Graphics Cards

[homeEEDS3]

I'm looking for a new laptop that will easily run Fusion. I've been searching the Forum for info on what to buy and as far as I can see a gaming graphics card will work as well or better than those traditionally recommended for CAD.

I am looking at 'gaming' laptops and the one I'm interested in has a Nvidia RTX3060 with 6 GB ram. I'm assuming this will be more than adequate for most Fusion work.  There is the option to have the RTX3070 with 8GB ram but I'm thinking this will be overkill.

It has an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H Processor, 8 Cores and 3.20 GHz, up to 4.40 GHz clock speed with 8GB ram that can be upgraded if needed later on, or now if 16GB makes quite a difference.

Compared to traditional CAD workstations this isn't a high spec or the right type of graphics card but from the system requirements and reading on this forum it seems this will be plenty good enough for regular use.

 I'm not building huge models but my current PC runs quite slowly at times with onboard graphics and 8GB ram, and a much older, slower, processor.  Now I'm starting to use Fusion regularly I want to get something that will breeze through for at least the next 3 years, hopefully more.

Any thoughts and recommendations please.

[g-andresen · Accepted solution]

Hi,

1. graphic > I assume that this will be more than sufficient  

YES

2. CPU > speed is all you need > number of cores doesn't matter because Fusion mainly uses only one core.

günther

[barry9UDQ6 · Accepted solution]

On a slight tangent about GPU's for 3D Cad, this is an excellent explanation of the GTX vs Quadro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT6YwF7NUSk&t=1308s 

RAM is by far the biggest problem. Admittedly I open and work with some huge models in Fusion. I have seen my RAM using just over 20gb a few times.

A professional Cad workstation should have 32gb of RAM. But it's impossible to say what your requirements are and will be over the next 3 years. I think your current choice of GPU is plenty, plenty good enough.

My GTX 1060 easily handles whatever I have thrown at it, even when running at 20 gigs RAM usage.

[tommVS2MB]

I have been using AWS when i need more power or memory or processors

1) It might be possible to test a configuration on AWS or

2) use AWS for f360 and a cheap pc for connecting.

Tom

[mawilsonWCR]

FWIW, I'm running Fusion 360 with a Surface laptop Core i5, 8GB RAM, integrated Intel graphics. Admittedly, I'm not really stressing the program and it will, on occasion, take a bit to do some things, e.g. local renders. On the other end, I have done a few FEA sims locally.

[homeEEDS3]

Thanks all, helpful info and looks like the laptop will be good for me.  The link to the TFI video as interesting to watch, I've watched several of his videos on Inventor when I was trying that out last year.

I discovered at work this week that the macbook I am using has a 4Gb graphics card and when I switch off the power saving for the graphics, forcing it to use the graphics card not switching between it and the on board graphics, fusion was running much better. Most noticable was the model moving around very smoothly with no pauses and much quicker/smoother responce to the 3D mouse. Larger sketches weren't pausing when I make changes as much and the resource monitor wasn't showing the macbook working hard in any area when I tried monitoring it. (before any comments after reading around this forum I now realise I should be keeping sketches as simple as possible and I'm trying to adapt my workflow as I move forward 😀)

After that I might stick with the macbook, but it was a light Fusion week, I'll see how it goes when I have much more work on.

[barry9UDQ6]

Laptop graphics cards are problematic, they often under-perform in comparison to the exact same model in a desktop. As you have noticed, the problem is that the laptop PSU cannot supply enough power.