Graphics card question

[Anonymous]

My current computer triggers messages from Fusion 360 that graphics memory is too small on my computer (100MB).

I am trying to buy new 8th gen i7 based computer with 16 GB RAM.  Many of them have embedded Intel UHD Graphics 620, which seems to have no graphics memory, and uses system memory instead.

Is this good enough to run Fusion 360 without errors?

Janusz

[docara]

Hi Janusz,

This depends on what you want to do, and what else you need to do with your rig.

I am using a machine which was purchased for the odd letter, emails and browsing - Windows 10 (upgraded from 7), 3GB 1333 RAM shared with 512M for integrated graphics, Athlon II X2 1666MHz. I have tried 768 and 1G but went back to 512

I'm still learning but it's more than enough to do what I need and I have had no major issues but I have not thrown the kitchen sink at it or tried to design the next lunar lander!!!! All the tutorials I have found on the Internet have worked fine. The only thing I have noticed is the snapping to and selecting of lines are not as quick or smooth as more powerful systems could be and I have posted quite a few questions here only to realise afterward things worked fine but I was just impatient ( I didn't wait the 0.5 second I needed to). There is the occasional lack when there is a lot of recalculation to do but an SSD/ more memory would probably sort that because all I can hear is the hard drive thrashing for a minute.

If you are just learning then what you posted should work fine but if you want to start doing serious photorealistic rendering, massive Photoshop work etc then you will be stuffed. Like all things heavily graphical - ideally you always do need a dedicated graphics card, but you probably don't need a stupidly high end gaming GC for 'normal' Fusion work - just a dedicated graphics card of some sort with good memory. 

You should also research the motherboards data transfer systems eg Hard drive and Memory busses for possible bottlenecks in data transfer. 

In practice I could stick with what I have and just add an SSD drive and some more memory but I don't NEED to have either for what I do things would just run smoother - I am a hobbyist time is not money! But the machine takes an AGE to fire up Fusion and other programs it is really slow booting up hence the SSD. The Athlon is way past its sell by date and only dual cored with only 2M cache (I think) but I can still use Fusion.

Anyway, have a look at the enclosed file. Look at the number of components I have, Joints, Analysis imported McMaster bolts and then look at the task manager values. Processor peaking at 29%, no HDD activity 1.8GB memory usage (with Edge open) using 516MB memory for graphics.

Lastly, I'm sure I read something here a while back that F360 uses DirectX and not OpenGL (please check)

Hope this helps

Matt

[Anonymous]

Matt,

Thanks for feedback.

Your computer of 512MB meets requirements.

I was getting error messages of too small a graphics memory during tutorials, and I couldn't repeat tutorial instructions.

Janusz

[TrippyLighting]

I'd probably go with a less powerful processor and get a dedicated graphics card wit 2Gig of memory. For rendering a i7 is great because rendering uses all 4 physical cores and all 4 virtual cores to the max (Hyper threading).

However, creating geometry does not use hyper threading and relatively little multi threading. IF you are buying the machine for Fusion 360 the  even an i5 might be fine.

You can also reduce all the graphics settings to minimum by turning all the graphics gimmicks of.

[seatonA9RG6]

Okay, just yesterday, I impulse bought a Razer Blade Stealth 13.3" laptop (2018 Model RZ09-0239 with Core i7-8550U and 16GB RAM). I had been using Fusion 360 on an old MacBook Air (A1466, 8GB RAM).



Here's the specs link for the Razer: https://www.razerzone.com/Gaming-System/Razer-Blade-Stealth-H2-H3/p/RZ09-01964E31-R3U1



Okay, on the surface, the key differences are obvious: a Windows laptop versus a Mac laptop, both with Core i7 CPUs (but different generations with the Razer having a new 8th-gen quad-core processor). The MacBook Air has "Intel HD 5000" (1536MB) integrated graphics whilst the Razer has Intel® UHD Graphics 620. Even though neither machine has a discrete GPU, I expected the brand new machine to outperform a base model Mac from the 2013/2014 era. But here's my out-of-box, post-setup experience:



* The Razer has extreme tearing in the Fusion 360 window -- even with a blank document. Just moving the empty window around the screen results in the interface bits trailing behind the main window - there's an annoying delay (All OS and software bits are current, including firmware). The Macbook Air doesn't have any display issues like this -- I'm trying to diagnose it now.



* POWER (PLUGGED IN): This tearing is directly related to whether or not the laptop is plugged into A/C power. The graphics are improved [of course] on A/C -- this is not a problem with the MacBook Air. Not at all. Of course, I want to operate it without A/C frequently, so this is a deal-breaker.



* I thought the newer integrated graphics model would work for my simplistic models (nothing I do is complex) and didn't give it a thought. The age difference (and price difference!) in the two machines is large. I expected better from such similar hardware.



* I also shopped for other machines in this range, but they all seem to have the same integrated graphics (620) unless you splurge for a laptop with a discrete GPU. Razer has a GTX 1060 in the more-expensive and larger laptop.



* This laptop has (for some reason) a 4K display with touch. It's a really nice display that I have no issue with (but not great to read in my sunlit kitchen). If you turn the resolution down, the aspect ratio for the screen limits the usability of Fusion 360 at lower resolutions, making it a "why bother" scenario. I suspect the extra real estate is causing some serious perf issues in general but I haven't done a variety of testing.



* Both machines have different generations of Core i7, but both are rated similar clock speeds: 1.7/1.8 Ghz base speed and a much higher burst "turbo" speed (3.3 Ghz for MacBook Air and 4.0 for the Razer). I'm suspecting that Fusion 360 doesn't kick the CPU into burst mode -- at least not with an empty document open, so it's just running at the base 1.8



* Obviously, the old MacBook Air doesn't have a discrete GPU either, but Fusion 360 seems perfectly fine on it for simple models.



TAKEAWAY: While the Razer is good in general and seems like solid hardware and build quality (this 4K touchscreen is awesome), I'm going to return it and get a new machine with a discrete GPU -- so 15" MacBook Pro it is. Apple has the best trackpads on the market anyway, and I'm just done messing around. (Also debating returning it and going up to the Razer Blade 14" with GTX 1060.) Either way, if you can get a GPU, get a GPU.

[HughesTooling]

What's the screen res on the MacBook, if it's less than 4k then it's going to have an easier time running Fusion.

Mark

[Anonymous]

Thanks

Janusz

[Anonymous]

I got feedback from customer support:

"The graphic card you mentioned with 8th gen i7 based computer, UHD Graphics 620, should be enough to run Fusion 360 without problems since I see that it shares memory with RAM and Fusion 360 only requires 512mb."

Janusz

case closed

[cekuhnen]

@Anonymous

Integrated GPUs (inside the CPU) use the main PC RAM thus you have more VRAM than dedicated GPUs.

Problem is that RAM is slower than VRAM (RAM the GPU uses).

I used Fusion on may different systems and I can say that honestly as long as your model is not very dense

it will run well on low end.

Obviously if your design is dense - has many parts you might experience a slow down.

But every workstation PC you can bring to a crawl with the right CAD model.

What is bad about Fusion is that while the 3D view speed improved it sill is not a very optimized - fast system to be honest.

The way how Fusion calculates and shows edges and all those 3D viewport effects can slow it down significantly.

When I screen record sometimes fusion cannot show the edges instantly - they come with a delay.

But most of those effects can also be turned off.

As long as you are not building an engine I really think any entry level PC/Mac will be fine even with weak GPUs.

i would still stay away from integrated gpu models because in the past I experienced display issues in Fusion with them.

My computer is from 2008 - I run two GTX 970 never had an issue.

At work I have iMacs and PCs with integrated GPUs also no issue.

[Anonymous]

Thanks

Janusz