Fusion 360 running extremely slow on Surface Pro 4 i7 256gb storage 16gb of RAM

[macsayem]

My current setup is a Surface Pro 4 with 256gb of storage and 16gb of ram and i7 processor. I have attached a screenshot of the full GPU settings as well. Whenever I am running Fusion 360 it runs so painfully slow. No movements are ever fluid and it always freezes for 1-2 seconds between each action. I figure this shouldn't be the case given I have 16gb of RAM  and the Intel Iris 540 has 8gb of ram. I have looked into this issue and have tried everything I can think of. I changed the power options to max performance mode as well as driving the most recent graphics card driver. I still have awful performance when running Fusion. For some reason on the graphics diagnostic panel it is showing it is only using 128mb of the GPU ram which does not sound correct at all. I also have attached a screenshot of the graphics diagnostics in Fusion as well. If anyone has any suggestions at all it would be greatly appreciated. I want to use this program so bad but is so painful to use at the quality it is running at.

[ahreum.ryu]

Hi @macsayem, 

I'm sorry to hear that.

Does it happen in any models or a specific model? 

It looks that your graphics driver installed by up to date. Hmm,, 

Have you seen this articles which can improve performance in Fusion?

1. Change to Direct X9

2. Setting for Max performance in Surface Pro 4

3. Change graphics option 

• 1) Open Performance Information and Tools by opening the Control Panel. In the search box, type Performance Information and Tools, and then, in the list of results, click Performance Information and Tools.
• 2) Click Adjust visual effects. Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
• 3) Click the Visual Effects tab, click Adjust for best performance, and then click OK. (For a less drastic option, select Let Windows choose what’s best for my computer.)

Please let me know whether it works. 

Many thanks, 

Ahreum. 

[macsayem]

Unfortunatley none of those solutions worked. It is still running so painfully slow, it is basically unusable. I am confident it isn’t a hardware issue because I know people with a lower end model of surface who run it much more fluidly then I can by far. I tried uninstalling an reinstalling and that did nothing as well. Any other suggestions? @ahreum.ryu

[ahreum.ryu]

Hi @macsayem, 

Sorry for the late response. I have been trying to figure it out with my Surface3.  I have the lower specifications but it doesn't seem to be slow. 

I would like to know more detail information. 

1. Surface Pro 4 Driver and Firmware: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49498

2. Graphics driver 

    I googled your driver but it doesn't seem that version is different you shared. could you check whether this is correct? 

    https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/88358/Intel-Iris-Graphics-540

3. Are you using Antivirus program? if yes, could you configure it? Here is how to configure it. 

4. It sometimes happens with Screencast. Have you installed Screencast? if yes, could you update it? 

5. If you update all of the dirvers, could you uninstall Fusion 360 and reinstall again?  Fusion 360 installed in hidden folders so please delete all of the related files. Here is how to clean uninstall 

If you switch to Offline mode, is it the same? 

I look forward to your reply

Many thanks, 

Ahreum. 

[peter.tWDTFX]

I stumbled upon this thread as I recently upgraded to an i7 Surface Pro 4 (similar to the OP's but 8GB RAM), and performance was generally pretty bad in terms of graphics - most visible when orbiting around a component using the touch screen.

After tearing my hair out trying to find new drivers, etc. and not getting anywhere, I changed the setting in Preferences >> General to set it to "DirectX 9" mode, and voila! Graphics performance is MUCH better.

I then went to my desktop machine (16GB i7-4790S w/ GeForce 1030) and set it to DX9, and it too is running much faster!

This is kind of counterintuitive as I've read some other advice on this board that DirectX 11 should be the more performant mode, and DirectX 9 is mainly there for compatibility/legacy reasons. And it's not like these two GPUs (Intel Iris 540, and nVidia GeForce 1030) are particularly old fashioned or in need of legacy care and attention.

I'm kind of wondering if this might be some sort of performance bug in the DirectX 11 implementation in Fusion 360? I would have expected that nVidia at least would be keeping up to date with DX11 performance given their gaming reputation.

[engineguy]

@macsayem

Have you tried setting the Graphics nVidia control panel to "point" specifically at a given program when that program is launched, it can sometimes help. See image.

Particularly when the Graphics card may not be the best one for the job, for example the geForce cards are very good but are not really the card to have for Cad-CAM use, most of the Cad-CAM software vendors do recommend the nVidia Quadro series cards, they are apparently better suited for the workload in Cad-CAM environments.

My current PC doesn`t have anything like your level of hardware, it is 5 1/2 years old and has a very old, slow 3rd gen i7 2600 running @ 3.4GHz, 16Gb RAM, an old early SSD drive and an nVidia Quardo 600 with 1Gb of old DDR3 memory, Runs DirecX 11 no problem and is SLOWER on DirectX 9, OS is good old (Super stable) Win 7 Pro 64bit and yet I can work all day with big files and never crash or "go slow", the only slow downs I ever get are when my local cable internet connection is getting "hammered" or when Fusion 360 itself is on a bit of a slow down and then I get an on screen notification to tell me it is Fusion

I didn`t buy an "off the shelf" PC as they are not built with Cad-CAM users in mind, I got a local computer shop to build one for me, they researched the software requirements and built to suit, it was actually cheaper and way, way faster, I have had it sitting side by side with apparently much more powerful computers (Dell and Lenovo) and running the same Cad-CAM software and beat them hands down every time, goes to the old "get what you need", not what the sales people tell you to have

Regards

Rob

[HughesTooling]

Although Quadro cards are generally recommended for CAD most CAD systems use openGL and Quadro cards are optimised for openGL.

Fusion uses directx and @PhilProcarioJr made a post a while ago that he'd tested a couple of Quadro cards against GeForce cards and the GeForces cards perform better and definitely better bang per buck.

Mark