Hardware question from a newcomer

[Anonymous]

I am a hobbyist and would like to use Fusion 360.  My current laptop is below spec graphics wise for the software so I am going to buy a new computer.  I have three questions:

1. Is the system shown below good enough?

2. The computer I am looking at doesn’t seem to have a wireless card - will a USB wireless adapter be OK (my location works Fine with my current laptop)?

3. Our NBN internet connection can be a bit flaky - will this adversely affect the saving of my work?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Intel® Xeon® E3-1225 v5 Processor (3.3 GHz, up to 3.7 GHz w/Turbo Boost, 8 MB cache, 4 core, 80W)

· 16 GB (2x8 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory

· NVIDIA Quadro P620 Graphics

· 256GB SATA SSD and 1TB 7200RPM SATA HDD

[TrippyLighting]

That'll work fine but might be more than you need.

No Xeon processor or Quadro graphics needed just to run Fusion 360, however for other CAD systems Quadro might be worthwhile.

On the following advise I have to send ahead an opinion alert. Based on 3 decades of experience in CAD 3D modeling and computer graphics I'd say focus on using robust techniques, efficient use of tools and often enough bit of resourcefulness. There are a lot of young and unfortunately even some seasoned males around that replace finesse with brute force and intelligence with chest pounding.

@Neil_Cross is a CAD veteran and has done a number of youtube videos to discuss the topic and really knows what he's talking about.

He's taught classes about it @ Autodesk University

[Neil_Cross]

+1

That workstation will run Fusion 360 fine, but for a fraction of the price of that you could buy something different and Fusion will run much faster too.

It's difficult to tell you what to buy as I don't know where you're located or what your budget is, but as @TrippyLighting mentioned I have a recorded class from AU2018 which explains everything you need to know about what kind of PC you need.  It's an Autodesk Inventor class but literally everything applies identically over to Fusion 360.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks Peter for your response.  I will have a look at Neil Cross’s tutorial.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Thanks Neil for your reply and advice.  I will have a look at your tutorial.

[Anonymous]

Neil, I have just finished watching your Autodesk Tutorial which was an eye opener for me.  You will not be surprised to hear that I thought the most important issue when looking for a CAD computer to run Fusion 360 would be the graphics card not the CPU clock speed.

If there are any newcomers to Fusion 360 like me reading this thread and looking for hardware advice I recommend they invest the time to listen to Neil’s tutorial.

Some feedback for you Neil.  I live in Australia and pumped your “Workstation Slayer” list into the Australian Amazon website.  It came up with a price of AUD $1,391! I think they have a lend of us here at times.

That system I posted in the OP was a HP Z240 for $1,199 (down from $1,759).  Going by your advice it could be a little bit light on for clock speed (3.7 GHz max) and VRAM (2Gb) but as I am just an amateur inventor (retired) and the extent of my computer tinkering is upgrading RAM it is looking like an attractive option to me because it is right on my budget.  The offer closes on 30/9 so I have a couple of weeks to do some more research.

Once again thank you - I feel as if I am far better equipped to make a purchase now.