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    Do you really need a dedicated GPU for AutoCAD etc?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by darksiege, Jun 28, 2007.

  1. darksiege

    darksiege Notebook Consultant

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    Anyone using the CAD programs can tell me if you actually need a dedicated GPU for running them? I believe they aren't as GPU intensive as they used to be since the video cards nowadays are far superior than they used to be.
     
    darksiege, Jun 28, 2007
    #1
  2. lunateck

    lunateck Bananaed

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    It's better that you have them, or else you ll be waiting for forever when u render large complexity objects.
     
    lunateck, Jun 28, 2007
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  3. Ice-Tea

    Ice-Tea MXM Guru NBR Reviewer

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    Agree. Did some PCB layouting on integrated and simply zooming out allowed me to go out for coffee. Meaning I could just about take the plane, get the beans in Brazil and roast them in the sun.

    And those are not even rendered objects.
     
    Ice-Tea, Jun 28, 2007
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  4. Ataranea

    Ataranea Notebook Evangelist

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    It is absolutely necessary for you to have a ded. graphics card. I have one and it barely does 4 layered renderings...Definitely gonna need a very good graphics card if you plan on doing AutoCad alot.
     
    Ataranea, Jun 28, 2007
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  5. darksiege

    darksiege Notebook Consultant

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    You guys mind telling me what video cards you're using?
     
    darksiege, Jun 28, 2007
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  6. Ice-Tea

    Ice-Tea MXM Guru NBR Reviewer

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    Depends on the day of the week for me :D
     
    Ice-Tea, Jun 28, 2007
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  7. skywalker

    skywalker Business Notebook FTW!!

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    Yes you're right that GPU now are more superior than before, but you have to remember that onboard GPUs cant compete with dedicated ones.
     
    skywalker, Jun 28, 2007
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  8. MrGlobe

    MrGlobe Notebook Enthusiast

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    At work i use a dell 2400 series desktop with a 2.4 ghz celery, 512mb of RAM, integrated gpu and a 40gb hdd, and the only slowdowns in autocad come when i have some pretty damn complext 3d drawings. anything 2d is fine, but once i get a full 3d model of a larger building, thats when things start to slow down.

    Thats using autocad R14 through 2007.

    It seems like anything dedicated would be more than enough, but i guess it depends on the size of the drawing files you will be using.
     
    MrGlobe, Jun 28, 2007
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