Which laptop graphics card can run autocad better? R9 M275 or Geforce GTX 850M, 860M? Any other laptops I can get? Civil Engineer

I haven't been able to really get an answer to this but I need a laptop with a graphics card that can run autocad and 2d designs. I won't be dealing with 3d designs all too much but I have special computers for that in my university. Which of these can run autocad better with mild 3d designs? There is the Lenovo Y40 with the R9 and the Sager's with the GTX cards. I could do maybe some mild gaming in my downtime. Could there be other choices on laptops I could get? I don't want a workstation or Dell Precision with an AMD firepro card because they seem more 3d intensive and might be too much what I'm asking for and don't want to go overboard or would that be the best choice? Which of these should I pick? Go with the R9 card or get one of the GTX cards for 2d designs. I'm doing civil engineering. Thanks for any input or advice!

 

Depends.
I would personally lean towards AMD, because of much better compute performance as opposed to Nvidia cards, but this only goes so far as to actual rendering, etc... and it also depends on whether AutoCAD otpimized more for OpenCL or CUDA.
For viewport performance... I think either will be more than enough (though I would suggest you look up comparisons between the two for most up to date data).

Generally speaking however, the PRO versions of GPU's (from either) would be more suitable towards AutoCAD type programs due to software optimizations... though, even from a personal point of view, the main reason why AMD and NVIDIA segregate the consumer and pro cards is due to money making (realistically, that is to say, hardware-wise, consumer and pro cards are practically the same, and while there are some differences between the two, they could just as easily use one gpu platform for both functions and instigate proper drivers for certain functions/programs - but we understand this won't happen, because then they wouldn't be able to justify the higher cost of pro cards - which is unjustifiable).

 

The only comparison you can make are scores on SolidWork and OpenGL between the two

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M - NotebookCheck.net Tech
AMD Radeon R9 M275 - NotebookCheck.net Tech

 

I would go with 860m, overclocks like a beast!

 

I think I will go with a $1200 Dell Precision to be on the safe side and not worry about it running or working with the program. Don't want to waste $1000 and have the GPU not be read. Sadly I don't know how the Lenovo Y40 AMD card would run and save some money buying the $670 version. Thanks for the input guys, any other advice is still welcome but I think it will always come down to getting the Firepro or Quadro cards.

 

are you ing kidding me? i study the same thang and for 2d you need no cool a$$ gpu, maybe what made are serious change in performance was a ssd. peaceout bro

 

For Autocad i'd go with the better CPU one.

 

Look for a Sager NP8268/8278 with a AMD R9 290MX... Should be enough for CAD... honestly, I would even consider the 970M as it seems to be less crippled for all this stuff compared to the older NVIDIA Geforce cards..