Quadro P1000/P2000 vs Geforce 1050ti

[Anonymous]

Dear Community,



finally leaving MacOS behind, and looking to buy a new Thinkpad for work (architecture) with one of those GPUs, either X1E, P1 or P52 (i5-8300h or i7-8750h, 32GB RAM). Main task is Autocad 2014 (2D), Rhino 6 (3D), Vray and Adobe CS.


And to be honest, I am very confused as it is impossible to get coherent information on the compatibility, performance and stability, and Autodesk somehow follows the policy of not really commenting on anything not listed under their recommendations, i.e. being ISV certified. However, out of the dozens of articles and discussions from past years, it is tough to decide which one to believe, and while some benchmarks show how the Geforce beats the Quadros even in CAD applications, others claim to prove the opposite, and there still seems to be a a general consensus of Quadros being the high end solution for high performing and stable pro-environments.

So after all, what should one believe? What do you guys think? Anyone experiences with a similar setup? And if anyone from Autodesk reads this, please feel free to share your oppinion,

best,

Bastian

[beyoungjr]

Hi,

A few years ago I would have offered a hearty congrats on leaving Mac behind for our CAD world but I have learned a lot about Bootcamp and getting better use from a good Mac.  I have helped many students extend the usefulness of their impulse purchase of a "cool college laptop", helping them learn AutoCAD in a more thorough way and also permitting them to move into Inventor.

That said, since you are getting a PC you should probably plan for what will come after your AutoCAD 2014 gets a refresh or you get into more demanding things.  The i7 processor would be the better choice and I think they are not a big cost difference vs i5 anymore.

The GTX 1050 Ti would be good for your needs in 2D and probably in 3D until you get really advanced.  The Quadro line can have an advantage but cost may not be warranted for the needs you have listed.

The GTX 1070 has the video ram and extra display ports (on desktop card) but costs as much as the Quadro P2000.

You can generally get a port splitter to run dual displays but video memory isn't as efficient without the seperate ports.

If you want to keep digesting specs you should look at details on "Vector" graphics applications (CAD & similar fields) with these cards, and weigh your decision less on "Raster" graphics (gaming).

Much Luck,

Blaine

[Anonymous]

Hey Blaine,

thanks for your reply, just to make that clear: I just specified the 2014 version as for some reason people sometimes stated that with older versions there might have been a reason for Quadro for reasons OpenGL-DirectX compatibility (I dont know up until to what point and why exactly), but will definitely be upgrading to newer Autocad versions eventually, yet still only 2D, 3D is only Rhino 6.

That the Quadro series can have an advantage is exactly the "general consensus" kind of thing one often hears, yet in benchmarks and critical remarks on the whole ISV procedure, people claim the opposite. The 1070 is not available for my chosen laptops, only P1000, P2000 or GTX 1050ti, all Max-Q versions. I used to compare them by general benchmarks and especially checked on CAD related comments if available.

Best,

Basti

[pendean]

Basic AutoCAD system requirements for an average user:
An i5 or i7 processor running at 3GHZ or higher native clock speed.
8GB Ram
A video card with 2GB Ram or more.
If a laptop, 15" screen minimum size: if you want to use it with an external monitor (so you can get a smaller laptop screen), you need to make sure the external monitor can be run at HD display settings (not the low end 1024x768 common on cheap laptops).
A harddrive large enough to hold all of your files: 500GB is good, 1TB is better.

My personal 'upgraded' suggestions for 90% of users out there (you can always add more if you feel you can justify it):
Desktop: i7-7700 clocked up to 4.2Ghz, 16GB RAM (minimum), 512GB SSD (minimum), GTX1080 4GB or Quadro M2000 4GB (minimum)
Laptop: i7-6820HQ, 16GB RAM (minimum), 512GB SSD (minimum), Quadro M2000M 2GB or FirePro W5170M 2GB (minimum)

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your recommendations pendan. I think both requirements are met, however, they do not really help me further with the questions regarding certified vs non-certified GPUs. Interestingly, also you propose to use ISV certified ones, for any specific reason?

So after all, if one has to choose for a workstation for CAD work with P1000/2000 Max-Q (P52 or P1) or one with GTX 1050ti Max-Q (X1 Extreme), what would you choose?

[pendean]

No one around here is going to tell you which exact make/model to purchase, just as many people use and prefer your three GPUs as they dislike them.

As for certifications by Autodesk, the gpu manufacturer is the one that does the testing and submits the results to Autodesk: some don't care to do so, others do, it depends on them and not Autodesk. Just as many of us AutoCAD users have certified and uncertified GPUs in use.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your reply, understandable that nowbody can do the decision for me, however, I am still confused to what extent I will be running into compatibility issues. Neither the P1000 MaxQ nor the 1050ti MaxQ are on the certified list  for AutoCAD 2014 of Autodesk. Can I expect them to run fine, if they are happening to run with newer versions of AutoCAD?

[pendean · Accepted solution]

AutoCAD 2014 is old and requires Windows 8.1 or WIndows 7, it is not supported in Win10 https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/Windows-... (translation: no one including Autodesk is doing anything with that old program or the hardware to run it)

This website has some good basic information to help with your decision making https://picknotebook.com/blog/the-best-laptop-for-autocad/

[FoodMarketDesigns]

I'm late here, but I've used both 1050ti and currently the P2000 in my Lenovo P1 laptop. Both MaxQ designs. Neither have supported drivers via AutoCAD. Both run equally horribly. IF I was to do it over again I'd get the laptop with the GeForce GPU knowing that Autodesk doesn't care about MaxQ designs apparently. 

[Anonymous]

I would say recommendations are going to be wasted resources: an i5 11600k and a GTX 1050TI is enough