112&id=18844534

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> Still asking myself which of the above mentioned combinations (I5/I7)

>> would be the. est for running autocad 2017 smoothly.

I know drawings that can work well with an i5, because these drawings are simple, most 2D and small in file-size (AutoCAD running smooth on an i5)

I know drawings that are really slow even on an i7 (AutoCAD does not run smooth on an i7)

I hope that makes it more easy to understand why I can't answer what is needed to "run AutoCAD 2017 smoothly" ... I don't know how complex the drawings are.

>> Integrated cards in my opinion should be avoided

That is true, whereas the newest Intel GC's are not that bad from the point of performance for small CAD-drawings, but the drivers are very often buggy (resulting in issues on the display).

My personal preferences are nVidia GTX for AutoCAD.

- alfred -

[braudpat · Accepted solution]

Hello

1) The fastest Core i5 (depending on your budget) is a good choice: please basic speed > 3.5 Ghz

2) Similar or faster Core i7 will give you maybe 10-25% better performance !

3) If you have money, please the Core i7 7700K (4.2-4.5 Ghz). The Best processor for ACAD and many others softwares

On a Laptop, please look for Cores i5M/i7M with basic speed > 2.5 Ghz and turbo > 3 Ghz... 

4) Please 16 Gb (or more depending on your Work) 

5) Please NVidia GTX 1060/1070/1080 (depending on your work)
Please remind that in pure 2D work the graphic card is NOT very important ! 

On a Laptop, a GTX950M is OK for limited/medium usage of 3D !

Regards, Patrice