Intel's low voltage CPUs and CAD/FEA software

Hi guys.

Do you have any experience or information how Intel's low voltage CPUs marked with U, G7 etc. characters deals with FEA and CAD software like Inventor, AutoCAD and Ansys? I know that they are not intended for such work but I am curious how good are they while above mentioned programs are run. I do not consider very hard work, for example in Inventor there won't be opened big files and Ansys will be used mainly for learning purposes and for opening the results file since the main calculations will be performed on more sophisticated workstation.

I will be thankful for answer to my question. Laptops with high-voltage CPUs like Core i7 9750H are too costly for me and that's why I am thinking about laptop with low-voltage CPU as an auxiliary device used for learning Inventor, Ansys and viewing results from Ansys which was made on dedicated workstation.

 

AutoCAD if its the usual 2D projects, will run even on a core2Duo fine, so any 4 core U series CPU can run it easily as well, Inventor might be slow with big projects, but that will be a GPU bottleneck, just reduce the graphics quality, disable shadows, and cope with it, visualizing Ansys results will be light work.

If you take it for what it is, all that software will be more GPU limited than CPU limited, and even a 6 core 9750H wont be all that stellar, because it expects to have a powerfull Quadro running the show, even a P2000 on a small project will stutter like crazy on Solidworks, not so much in Inventor, because Solidworks is pretty crappy handling STEP files or surfaces..

 

Some clients forward me their 'ideas' as AutoCAD files.

Even on my low-end 'digital notebook' (i5 8th gen + 32GB RAM), no wins for pure speed, of course, but no issues with the 620 series iGPU when I can't get to a proper workstation either.

Max out the RAM, get a 2TB SSD (XPG SX8200 Pro for mobile use highly recommended) and you won't miss the high-end platforms too much, within the limitations you state.

 

You want to run finite element analysis on a low end cpu ?
First off, cad programs are not up to doing that, get something real, like CATIA or solidworks.
Years ago I made a one off program for Rockwell doing exactly what you want.
No you can't have it....unless there are 5 serious digits involved, and that would be a consideration not a surety.

Get a workstation, not a lappy.
16 cores is a minimum (threadripper/dually xeon), 128 gigs ram(ecc)....minimum, quadro p6000 ....minimum, big fat raid 15 setup with 100tb or better to start.
You won't be running windows, look to irix/aix, solaris, red hat enterprise.....something with some balls.

Autocad is kiddy stuff, it's for people that don't know what they are doing but they are trying to impress other people that don't know what they are doing.

If you want to play with the big boys, you need big toys.

 

@N2ishun, did you even read the first post?

The 'toys' don't have the big ideas; the person does. The software they're most comfortable to express themselves in is usually the better catalyst of that idea than a nominally 'better' spec'd program which they can't comprehend or use effectively to convey their ideas.

Looking at small(er) results file(s) doesn't need 100TB+ 'to start' and the other funny suggestions (RAID15) you made.

Try to focus your guidance to your audience in front of you.

And usually, the main reason to impress others with 'big toys' is for the lack in other departments... lol...

 

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/supp...-requirements-for-Autodesk-Inventor-2020.html

I think you should......look

I could probably get it to run on a 486dx33 but it would take a week to render a static image.

 

I think you're still missing the point.

Even those minimums you linked to don't approach what you recommended. And again; I don't think the op will be rendering anything insane; it is either done on another system or it is just a small test for learning.

 

I think that the topic towards to wrong direction so I will try to describe the situation more clearly just to exclude any misunderstanding. I don't want to perform any very hard work on low-voltage U-series processor. The tasks I am considering are:

• small assemblies in Inventor (less than 100 parts)
• 2D drawings in AutoCAD
• simple calculations in Anys (max. 100 000 nodes, nothing complicated)
• reviewing results in Ansys from more complicated calculations (only reviewing, the calculations will be made on dedicated workstation)

And all these tasks will be performed for learning purposes. I know that serious calculations need to be done using sophisticated machine and I have access to such machine on my university. But my personal computer don't need to be such powerful and laptops with U-series processors are cheaper than from for example Intel's H-series. Also some laptops with U-series processors fulfill one of my demands which is mobility of the device - they could be thinner and lighter than other laptops with more powerful processors. For now I am really serious considering Dell Inspiron 7791 2in1 and it will be very beneficial for me to get some information about its performance in pretty light tasks that I described below.

Anyway thanks for your responses and I will be thankful for any other information since it's pretty hard to get any benchmark of U-series processor which was focused on low-level 3D CAD/FEA work.

 

While I'm not a fan of Dell, the 17" notebook hinted at here with an Intel, 10th Gen i7 and possibly the MX250 GPU would be powerful enough for what you're considering.

The Intel® Core™ i7-10710U with it's 6 Core/12 Thread 15W design (if available on that model) may be a better choice for the longest possible use case.

I would also recommend at least 32GB RAM and 64GB RAM preferred (the iGPU can use 32GB on its own).

All running on a 2TB XPG SX8200 Pro and Win10Pro, of course.

I'm almost 100% sure even lower-end specs will serve (as I've already noted in previous posts), but maxing out the model you indicate with regards to CPU, GPU, RAM and SSD (in that order, as you're able) will leave you lacking very little if any, performance from your stated workflow/workloads. While giving you full mobility and the longest possible battery life too.