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  • Technical Support Graphics Card (GPU) Recommendations


    PVA - Admin

    Article updated as of September 25th, 2017.

     

    A graphics card or "GPU" is an essential component of any computer that intends to run something as visually intensive as Vectorworks. This dependency will only increase with future versions of Vectorworks relying more heavily on GPUs. One of the most common causes of odd behavior or instability in Vectorworks encountered by Technical Support are due to users working with insufficient or outdated hardware. To help remedy this, below you will find a list of graphics cards recommended by Technical Support representatives:
     

    Graphics cards are currently produced mostly by two companies; Nivida and AMD. The two product lines that you should consider most closely are the GeForce and R7/R9 series from each respectively. These cards are normally marketed as being for gamers, but they work excellently with Vectorworks. These companies also offer a Quadro and FirePro line of cards marketed towards CAD professionals, but these cards are very often overpriced and have poorer driver support than their gaming counterparts.

    Nvidia:

    GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

    GeForce GTX 1080
    GeForce GTX 1070
    GeForce GTX 1060

    GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
    GeForce GTX Titan X
    GeForce GTX 980 Ti
    GeForce GTX 980
    GeForce GTX 970
    GeForce GTX Titan Black
    GeForce GTX Titan Z
    GeForce GTX Titan
    GeForce GTX 780 Ti
    GeForce GTX 780

     

    (Note: the "M" or mobile versions of these cards are significantly less powerful than their full desktop counterparts.)


    AMD:

    RX 580

    RX 570
    RX 560

    RX 480
    RX 470
    RX 460
    R9 Fury X
    R9 Fury
    R9 Nano
    R9 390
    R9 380X
    R9 380
    R9 370
    R9 295X2
    R9 295X
    R9 290X
    R9 290
    R9 285
    R9 280X
    R9 280
     

    Edited by JimW

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    • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
    10 minutes ago, Sambo said:

    Is the ATi Radeon 5770 1GB a good GPU for VW?

     

    Not really no, it's significantly outdated. For the same price you can now get a GTX 1050 which will perform much better.

    • Like 1
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    4 hours ago, JimW said:

     

    Not really no, it's significantly outdated. For the same price you can now get a GTX 1050 which will perform much better.

    After some research, looks like you're right on. Dang, I found such a good deal, but I can see why now! Thanks Jim.

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    Hi Jim,

    Looking at the Dell Precision Mobile Workstation 3510 i7 with the AMD FirePro W5130M - 2 GB GDDR5.
    External monitor will be connected. To be used by a Sales person.

    Will this machine serve him well for a couple of years?

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    • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
    3 minutes ago, Gerrit said:

    Hi Jim,

    Looking at the Dell Precision Mobile Workstation 3510 i7 with the AMD FirePro W5130M - 2 GB GDDR5.
    External monitor will be connected. To be used by a Sales person.

    Will this machine serve him well for a couple of years?

     

    That hardware seems like a solid selection yes, should easily get 2-3 years out of it, even longer if the projects worked on are not extremely large or complex. 

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    3 minutes ago, JimW said:

     

    That hardware seems like a solid selection yes, should easily get 2-3 years out of it, even longer if the projects worked on are not extremely large or complex. 

    Thanks for the super quick reply Jim!

    Link to comment

    I have a pretty powerful work desktop. 980Ti and an i7, 32 gigs of ram, it still has problem with 4K. I'm considering upgrading my home computer and have a few questions; one, does or will VW support SLI or Crossfire in the near future?; two, does VW utilize multiple cores, and does it utilize multi-threading?; three, AMD or Nvidia graphics cards, if you don't look at the specs (that is they are evenly matched at gaming performance)?

     

    This is interesting seeing that AMD have suddenly pushed out a new 8 core monster of a processor with the Ryzen 7 1800x, and is also coming out with a new series of high end graphics cards with VEGA soon.

     

    JimW?

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    • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
    4 hours ago, onyhus said:

    I'm considering upgrading my home computer and have a few questions; one, does or will VW support SLI or Crossfire in the near future?; two, does VW utilize multiple cores, and does it utilize multi-threading?; three, AMD or Nvidia graphics cards, if you don't look at the specs (that is they are evenly matched at gaming performance)?

     

    1) No, and I do not see it coming anytime soon.

    2) For rendering, yes. For generating geometry and other mathematical calculations, not yet.

    3) Generally there isn't much difference between the two brands if you don't consider the specific specs. Sometimes one or the other will have a driver related issue or a problem with a specific model but otherwise not much difference.

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    • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
    8 hours ago, Martin Baylis said:

    16GB RAM and NVIDIA Quadro M1200 with 4GB GDDR5 dedicated memory

     

     

    That looks like it should be fine as long as you won't be using multiple high resolution (2K+) displays.

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    I am looking at getting ASUS ROG STRIX GL753VE-DS74 (i7-7700HQ, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD, NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, 17.3" FHD, Windows10) Gaming Notebook for VW17 Spotlight w/Renderworks.  I am working on drawings with lots of truss and lighting fixtures, with 15-30 fixtures turned on.  This is not my primary machine for VW.  Thanks

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    • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
    On 3/25/2017 at 7:58 PM, sparky said:

    I am looking at getting ASUS ROG STRIX GL753VE-DS74 (i7-7700HQ, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD, NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, 17.3" FHD, Windows10) Gaming Notebook for VW17 Spotlight w/Renderworks.  I am working on drawings with lots of truss and lighting fixtures, with 15-30 fixtures turned on.  This is not my primary machine for VW.  Thanks


    That machine should do just fine, even if it was intended as your primary machine. The 10 series Nvidia cards are excellent.

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    On 3/27/2017 at 5:56 AM, JimW said:


    That machine should do just fine, even if it was intended as your primary machine. The 10 series Nvidia cards are excellent.

    So far it is working great.

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    Hi, I would like to know your opinion, I am about to buy a AMD Ryzen 7 1700 Processor, GIGABYTE AORUS GA-AX370-Gaming K7 AMD Ryzen AM4 X370, ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB, Corsair LPX 32GB (2x16GB) 3200MH, WD Blue M.2 500GB Internal SSD Solid State Drive, Crucial MX300 275GB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive, Corsair CP-9020138-NA HX850 850W 80 Plus Platinum High Performance, I use  Vectorworks Architect 2017, i do medium proyects, with a lot 3D drawings, I would appreciate any comments, I must buy this equipment soon, because my current pc is having a lot of problems

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