i found some great gaming laptops and i'm currently trying to decide between 2 of them. all specs are the same, prices are exactly the same, but the only difference between the two laptops is that 1 laptop has
a 512 MB vid card with a 7200 rpm hdd
and the other laptop has
a 1024 MB vid card with a 5400 rmp hdd
does any one have any opinions and/or experience they would like to share about which makes a better machine for use arch grad school?
Why don't you get a 256 mb workstation vid card and really fast processor that will actually help you render and model in 3d than buying a supercharged $3500 gaming laptop whose $500+ video card that will be never be used the way it was meant to be?
Please, please research this stuff before buying these things, so many kids buy gaming laptops thinking it'll make 'em work faster in Rhino/CAD/whatever and all they're doing is wasting money instead of buying something that they can actually get 100% out of.
this is part of my research. i hope a 2.53mhz intel core 2 processor is enough, but ppl think i should upgrade to the 2.8 now then that is something i should consider. but there also programs like revit that actually require a min of 1g of vid ram., so i wanted to hear from other people's experience which items are worth paying extra for what items are worth sacrificing. anything is helpful.
ther, i've done what your about to do and trust me, gaming cards, no matter how much ram they have, are not as good for working in CAD environments as workstation cards (eg, NVIDIA QUADRO, ATI FIREGL). This is due to the different drivers for each card. It is possible, though not completely recommended, to hack gaming cards to run on workstation card drivers as they have the same chip design. This will improve performance for some CAD programs, but it is not a cure-all. Different CAD programs also work better with different cards. My advice: wait until school starts, get a feel for the studio, see what programs you're going to use most, check the manu. websites on what cards they recommend, and then make your purchase based around their advice.
good advice A, but i'm not sure the latest generation of cards can be hacked (softmodded) like the older cards (6800gt into an FX3400...etc).
the only thing with workstation cards is that their innyrds are the exactly the same as the gaming equivalent so you are paying, in some cases double or triple for only the specialized drivers and for a student, may or may not be money well spent.
It is commonly said around sites like cgsociety cgsociety that a high-end gaming card gets you a lot more for your money. I would not recommend getting 1gb of memory on the card if it is a slower processing card... do not think that the wireframe models are held in video memory, they are not. 1gb of memory would only come in handy if you were using gobs and gobs of textures at really high resolutions or gaming with every texture AA setting maxed out.
FWIW: I currently have a quadro FX3400, love it, but am going to upgrade to a modern high-end gaming card with more processing (poly-pushing) power.
as already mentioned... it's best to see what programs you'll be using and decide from there. In some modeling programs (modo, sketchup,...) there is no difference between gaming and workstation class cards.
the 512 9700GT will <probably> still be faster with texture work simply because it'll process them faster. it can't store as many in video ram, but it also has to hold on to them for less time and the chip can access the ones that are there quicker.
if model geometry isn't held in video memory, how the hell does a video card render an image on your screen?
I would stay away from newegg
one of my coworkers bought his laptop from new egg..and the system never was able to turn on.. he tried contacting new egg several times and they kept giving him the runarounds.. they tried suggesting that he might have damaged the laptop...several weeks more passed and nothing....He then transferred to another office the company has (from US to Austrailia)...before he left he told me he would never buy from newegg again...
All I know is, years ago I updated my gaming rig from a 32 mb card to a massively powerful (for the time) 256 mb gaming card. Did it help my CAD performance at all? Hell no. I still stand by the fact that you should ask the software makers what they recommend and go off their recommendation.
It is safer to get a laptop with the latest workstation graphics cards (i.e 1GB NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700, 512MB AMD FireGL V5700) as they are certified for optimum performance in software such as Maya, Autocad, 3DS Max. Gaming cards are as the the name says... for gaming not for modeling.
Lenovo just reintroduced a workstation laptop line and the 15" model is a bargain:
Didn't Dell also release some new workstation laptops? I would think about waiting till you get to college or ask some students who study there at the moment if you know any. In regards to the hard drive speed, I thought it was only a benefit if you're using it for video editing or music production otherwise you're fine with the slower one. Another thing about gaming laptops is that they have terrible battery life and they're usually heavier (it does make a difference when you're lugging that bastard around).
this is my feeble attempt at explaining my modern jackass logic and I'm definitely not claiming to be an expert on the subject but from what i've come across (and observed) is that the actual geometry for the file is held in system RAM (not video RAM) and is pushed to the display by the video card after the cpu pushes the polygons out of system RAM. Hence, this is why you see, upon screen regens of heavy scenes, the cpu useage go bezerk (since viewport performance is not multi-threaded this operation cannot use multiple cores or processors, as such, you'll see proportional system cpu usage per core... 25% for quad, 50% core, 100% for single core systems). the video card merely renders the image on the screen translating a 3D image characterized by vertices (polygons) and lines into a 2D image formed by pixels on your monitor. [rant=end]
...it is not the means by which the file is held and manipulated, but is the means by which the on-screen image is rendered.
Aug 19, 08 8:46 pm ·
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512 MB vid & 7200 rpm hdd v 1g vid & 5400 rmp hdd
quick question
i found some great gaming laptops and i'm currently trying to decide between 2 of them. all specs are the same, prices are exactly the same, but the only difference between the two laptops is that 1 laptop has
a 512 MB vid card with a 7200 rpm hdd
and the other laptop has
a 1024 MB vid card with a 5400 rmp hdd
does any one have any opinions and/or experience they would like to share about which makes a better machine for use arch grad school?
It would be easier to answer with specifics. If we know nothing else it will be hard to know what will be the main limiting factor of the rig.
Could you provide links?
kungapa...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220345
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220377
get the 1024/5400. you will probably end up replacing the HDD at some point anyway, while the video card is probably not upgradeable.
but in my view, the faster disk will make more difference than more video memory, unless you intend to play games.
even though it's a 1GB card, it's slower - 9600GS vs 9700GT
video ram doesn't necessarily mean speed.
the other one will feel faster....unless all you do is HUGE wireframe models.
The HD speed will be noticeable.
agfa8x, thanks.
Why don't you get a 256 mb workstation vid card and really fast processor that will actually help you render and model in 3d than buying a supercharged $3500 gaming laptop whose $500+ video card that will be never be used the way it was meant to be?
Please, please research this stuff before buying these things, so many kids buy gaming laptops thinking it'll make 'em work faster in Rhino/CAD/whatever and all they're doing is wasting money instead of buying something that they can actually get 100% out of.
this is part of my research. i hope a 2.53mhz intel core 2 processor is enough, but ppl think i should upgrade to the 2.8 now then that is something i should consider. but there also programs like revit that actually require a min of 1g of vid ram., so i wanted to hear from other people's experience which items are worth paying extra for what items are worth sacrificing. anything is helpful.
ther, i've done what your about to do and trust me, gaming cards, no matter how much ram they have, are not as good for working in CAD environments as workstation cards (eg, NVIDIA QUADRO, ATI FIREGL). This is due to the different drivers for each card. It is possible, though not completely recommended, to hack gaming cards to run on workstation card drivers as they have the same chip design. This will improve performance for some CAD programs, but it is not a cure-all. Different CAD programs also work better with different cards. My advice: wait until school starts, get a feel for the studio, see what programs you're going to use most, check the manu. websites on what cards they recommend, and then make your purchase based around their advice.
revit needs min. 1GB of video ram?
methinks you read that wrong.
good advice A, but i'm not sure the latest generation of cards can be hacked (softmodded) like the older cards (6800gt into an FX3400...etc).
the only thing with workstation cards is that their innyrds are the exactly the same as the gaming equivalent so you are paying, in some cases double or triple for only the specialized drivers and for a student, may or may not be money well spent.
It is commonly said around sites like cgsociety cgsociety that a high-end gaming card gets you a lot more for your money. I would not recommend getting 1gb of memory on the card if it is a slower processing card... do not think that the wireframe models are held in video memory, they are not. 1gb of memory would only come in handy if you were using gobs and gobs of textures at really high resolutions or gaming with every texture AA setting maxed out.
FWIW: I currently have a quadro FX3400, love it, but am going to upgrade to a modern high-end gaming card with more processing (poly-pushing) power.
as already mentioned... it's best to see what programs you'll be using and decide from there. In some modeling programs (modo, sketchup,...) there is no difference between gaming and workstation class cards.
cow:
the 512 9700GT will <probably> still be faster with texture work simply because it'll process them faster. it can't store as many in video ram, but it also has to hold on to them for less time and the chip can access the ones that are there quicker.
if model geometry isn't held in video memory, how the hell does a video card render an image on your screen?
In my opinion
I would stay away from newegg
one of my coworkers bought his laptop from new egg..and the system never was able to turn on.. he tried contacting new egg several times and they kept giving him the runarounds.. they tried suggesting that he might have damaged the laptop...several weeks more passed and nothing....He then transferred to another office the company has (from US to Austrailia)...before he left he told me he would never buy from newegg again...
I dont how his issue ended....
All I know is, years ago I updated my gaming rig from a 32 mb card to a massively powerful (for the time) 256 mb gaming card. Did it help my CAD performance at all? Hell no. I still stand by the fact that you should ask the software makers what they recommend and go off their recommendation.
It is safer to get a laptop with the latest workstation graphics cards (i.e 1GB NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700, 512MB AMD FireGL V5700) as they are certified for optimum performance in software such as Maya, Autocad, 3DS Max. Gaming cards are as the the name says... for gaming not for modeling.
Lenovo just reintroduced a workstation laptop line and the 15" model is a bargain:
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/controller/e/web/LenovoPortal/en_US/catalog.workflow:category.details?current-catalog-id=12F0696583E04D86B9B79B0FEC01C087¤t-category-id=F2A3EC7C45634AE8AB0F26CCAC867854
Complex, you beautiful, beautiful person. I think I just found my new laptop!
Didn't Dell also release some new workstation laptops? I would think about waiting till you get to college or ask some students who study there at the moment if you know any. In regards to the hard drive speed, I thought it was only a benefit if you're using it for video editing or music production otherwise you're fine with the slower one. Another thing about gaming laptops is that they have terrible battery life and they're usually heavier (it does make a difference when you're lugging that bastard around).
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/landing/en/emea/precision?c=uk&l=en&s=gen
check the US site.
@manamana ....
this is my feeble attempt at explaining my
modern jackass logic and I'm definitely not claiming to be an expert on the subject but from what i've come across (and observed) is that the actual geometry for the file is held in system RAM (not video RAM) and is pushed to the display by the video card after the cpu pushes the polygons out of system RAM. Hence, this is why you see, upon screen regens of heavy scenes, the cpu useage go bezerk (since viewport performance is not multi-threaded this operation cannot use multiple cores or processors, as such, you'll see proportional system cpu usage per core... 25% for quad, 50% core, 100% for single core systems). the video card merely renders the image on the screen translating a 3D image characterized by vertices (polygons) and lines into a 2D image formed by pixels on your monitor. [rant=end]
...it is not the means by which the file is held and manipulated, but is the means by which the on-screen image is rendered.
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