Laptop spec - graphics card spec

[jonathanpcrossley]

Hello.

I am looking at laptops for Revit use.  Two identified have different graphics cards: NVIDIA RTX 4070 andRTX 3000.

The latter is higher spec, but is not on the 'certified' list.    Is it worth going for the higher spec one, in spite of this?

[HVAC-Novice]

Certified list is useless. So are the Autodesk hardware recommendations. " Certified"  only means at some point Autodesk used that card (and driver) and it worked. They don't test everything and also don't test newer drivers. 

Get powerful hardware and use the driver that manufacturer recommends. 

https://www.autodesk.com/support/system-requirements/certified-graphics-hardware/revit

They list nothing for W11 and newer than R2021. If you follow their advice, you buy outdated hardware and run outdated drivers on an OS that is EOL. 

[jonathanpcrossley]

Thanks, sounds like good advice.

[jonathanpcrossley]

.....However.... Of two options suggested by our supplier the RTX4070 has a slower processor (Ultra 7 155H) against an Ultra 9 185H with the RTX3000.  Is the main processor more critical to Revit than the graphics card?

[HVAC-Novice]

Yes, Revit uses CPU a lot more. And also lot of single-threading. 

Make sure the laptop has good cooling. All those specs are meaningless when they get hot and throttle. i don't know laptops well, but the clock speed difference is only 4.8GHz. vs. 5.1GHz. sure better, but only if you have cooling for it. 

But honestly, if you want performance, get a good desktop. 

I also don't know GPU well, but it looks like the RTX 3000 only has 6GB of VRAM? Verify that. At minimum, you want 8GB depending on resolution you will use. GPU doesn't need ot be excessive, but has to be good enough.