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    • W Offline
      Wazzer
      last edited by

      HI Guys

      I am still trying to spec a new company laptop and was hoping you can give me some advice.

      I would really like to have a Lenovo W700 notebook with the Nvidia Quadro FX3700 1GB with Intel x9100 CPU however it is very very expensive!!

      I am looking at a DELL alternative with the following specs for about 25% less than the Lenovo
      It has Intell T9800 Core 2 Duo CPU
      Nvidia Quadro FX3700 1GB
      4GB 1067MHz DDR3 RAM
      200Gb 7200rpm SATA HD
      17" WUXGA 1920x1200 LCD Panel
      All running on XP pro SP3

      Can you guys tell me if this would work well with SU

      Alternitivley

      Can anyone recommend and alternative NoteBook with similar specs that would be cheaper?

      Thanks for the feedback

      Ben

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      • W Offline
        Wazzer
        last edited by

        Would it be worth considering downgrading to the FX3700 512Mb card and upgrading the processor?
        Which would have bigger impact on graphics performance where SU is concerned?

        Many thanks

        BEn

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        • thomthomT Offline
          thomthom
          last edited by

          SU is more CPU hungry than GPU hungry.

          Thomas Thomassen — SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
          List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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          • W Offline
            Wazzer
            last edited by

            Interesting thanks you

            So a better CPU would be preferable to a high spec Graphics card.

            Cheers

            Ben

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            • brodieB Offline
              brodie
              last edited by

              Your specs look really good to me. In fact they're almost overkill for SU, which doesn't use hardware very well (eg, doesn't recognize dual processors).

              To elaborate on Thomthom's point. SU uses the processor to show the geometry and GPU for textures and shadows. Textures and shadows can be turned off while you're modeling and orbiting but you can't turn off the geometry, so the CPU is typically the more important.

              -Brodie

              steelblue http://www.steelbluellc.com

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              • AnssiA Offline
                Anssi
                last edited by

                Hi Wazzer,

                IMO you could even go to the lower spec (Quadro FX 2500 512 Mb or what the number now was, I was looking at the specs a couple of days ago) card but consider a CPU with more than 3 GHZ clock speed.

                Anssi

                securi adversus homines, securi adversus deos rem difficillimam adsecuti sunt, ut illis ne voto quidem opus esset

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                • W Offline
                  Wazzer
                  last edited by

                  Thats interesting thanks

                  So i would get as good or better performance with an X9100 processor and a Quadro FX5700 512Mb
                  Combination plus 4GB system Ram?

                  I appreciate your help guys

                  Ben

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                  • Z Offline
                    Zilonx
                    last edited by

                    Core i7 920 ou Q9650 ???? (Well, both without overclock). Does anyone have experiences, benchmarks, opinions?

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                    • R Offline
                      remus
                      last edited by

                      The i7 is the better choice for SU, as it has turbo boost and the ability to be overclocked lots, should the wish ever arise.

                      http://remusrendering.wordpress.com/

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                      • soloS Offline
                        solo
                        last edited by

                        I did a quick test using a recent very high poly model (which taxes my old dual core @ 3.20ghz)

                        Using an i7 940 (standard...not over clocked) with a geforce gtx280, 12GB Ram and Vista 64bit, I made a video of how it handles the model then I duplicated the model several times and you can see the poly's, edges, etc and also on the right is the CPU fluctuations as the load and work required to run smooth pushes the clock speed by means of the turbo function, you will also notice that when the load is low the clock speed drops way down to conserve energy.

                        [flash=900,406:2949y7ky]http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=4516551&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1[/flash:2949y7ky]

                        http://www.solos-art.com

                        If you see a toilet in your dreams do not use it.

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                        • N Offline
                          numerobis
                          last edited by

                          Geforce or Quadro? Radeon or FirePro?

                          Hi,

                          i'm planning to buy a new card.
                          so the question is...

                          • is skp faster on workstation cards? or is it better to buy one of the cheaper workstation cards (200-300€) or a bigger gaming card?
                          • looking at the latest card series, which one works better with skp - ati or nvidia?

                          i consider to buy a Radeon HD 4890 and mayby turn it into a Fire Pro.
                          Or a GeForce GTX 285.

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                          • thomthomT Offline
                            thomthom
                            last edited by

                            Was that a total of 11 million faces?

                            Thomas Thomassen — SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                            List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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                            • soloS Offline
                              solo
                              last edited by

                              Thomthom, I believe that's 1.18 million faces.
                              As you can see the rig was still very smooth. I tried a model that absolutely crippled my high clock speed dual cores in the past I did not check the face count but the size was 156mb 😲 , and it opened fast and was very smooth, the only issue was bounding boxes when orbiting with shadows on, but OMG my other rigs struggle to even open it never mind navigate without shadows on.

                              So again I say the i7 IS the best solution for SU IMO, it handles more poly's and makes more things possible.

                              i7 940
                              Asus p6 deluxe
                              64 bit Vista Ultimate
                              12GB corsair dominator ram
                              geforce gtx 280
                              1TB HD

                              http://www.solos-art.com

                              If you see a toilet in your dreams do not use it.

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                              • thomthomT Offline
                                thomthom
                                last edited by

                                @solo said:

                                I tried a model that absolutely crippled my high clock speed dual cores in the past I did not check the face count but the size was 156mb

                                Pure geometry? Or did that include textures?

                                Btw, that model you tried in that video, any chance I can test it out on my rig so I can see the difference between our rigs?

                                Thomas Thomassen — SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                                List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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                                • soloS Offline
                                  solo
                                  last edited by

                                  All geometry (no textures) This is part of it that I posted a while back, the complete file has double the amount of buildings.

                                  http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/5519/scene8noisy12jn1.jpg

                                  I will be accessing my server as soon as my weekly maintenace is done and send you the candle model.

                                  http://www.solos-art.com

                                  If you see a toilet in your dreams do not use it.

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                                  • soloS Offline
                                    solo
                                    last edited by

                                    Numerobis,

                                    I suggest the nvidia gtx 285, ATI still have stability issues with many 3D modeling apps.
                                    I would not bother with a Quadro as it performance gain if any is not noticable for the difference in price and then it's also a very limited card and chocks with heavy video editing.

                                    http://www.solos-art.com

                                    If you see a toilet in your dreams do not use it.

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                                    • thomthomT Offline
                                      thomthom
                                      last edited by

                                      Impressive model. Is that each brick modelled?
                                      I'm very interested in what you did with the brick wall on the left side of the model, where the bricks are visible only in spots. (Has this model been talked about in another thread?)

                                      Thomas Thomassen — SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                                      List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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                                      • soloS Offline
                                        solo
                                        last edited by

                                        Thanks.

                                        Yes the bricks are all modeled, on the left side I used a random push pulll to get varying depths so giving the appearance of inconsistant showing and on the other side of the road it's standard depth for clean brick appearance.
                                        This model is being used for an in-game video, my part is done (the modeling) the complete model is being textured at moment by another contractor and will be finally compiled in Max or Maya (not sure as my part is only initial modeling)
                                        I have not really discussed this model as it's part of a bigger city model that I cannot show due to a NDA.

                                        http://www.solos-art.com

                                        If you see a toilet in your dreams do not use it.

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                                        • thomthomT Offline
                                          thomthom
                                          last edited by

                                          I'll have to try that technique on my Discworld model; I want worn cobble stones in the streets; http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=18393

                                          Thomas Thomassen — SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                                          List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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                                          • soloS Offline
                                            solo
                                            last edited by

                                            Seen this?

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                                            http://www.solos-art.com

                                            If you see a toilet in your dreams do not use it.

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