11th Gen Intel Gfx (Tigerlake) support

[jonrbloom]

I've just upgraded my PC to an 11th generation Core i7-1165G7 (Tigerlake) based laptop. On this system Fusion warns that "This computer's graphics driver or hardware may be limiting performance".

Yes, it's integrated gfx. But the 11th Gen CPU's have vastly improved gfx over even Icelake (10th Gen), so it surprises me that Fusion thinks this system is hamstrung. I have the very latest gfx drivers, and 16GB of RAM.

Has Fusion 360 been tested on 11th Gen CPU's yet? If so, what does the program do to gauge whether the GPU is fast enough?

Fusion 360's graphics diagnostics reports:

[GPU Information]
GPU Device: Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics
GPU RAM: 128 MB (Integrated card)
GPU Driver API: DirectX 11.0
GPU Driver Version: 27.20.100.8935
GPU Driver Date: 11/05/2020

[Graphics Effects Settings]
Anti Aliasing: Off
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Object Shadow: Off
Ground Shadow: Off
Ground Reflection: Off
Selection Display Style: Normal
Transparency Effect: Better Display

[Limit effects to optimize performance]
Off

[lance.carocci]

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what does the program do to gauge whether the GPU is fast enough?

GPU RAM: 128 MB (Integrated card)

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This is usually the cause. It's a quick and dirty way to detect integrated graphics, which might not be so bad for CAD today, but it was a different story in 2013 when Fusion 360 first released. Additionally, where something like Inventor is primarily ran by enterprise workstations, Fusion 360 also supports hobbyists and students who often run Fusion on lower-spec consumer devices - this is a way of letting users know that a dedicated GPU is recommended (but not required, since you can dismiss it as if nothing happened).

[jonrbloom]

Thanks for replying.

I see. So the program simply assumes gfx may be under-powered if it detects Gfx Stolen Memory, but it doesn't make any tweaks to settings in response? I ask, because I noticed that most of the effects are disabled according to the diag output and couldn't see anywhere in preferences to enable these again.

With Icelake and especially Tigerlake, Intel Gfx becomes much more discrete like in performance, and this will only improve further with upcoming generations. It may be less confusing if you could disable this warning for modern Core processors.

But, if this warning doesn't change any actual behaviour, then I agree it really doesn't matter too much beyond the initial head-scratching.

[lance.carocci · Accepted solution]

I don't think the notification does anything to graphics by itself, in part because Fusion 360's defaults tend to lean towards the fast side of graphics rather than pretty, but the detection logic and settings layout could probably be improved.

In the meantime, if you cannot find an option under Preferences > Graphics, try looking under the Display Settings menu in the bottom-center Navigation bar (especially Effects).