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    • 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

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      • 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

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        • 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!

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          • 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

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            • 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...

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              • R Offline
                red44
                last edited by

                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

                  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

                    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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                    • AnssiA Offline
                      Anssi
                      last edited by

                      @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

                        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

                          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

                            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

                              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

                                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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                                • brodieB Offline
                                  brodie
                                  last edited by

                                  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

                                    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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                                    • D Offline
                                      Dennis_n
                                      last edited by

                                      good specs on this baby.
                                      However, I need it for business. the stealth like design won't fit well on a formal meeting.
                                      there is HP Envy 17. that has
                                      i5-580M (2.66GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz or pay $450 more for
                                      i7-840QM (1.86GHz, 8MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz

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                                      • GaieusG Offline
                                        Gaieus
                                        last edited by

                                        @dennis_n said:

                                        i5-580M (2.66GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz

                                        Now thatis good for SU! And in case you eventually decide to do some rendering, too, the 4 threads are still better than 2 for instance on a "traditional" dual core.

                                        (And of course, you would not want to pay more for a CPU that can turbo boost less!) 😒

                                        Gai...

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                                        • D Offline
                                          dsarchs
                                          last edited by

                                          The i7 looks like the system to go with, turbo-boost will eliminate the slower speed when using a single core (which SU is) and more ram will be useful. I haven't kept up with mobile processors so I don't know which gen that i7 is, but the newest intel cpu version has JUST been released (goes on sale this Sunday) and (I've only read about the desktop line but I assume it carries over to the mobile selection as well) is about 20% faster and uses less power. Something to look into.

                                          @ Brodie

                                          I've always heard that SU doesn't like AMD/ATI cards, but I've never come across this, despite having a mobility 9700 (ATI) card in my laptop for the past 6 years. I've always had good performance and no problems. Do you know if this is only a problem with VERY low-end ATI cards or is it merely a thing of the past?

                                          Has anyone had a problem with the last 2 generations of cards (5xxx/6xxx) and sketchup? I've always assumed this is just no longer an issue.

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

                                          -e.e.cummings

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                                          • brodieB Offline
                                            brodie
                                            last edited by

                                            My personal experience comes from 2 different cards a couple years back and further. They were mid-range ATI's that we used here at work for the CAD machines. Basically the issues were the usual, faces would appear selected that weren't, selections would select a face that was behind the one I selected, etc. The other bad experience was with an old dell I had with integrated graphics which had identical issues. Occasionally, I've heard of nvidia's with similar issues but those were always easily solved with a driver change, something that never seemed to completely solve the problem with the ATI's.

                                            In the last year or so, I've seen very few comments regarding ATI's either negative or positive, at least insofar as SU is concerned. So the issues may be fixed. But, I personally, still wouldn't guy an ATI out of fear, and I'd recommend that others at least do some checking into the issue.

                                            -Brodie

                                            steelblue http://www.steelbluellc.com

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