sketchucation logo sketchucation
    • Login
    ℹ️ Licensed Extensions | FredoBatch, ElevationProfile, FredoSketch, LayOps, MatSim and Pic2Shape will require license from Sept 1st More Info

    Hardware recommendations

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved SketchUp Discussions
    sketchup
    409 Posts 97 Posters 81.1k Views 97 Watching
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • C Offline
      chango70
      last edited by

      Cheers. I guess I will have to wait until Jan next year for the next batch of competing Nvidia GPUs (as rumors go). I wish ATI would just sort out their OpenGL driver issues.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • thomthomT Offline
        thomthom
        last edited by

        I want my Quadro FX 3500 back.... 😞

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

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • charly2008C Offline
          charly2008
          last edited by

          Hi,
          finally, my new PC is ready for use. I've installed all the software again. Only with the driver for the Creative Audigy sound card, there are problems. Also, some older programs can't be installed any more. Now I have to try the power the PC brings.

          I have selected the following equipment:
          Processor: Intel Core i7 860
          Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3, Intel P55
          RAM: 8 GB
          Grafics card: XFX GeForce GTS 250 512 MB
          two SATA Harddisk each 350 GB
          OS: Windows 7 64-bit

          The first test with Sketchup delivered the following results:


          Test.SKP


          Test.SKP with shadows


          SU Framerate test


          SU Framerate test with shadows

          He who makes no mistakes, makes nothing

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • brodieB Offline
            brodie
            last edited by

            Good looking computer and good benchmarks there.

            -Brodie

            steelblue http://www.steelbluellc.com

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • D Offline
              dsarchs
              last edited by

              This might be a little late in answering but I'm almost positive you need two of the same card to use cross-fire (eg. (2) 5850 CARDS).
              I'd be wary of spending a bunch of money on a workstation graphics card for SU. The only real difference between "gaming" cards and workstation cards are the drivers and the tech. support. For some programs -- 3d Studio Max, for example, the drivers make a huge difference. I haven't heard that they've been optimized for SU.
              For ATI cards, the DirectX 11 seems to be useless for anything less than a 5850 as the cards aren't powerful enough to compensate for the performance hit from using dx11 instead of dx10. The 5000 series is MUCH more energy efficient but you can get more power/$ from using the 4000 series (not to mention more mature drivers). The 4890 is a very powerful card and can be had for ~$180 or so. That said, the 5850 and 5870 are very nice cards.
              Recently there was an article (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/2d-windows-gdi,2539-11.html) about 2d (and 2.5d) graphics where the ATI cards perform VERY poorly (and the NVIDIA cards are not much better). Fixes are supposed to be in the works, but it's still worth knowing.

              NVIDIA cards tend to be more expensive than ATI for comparable power although they are sometimes more stable and you need an NVIDIA card to use CUDA (having the graphics card help with general processing) in programs like Octane Render (which looks like it could be amazing).

              Hopefully some of this is helpful.

              Knowledge is a polite word for dead but not buried imagination.

              -e.e.cummings

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • AnssiA Offline
                Anssi
                last edited by

                @dsarchs said:

                This might be a little late in answering but I'm almost positive you need two of the same card to use cross-fire (eg. (2) 5850 CARDS)...
                ...For ATI cards, the DirectX 11 seems to be useless for anything less than a 5850 as the cards aren't powerful enough to compensate for the performance hit from using dx11 instead of dx10.

                DirectX performance and crossfire and related technologies are totally irrelevant in the case of SketchUp. SU uses OpenGL, not DirectX, and OpenGL does not support the multiple graphics card technologies.

                Anssi

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

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • D Offline
                  dsarchs
                  last edited by

                  I was just responding to an earlier question about whether or not you could use different types of cards for cross-fire/sli.
                  As for directx, I was saying that the benefits of directx 11 are useless unless you get the top level of cards. I know that SU doesn't use cross-fire or dx, but presumably the machine will be used for programs other than su. GPGPU rendering/processing is coming soon to say nothing of games 😉
                  Besides, if SU is the sole reason for investing in new hardware your money would be better spent on cpu/cooling/ram or something and just getting an 8800gt video card.

                  Knowledge is a polite word for dead but not buried imagination.

                  -e.e.cummings

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Y Offline
                    yukonhoo
                    last edited by

                    I haven't read through this entire thread (couldn't do 22 pages!), so I apologize if this has been mentioned already, but I'm looking to get some kind of external storage, or something to back up my system because my computer has been acting up lately.

                    I was wondering if there is a particular storage system/brand/type that is most reliable for long-term storage of sketchup files? and then also a system that is best for accessing files more often?

                    Thanks a lot guys!

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • brookefoxB Offline
                      brookefox
                      last edited by

                      So its been a year and a half or so since the survey got under way? Are the results buried in here somewhere, or buried somewhere somewhere?

                      ~ Brooke

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • D Offline
                        Dennis_n
                        last edited by

                        hi there,
                        did anyone come across the ATI Radeon HD 3200 on a laptop?

                        also, If I buy a laptop in a store, and prepare a flash card with a viewer and a fat skp file, what is the best SU test I can do to compare available models?

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • brodieB Offline
                          brodie
                          last edited by

                          @dennis_n said:

                          hi there,
                          did anyone come across the ATI Radeon HD 3200 on a laptop?

                          also, If I buy a laptop in a store, and prepare a flash card with a viewer and a fat skp file, what is the best SU test I can do to compare available models?

                          I ran across a ruby awhile back that allows for a SU benchmark http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=10750#p75785

                          If you continue through the following pages you'll find several benchmark skp files that people posted and subsequent results.

                          Also have a look at http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=20076

                          -Brodie

                          steelblue http://www.steelbluellc.com

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • brookefoxB Offline
                            brookefox
                            last edited by

                            Uh..., that's a seriously useful re-direct.

                            Thanks.

                            ~ Brooke

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • brodieB Offline
                              brodie
                              last edited by

                              haha, sorry about that first link. I thought it would link directly to my post. The link was supposed to redirect you to the 4th page of this thread where I bring up the Test.time_display ruby 😄

                              By the way, it doesn't seem to work unless you capitalize that first "T". In other words, it must be Test.time_display NOT test.time_display

                              -Brodie

                              steelblue http://www.steelbluellc.com

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • brookefoxB Offline
                                brookefox
                                last edited by

                                I wasn't being sarcastic: I just tried the second, thread, link, which was useful to me.

                                ~ Brooke

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • keea1111K Offline
                                  keea1111
                                  last edited by

                                  HI,

                                  I just moved onto a used Mac os x 10.5 DUAL 2 GHz PowerPC G5  8 GB DDR SDRAM.  It has a 128 VRAM ATI RADEON 9600 video card.  I know that is the minimum video card sketch recommends, especially for the PRO version.  I am wondering if I need to bump it up to 512 VRAM.  Will I notice a big difference in this leap, or is it more subtle and unnecessary?  I do quit a bit of design work within SU/LO, so I do want to get set up the best I can within reason.  Does anyone have any insight into this need?  thanks,
                                  

                                  KEEA

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • AnssiA Offline
                                    Anssi
                                    last edited by

                                    Keea,

                                    In real life VRAM is mostly relevant if you have a lot of large textures or multiple large screens. I can run SU quite OK with my old laptop that has Nvidia graphics with 64 Mb VRAM, and my other old computer that has an ATI card with 128 Mb, drives a 1080 x 1920 widescreen display quite well too.

                                    Anssi

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

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • B Offline
                                      beau21
                                      last edited by

                                      I'm looking to buy a desktop at the end of the summer and was hoping to get some opinions on the model I'm leaning towards..

                                      Specs:
                                      27" iMac
                                      2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
                                      8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
                                      1TB Serial ATA Drive
                                      ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB

                                      What does everyone/anyone think of this configuration? Would that be good for modeling programs such as Sketchup, CAD, and the like.

                                      Any/all opinions welcome.

                                      Thanks!

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • brodieB Offline
                                        brodie
                                        last edited by

                                        @beau21 said:

                                        I'm looking to buy a desktop at the end of the summer and was hoping to get some opinions on the model I'm leaning towards..

                                        Specs:
                                        27" iMac
                                        2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
                                        8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
                                        1TB Serial ATA Drive
                                        ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB

                                        What does everyone/anyone think of this configuration? Would that be good for modeling programs such as Sketchup, CAD, and the like.

                                        Any/all opinions welcome.

                                        Thanks!

                                        Nice computer, you'll be in very nice shape. SU only uses one core but in my experience with large hospital models 2.8 GHz will do you just fine and your graphics card should be plenty good. For the rest of your programs which use multiple cores it'll be a very nice setup.

                                        -Brodie

                                        steelblue http://www.steelbluellc.com

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • R Offline
                                          red44
                                          last edited by

                                          beau21

                                          How did you go with the Imac? Any news? Just ordered one but worried now about the ATI reviews...

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • R Offline
                                            red44
                                            last edited by

                                            Anyone else any ideas on the 4850 ATI card? In the the Imac preferably, but not necessarily...

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • 1
                                            • 2
                                            • 14
                                            • 15
                                            • 16
                                            • 17
                                            • 18
                                            • 19
                                            • 20
                                            • 21
                                            • 16 / 21
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Buy SketchPlus
                                            Buy SUbD
                                            Buy WrapR
                                            Buy eBook
                                            Buy Modelur
                                            Buy Vertex Tools
                                            Buy SketchCuisine
                                            Buy FormFonts

                                            Advertisement