Topic: [Awaiting Reply] Hardware Compatibility

[jlpena]

I want to make sure my Dell workstation is ok to run Lumion, it is as follows:

Dell Precision T3600
Intel Xeon CPU ES-1607 0 @ 3.00 Hz
20 GB RAM
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

I'm planning to upgrade the graphics card to one of the recommended by Lumion

[peterm]

Hi jlpena

What graphics card is in the system at the moment?  And what are you currently planning on upgrading to?

Do you have Lumion and if so which version?

[peterm]

I cant locate an Xeon CPU ES-1607 at Intels web site.  re the ES: is it an E3 or E5 chip?

[jlpena]

I'm attaching screen shots of the Dell computer hardware as reported by Device Manager and system info.

I'm planning to get an Nvidia GTX 970 4GB or GTX 780

I have a trial version of Lumion 8.5

[peterm]

Thanks for that information.

The Xeon is on the slow side. It will support lower performance graphics cards up to possibly a GTX 970, but will cause some bottlenecks.  That is you may not get full performance from the card which could impact on Lumion performance.

The current graphics card Quadro 2000 definitely needs replacing as it is well below minimum specifications, and will not run Lumion.

A GTX 970 has a PassMark of 8595.  A GTX 780? or 980 has a PassMark of   9597.

That means they fit in to the type of Scene complexity of moderately complex to the lowest level of very complex.

I'm not sure if those cards would still be available, perhaps, as they are now 2 generations old.  But if so, might be a quite affordable option.

However I would suggest looking at the GTX 1000 series such as a GTX 1070 or GTX 1080, unless you have very restrictive budgets.

You also mentioned a different hardware in your email, is that not being considered now?

The Dell is configured with either a 425W or 625W power supply.  If it is a 425W then that will not work with any of those graphics card options.  The 625W will up to the GTX 1070. but you would also need to check in the PC or with the supplier that it is an 80+ Gold rated or better supply as the specifications form Dell do not mention that important piece of information.


If not done so, please read through our Knowledge Base Articles:
What kind of computer does Lumion need?
Which graphics card do you need?
Which power supply do you need?


Please add your Trial license to your Support Account (seeHow do you get technical support?) to get full access to the Support Center during your trial.  I you do, you will then need to send a quick email ((EMAIL ADDRESS NO LONGER IN USE)) so we know your Account is updated and to transfer this topic to the commercial section.

Let us know if you've got any other questions.

[jlpena]

The other computer we have is a Microsoft Surface Studio, I'm attaching the same screen shots for this one, I installed Lumion 8.5 trial on this machine, it reported it as "Slow" but it seemed to work fine with a small model of a house

[peterm]

Thanks.

Yes the graphics card in that has a low Passmark of 3164.  Above absolute minimum of 2000, but at most you can only do very simple Scenes.  It also has only 2GB of memory, which again is the absolute minimum.  We have had a few users mention using a Surface Book Pro, but not a Surface Studio but the specifications are quite similar.

What you need for hardware apart from budgets, does depend a lot on what type of design work and visualizations you want to do with Lumion.  As well as future proof as much as you can.  Those articles give you some general ideas of Scene complexity, and how they relate to hardware requirements.

My suggestion is to always go for the highest possible performing graphics card.  Otherwise you are limiting yourself in terms of how well Lumion will match expectations of working on Scenes whilst building the Scene, and on render times.