"Gaming" or "CAD" workstation?
Chris Vorster
Director @ BUILDBIM | Civil Infrastructure DE/BIM Specialist | Director @ BIMWERX
If you're in the AEC industry, and make use of modern software technologies such as those by Autodesk, Act-3D B.V. (Lumion) or similar, then I'm sure you have been told by re-sellers and hardware vendors to never invest in a "gaming" workstation, but rather a "CAD" workstation.
According to many vendors, CAD workstations are equipped with special "CAD" processing hardware, that Gaming workstations are not designed for when it comes to rendering and processing CAD / BIM models and projects.
This would suggest that Alienware and Asus ROG machines (among others) with top-of-the-range graphics hardware and super processing power are not good enough for CAD / BIM, and that units such as the DELL Precision / HP Z series with proper "CAD" graphics cards are far better, and "supported".
You are probably also aware that the average "CAD" machine would set you back around $3000 to $7000+ (NZ$). I had a DELL Precision with Xeon processor, massive graphics card and enough RAM (32GB), which set the company back around $3500 (NZ). Not super expensive, yet not cheap either. When I went looking for my own workhorse, I received a quote for a similar spec, in this case HP Z Book 17 variations, ranging from $3500 up to $7200. Madness. I decided to roll the dice on a much cheaper, much sexier Asus ROG G752LV laptop with a Geforce GTX card, Core i7 and only 24GB RAM (Extendable).
This laptop, a "Gaming" laptop, "not built for 3D CAD", was probably the best buy I could make, at $2100 from PB Tech. I have all Autodesk Infrastructure Design Suite Ultimate software installed, 2016 to 2018, and let me tell you, they run better on this "unsupported" machine than on both the DELL and the HP. It is also way sexier. The screen is 4K (touch screen), battery lasts longer, sound is incredible, and while I'm not much of a gamer, I can't seem to leave the thing alone for more than 5 minutes.
I have installed and ran Lumion with fairly large and complex models on it, with no problem. Revit seems to respond better to the graphic issues on this machine than my previous "CAD" machines. Civil 3D and AutoCAD runs perfectly, with hardware acceleration or not. Infraworks performs better than any other rig I've ever seen. 3DS Max runs like a dream. Point cloud projects in Recap that makes my work desktop PC (HP Z with massive CAD graphics cards) hang and crash, loads without effort on the Asus ROG. (ROG = Republic Of Gamers)
So before you spend double your money on half the result, take a look at the alternative, and don't always believe what you're told by vendors.
https://www.asus.com/us/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/ROG-G752VL/
Happy modelling!
Director @ Studio M Regenerative Art, Design, Architecture, Ai Carbon Zero Startup. Education Specialist / Teacher: DVC & Technology Writer, Freelance Photographer 5D BIM Guru
7 年Great to see others thinking this way, reaffirms the direction we are moving with VR because generic Workstations are coming out at between 10 to 15k but the gaming station are looking like 6k. Our only concern is support for new driver updates for new versions of Archicad and Revit to work with Enscape. So the jury is still out for us long term, i.e. 3 years with a gaming machine but short term, definitely the best solution. The other issue I have found is gaming stations bottom out when it comes to Ram. We are awaiting for Apples Dark horse "fastest ever iMac" to come out according to Apple. Architecture is way better than their flagship Pro. Also Architecture and graphic management has always ran windows and Max better than PC counterparts. It's out in a month, so will be investigating that as well for VR. Has anyone tried any of the Omen series by HP as a workstation? Would love to hear about that.
Awesome article. I will go as far to mention that whilst in the market at the time for a new laptop, I spent many hours researching the best graphics capable machines the and the dell precision machines beat ever machine hands down . However my budget could not fit the profile of a dell precision laptop so on a Asus salesmans recommendation that the Australian Navy utilize the Asus ROG machines I took the plunge. What a pleasant surprise to learn that it handle extremely well if not as good as the precision machines. Thanks for reaffirming my purchase was a good decision with this article
Head of Digital | MSc | WSP in New Zealand
7 年I completely agree with you Chris. I'm a firm believer of using "bang for buck" workstations for design related software. Just about every "branded CAD workstation" which I've used, has been outperformed by my "gaming workstation" at home. My eyes start to twitch whenever I hear the word "Quadro"... If you or a company have money growing on trees, sure... Xeon and overpriced Quadro's... Give me the same budget and I'll still go for a "monster gaming workstation" and run everything with a smile on my face and have money left over for a mini vacation :)
Managing Director at BIMTEC
7 年Great article Chris, and I also fully agree with your findings. I have recently purchased a MSI GT72 Dominator Pro gaming laptop for Revit, Enscape and VR tasks, and have found, like yourself, the performance, stability and looks of the laptop far outweigh that of the workhorse CAD hardware choices out there. Go the gamers!