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  • B Offline
    brodie
    last edited by 27 Apr 2010, 02:49

    @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

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    • B Offline
      brookefox
      last edited by 27 Apr 2010, 22:10

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

      Thanks.

      ~ Brooke

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      • B Offline
        brodie
        last edited by 28 Apr 2010, 01:55

        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

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        • B Offline
          brookefox
          last edited by 28 Apr 2010, 17:36

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

          ~ Brooke

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          • K Offline
            keea1111
            last edited by 24 May 2010, 19:13

            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

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            • A Offline
              Anssi
              last edited by 27 May 2010, 21:12

              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

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              • B Offline
                beau21
                last edited by 5 Jun 2010, 02:50

                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!

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                • B Offline
                  brodie
                  last edited by 7 Jun 2010, 03:12

                  @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

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                  • R Offline
                    red44
                    last edited by 17 Jun 2010, 05:24

                    beau21

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

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                    • R Offline
                      red44
                      last edited by 21 Jun 2010, 02:32

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

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                      • A Offline
                        archtrot
                        last edited by 22 Jul 2010, 15:15

                        We have been dealing with 80MB models in my office lately.
                        I'm considering buying a couple of computers with the following spec:

                        Windows 7 64 bit
                        AMD Athlon 3.5Ghz dual core processor
                        8 Gb RAM
                        PNY Quadro 580 with 512 Mb RAM graphics card

                        I can get this package built for around $2000.
                        Can I do any better than this without doubling the cost?

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                        • D Offline
                          danbig
                          last edited by 26 Jul 2010, 22:59

                          Wow--this is a long topic. I made it through about six pages before I jumped here to ask my question:

                          What is more important for SketchUp: system RAM, or video RAM?

                          Does anyone have any suggestions for a notebook computer that will do well with larger sketchup files?

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                          • A Offline
                            Anssi
                            last edited by 27 Jul 2010, 13:55

                            @danbig said:

                            Wow--this is a long topic. I made it through about six pages before I jumped here to ask my question:

                            What is more important for SketchUp: system RAM, or video RAM?

                            Does anyone have any suggestions for a notebook computer that will do well with larger sketchup files?

                            Vram only becomes critical if you use a lot of very large textures. Su is a 32-bit application, so system RAM is not so critical either.

                            What you should look for in a SU notebook is

                            • processor speed, number of processor cores is not so important, as SU uses only one
                            • SU benefits from the TurboBoost feature in the latest Intel multicore processors
                            • a real graphics card (Nvidia seems still to be more reliable)

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

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                            • S Offline
                              seanheadrick
                              last edited by 5 Oct 2010, 16:30

                              Hello,
                              My father, a long time CAD user was wanting to give SU a try and is having a problem downloading the software. He currently uses Auto Desk on the same laptop, so I found it hard to believe his suggestion that his computer was not capable of running SU was likely. I referenced below his laptop configuration. Could anyone tell me if it seems like he should or should not be able to run SU, and if not what the problem may be. I haven't been able to trouble shoot with him much so I don't know yet if he may just be doing something wrong when installing. I thought I would rule this out first.

                              Thank you,
                              Sean

                              Toshiba Laptop
                              2.3 GHz
                              4 GB RAM
                              235 GB remaining

                              AMD Turion™ II Dual-Core Mobile Processor M520
                              AMD M880G Chipset
                              ATI Radeon™ HD 4200 Graphics with dynamically
                              allocated shared graphics memory

                              DO OR DO NOT, THERE IS NO TRY.

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                              • thomthomT Offline
                                thomthom
                                last edited by 5 Oct 2010, 16:39

                                The problem is that he can't download it? That would not be due to the hardware.

                                What problem is it? Incomplete download? Errors?

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

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                                • D Offline
                                  Dennis_n
                                  last edited by 5 Jan 2011, 01:10

                                  I'm about to buy a new notebook. I wanted to confirm that for SU productivity buying i-7 CPU vs i-5 is a waste of money. Sony Vaio F series carry i-7 but these laptops are about twice the price of the vaio E series. The principal difference between two laptops is the CPU.
                                  Please, let me know what do you think about i-7 vs i-5 for SU.

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                                  • soloS Offline
                                    solo
                                    last edited by 5 Jan 2011, 01:20

                                    The i5 has 2 cores and they become 4 threads for rendering, the i7 has 4 cores and 8 threads for rendering. (8 better than 4)

                                    For Sketchup you only need 1 core, a decent GPU and around 4gb ram (can get less), but if you intend rendering, get 8, ooodles of Ram and a new Gen video card.

                                    http://www.solos-art.com

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

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                                    • D Offline
                                      Dennis_n
                                      last edited by 5 Jan 2011, 01:59

                                      here is the Vaio E 1,027.01 USD

                                      Intel® Core™ i5-460M Processor 2.53 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.80 GHz
                                      4 GB (2 GB x 2) DDR3 SDRAM*2
                                      ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 Graphics 1 GB DDR3

                                      here is the Vaio F 2,056.60 USD

                                      Intel® Core™ i7-740QM Processor 1.73 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.93 GHz1
                                      8 GB (4 GB x 2) DDR3 SDRAM
                                      2 (Max)
                                      NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 425M GPU 1 GB DDR3

                                      I'm a designer and don't really do renderings. SU is the most demanding application for me.

                                      The added advantage to "F" is that the screen is not glossy and I like the design slightly better. However, forking out a whole grand is hard to justify for "slightly better looks".
                                      So it seems I won't see a difference for the $1000. Also seems like the clock speed of i-7 is slower - does it mean that this particular i-5 would actually be faster?

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                                      • B Offline
                                        brodie
                                        last edited by 5 Jan 2011, 03:40

                                        Well, you're right that a higher clock speed = better for SU even though it has less cores (since SU only uses 1). However, that TurboBoost should come into play with SU, as it's made for applications which only use 1 core - that puts the F in a slightly better position that the E in terms of processor. But it's so slight in terms of speed, I wouldn't even consider it a factor.

                                        I suspect the quality of those graphics cards is about the same too (without really looking into them at all). The BIG question I'd have on my mind though, is with that ATI card. ATI cards have, traditionally, had a lot of issues with SU for some reason. I'd make sure and find someone using that card with SU before spending the money. PERSONALLY, I'd look for something with similar specs to the E, but with an nvidia card because I've had such poor luck with ATI's playing poorly with SU (you'll see a lot of posts in this thread about ATI). But my experiences and many of the posts are fairly old so it's entirely possible that many/all of those issues have been overcome.

                                        -Brodie

                                        steelblue http://www.steelbluellc.com

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                                        • D Offline
                                          d12dozr
                                          last edited by 5 Jan 2011, 06:58

                                          Dennis, if you are not set on a Sony, you might like this Asus.

                                          -17.3-inch LED-backlit Full HD display for immersive cinematic experience with resolution up to 1920 x 1080
                                          -NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M graphics with 1.5GB DDR5 VRAM for unprecedented DirectX 11 gaming
                                          Intel Core i7-740QM processor with Intel Turbo Boost Technology to automatically boost speed to your task at hand
                                          -SuperSpeed USB 3.0 for quicker device charging and up to 10x faster transfers than USB 2.0
                                          -500GB 7200RPM hard drives and 8GB of DDR3 system memory for smooth computing and ample storage for all your games and media files
                                          -Price: $1,499.99

                                          3D Printing with SketchUp Book
                                          http://goo.gl/f7ooYh

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