Optimal Hardware Set up to run 12d v12

Kyle J Kucharski · Post by **Kyle J Kucharski** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 4:15 pm

Hi,

Could someone tell me the optimal hardware set up to run 12d v12?

I am in the market for a new computer, preferably laptop and would like to know a few specs I should be aiming for.

Thank you in advance,
Kyle

Matthew Monk · Post by **Matthew Monk** » Wed Nov 09, 2016 10:02 pm

What sort of work are you planning to do with 12d? Survey has different requirements to road design, which has different requirements to drainage analysis, which has different requirements to flood modelling, which has different requirements to visualisation work, etc.

General recommendations would be:

As much RAM as you can afford
Any recent CPU should be fine, shouldn't need to be anything fancy
Graphics card - if you're working with larger datasets or visualisation, you probably want something higher-level.
SSD storage, at least as a working area. Long-term storage could still be on traditional spinning platter drives.

Graeme Winfield · Post by **Graeme Winfield** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 7:06 am

Hi Kyle

Blake has advised

just an FYI

Any CPU that has a U after it or in ultrabook are using lower powered CPU's compared to desktop and even other mobile CPU's

so dont buy an it i7-6500U and expect it to perform the same as a I7-6700 in another laptop.

Kyle J Kucharski · Post by **Kyle J Kucharski** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 3:13 pm

Hi Matthew and Graeme,

Thanks for your reply

It would need to handle a large amount of point data easily as in large scale infrastructure project design over a large areas. It would also be used to process survey field data.

Not so much in visualization, but a reasonable capability to perform the work, pan around in perspective view without crashing would be ideal.

Is it best to 'build your own computer' in this regard say with Dell? Or are there off the shelf laptops I should aim for?

I am moving in the direction of having a laptop built for me by the local computer guy. Will probably be cheaper and less unneccessary features.

No problems with Windows 10 and 12d v12?

Kyle

Sam Cech · Post by **Sam Cech** » Thu Nov 10, 2016 6:45 pm

so hard to say what would work fine for you
may be having a local IT guy build one for you will mean you can add more to it over time...

I have spent over $6K on laptops before and didnt find the value was there
now I got a basic laptop HP Envy Intel i7 and Nvidia geforce
16GB ram and 1TB SSD (samsung) under $2k
running Win10 64bit

running some large datasets, LiDAR, Scan point clouds lots of aerial photos, no issues with 12d Model... (disable windows updates on win10 - good idea)

if you are on a budget start with 8GB ram and small SSD, upgrade if you find it slow..

if money is no issue I would go with
HP ZBook 17 G3 17.3 Inch E3-1535M 2.9GHz 64GB RAM 1TB SSD

Post by **Blake Gregory** » Fri Nov 11, 2016 1:22 pm

Another thing to be careful of.

If you are thinking of going the route of less now and upgrade parts later:
A lot of laptops now dont have that option (soldered ram, ultrabooks, macbooks etc) and others cant handle more ram.

Even some dell precision lines have this issue.

Post by **Alan Gray** » Sun Nov 13, 2016 12:49 pm

Here are some benchmarks I did for triangulation. The only difference was the amount of RAM in the computer. This alone shows the value of RAM to a computer

http://forums.12dmodel.com/downloads/al ... lative.htm

As Blake says, upgrading computers is becoming almost impossible after purchase.

Kyle J Kucharski · Post by **Kyle J Kucharski** » Tue Nov 15, 2016 9:37 am

Thanks for everyone's help. It's given me a lot to think about.
I will get back with the laptop I go with.
Thanks again
Kyle

kinjo012 Smith · Post by **kinjo012 Smith** » Tue Jan 10, 2017 10:25 pm

i'm looking for a new 1TB SSD,
can anyone help me to find the best one?

Matthew Monk · Post by **Matthew Monk** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 7:53 am

Will largely depend on the interface (physical connection) you've got- SATA, mSATA, M.2, PCIe. You've then got the complication of different protocols (communication with the SSD) and what your computer can support. You will probably need to do some research.

If you're wanting absolute best performance, can afford it and your computer allows it an NVMe drive, e.g. Intel 750, is likely your best bet. Otherwise, something like one of Samsung's range, e.g. 850 EVO/PRO, 960 EVO/PRO, are regularly recommended by websites.

Also be aware that you might not need the absolute fastest. What your computer supports (SATA vs PCIe mostly) will potentially limit what speeds you can achieve. Also be aware that most times the 12d Model software isn't doing a lot of disk activity. Mostly active at startup (reading data from disk) and saving (writing data). Middle-range fast may be fast enough.

Some websites:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9799/best-ssds
http://www.storagereview.com/best_drives
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-ssds,3891.html

kinjo012 Smith · Post by **kinjo012 Smith** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 5:28 pm

i found this article on google
http://www.deskdecode.com/top-best-1tb- ... y-updated/
and they suggest me to buy sandisk.
how about that?

Matthew Monk · Post by **Matthew Monk** » Wed Jan 11, 2017 6:57 pm

Yep, either would be sufficient. Both are getting close to the maximum possible over the SATAIII connector (assuming that's what you'd use).

I'd personally go for the Crucial MX300 over the Sandisk X400. Beats the Sandisk in most benchmarks and likely to have more availability in Oz. My quick search gets a price of around AU$370 for the Crucial.

EDIT: Noted you might not be in Oz. Whatever's a better price in your local region between those two.

jason1984 Jason · Post by **jason1984 Jason** » Mon Sep 24, 2018 2:04 am

For 2.5 inch SSD i would strongly suggest Samsung 860 EVO because it has the best performance compared to Crucial or WD.

Warren Uys · Post by **Warren Uys** » Fri Oct 12, 2018 8:02 am

Hello,

To add on to this thread, what extra requirements would visualisation require? Are there any specific requirements for the video card to process aerials draped on tins, movies, transparencies, timelines, textures and openGL views? (I added the last one as my current computer sometimes has issues)

Any suggestions are appreciated,

Thanks,
Warren

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Oct 23, 2018 3:47 pm

Matthew Monk wrote:Will largely depend on the interface (physical connection) you've got- SATA, mSATA, M.2, PCIe. You've then got the complication of different protocols (communication with the SSD) and what your computer can support. You will probably need to do some research.

If you're wanting absolute best performance, can afford it and your computer allows it an NVMe drive, e.g. Intel 750, is likely your best bet. Otherwise, something like one of Samsung's range, e.g. 850 EVO/PRO, 960 EVO/PRO, are regularly recommended by websites.

Also be aware that you might not need the absolute fastest. What your computer supports (SATA vs PCIe mostly) will potentially limit what speeds you can achieve. Also be aware that most times the 12d Model software isn't doing a lot of disk activity. Mostly active at startup (reading data from disk) and saving (writing data). Middle-range fast may be fast enough.

Some websites:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9799/best-ssds
http://www.storagereview.com/best_drives
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-ssds,3891.html

Thanks for the link.