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Carlson computer specs
Posted by Randy Hambright on April 18, 2021 at 10:10 pmWhat would be the specs for a middle of the road computer system to run the newest Carlson Survey software. We do mainly boundary surveys with a sprinkle of topo??s and a subdivision here and there. I don??t see us needing a top of the line system but enough horse power to do the job. I??m moving from microstation and eagle point, which works on windows XP with 4 gigs of ram just fine. Small company here so cost is a concern. Seems like we can barely communicate digitally with anyone, hence the move (leap). Thanks
BStrand replied 3 years ago 13 Members · 23 Replies- 23 Replies
Randy- just bought three Lenovo P340 towers to run new Carlson. No complaints so far.
Bought because of rec??d video card and RAM. The version I bought is 1499 per right now.
2021 Carlson Survey will only run on a 64 bit computer.
A common recommendation is for an I7 processor, but our city has bought I5 laptops for CAD staff and all users seem to be perfectly happy with them. I’d still go for the I7.
8Gb RAM (more is better), a Graphics card of almost any kind. Solid State Drive. But really, probably every I7 computer you look at will have these things.
Any Windows 10 computer bought today is going to be 64bit.
In short, the days of really needing to rig out a computer to run simple CAD functions are kind of fading. Almost any modern thing will do. A $400 I3 rig bought today is a better, faster computer than the most hopped up thing available in 2004.
Now, if you get into point clouds or photogrammetry that is different.
I do not know what is the best, or what will not work… but you need to take a look at the video cards. Carlson does have an issue with a few cards out there.
A SSD is a must, and I would do more than 8g, ram is cheap nowadays. 32g min.
You should easily get a desktop under $1000. I have a IT friend that swears by referb PCs for his cad department. He says big bang for the buck. If I had a bunch to buy I would do that as I trust him very much. If I was only buying 1, it is a toss up I guess.
I have an Asus gaming laptop that can easily handle massive point clouds but Carlson Survey OEM 2020 drawings with a large number of points has a very frustrating lag when moving around drawing. Carlson support have been unable to resolve (as well as other issues I have reported).
Like I’ve said before I would suggest learning how to build a machine. It’s really not that hard, imo. And you will get a hell of a lot more bang for your buck than if you buy one already assembled.
@norman-oklahoma
My experience is that RAM and video card matter more than i7 vs i5 (assuming the latest versions of them).
Had much the same experience. Had an i5 and then got upgraded to an i7 because someone else needed a computer and I was the logical upgrade. This happened over the last 6 months, so both pretty new. I like the setup on the i5 better. The processor is only part of the picture.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.Usually, this is a great idea, but the builders of ‘puters have better access to certain items. Building a computer now will find you paying double the usual money for a video card with half the capabilities you want.
The better price point right now seems to be moving away from DIY.
-All thoughts my own, except my typos and when I am wrong.Yeah, the crypto miners trashed the video card market but it’s not like the big PC builders aren’t going to pass that cost onto you anyway. I’ve built a couple machines ordering stuff from http://www.newegg.com and it’s worked flawlessly for me.
same – I bought a gaming laptop with a six core I7, SSD and GTX1660 card but I upped the ram to 32GB. certain things in Civil 3D go great while others frustrate me but I can’t always replicate the issue so I’m not sure if it’s just the files themselves or trying to run multiple programs at the same time (adobe, chrome, streaming music & 2 surface heavy CAD files)
whereas the desktop with the older four core xeon, Quadro M2000 & only 16gb of ram is def slower but seems more stable doing the same tasks… kind of like a rabbit & turtle scenario I guess?
Holy cow, eagle point? Autodesk bought them out and threw that in the trash 15 years ago! Unless you are doing 3D rendering graphics, a standalone video card should not be needed.
No doubt a mass produced computer can be cheaper than a one-off for a given performance spec, but if one chooses components carefully the quality of the homebuilt should be much better, and therefore give longer term service. And one can spec out exactly what one wants rather than compromising on what ever is offered. Similar to buying suits off the rack or having them tailored.
The computer specifications I’ve provided in the past include the following:
- Windows 10
- Intel Quad Core Processor or better, highest GHz you can afford
- 32GB of RAM
- Samsung 2TB SSD
- 49? monitor or this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8UC_YZC2HQ
- Video Cards other than Nvidia Quadro ?? However, recent troubleshooting steps are found in Carlson KB 1217
- USB keyboard (because wireless is too slow)
- Wireless mouse (because a mouse cord is a pain)
I hope this information helps.
What’s the trouble with Quadro GPUs? It’s not easy to find a laptop without.
Some of these specs, like a 49″ monitor, would be very nice to have but hardly qualify as need-to-have on a “middle-of-the-road” setup. My last CAD laptop had a 256GB SSD and I used a 128Gb SD card for data (regularly backed up to a network). So I think that the 2Tb SSD might be a bit much.
If building your own machine is more expensive then it’s because you’re using better parts. The price of parts is the same no matter who builds it; the difference with building your own is saving on the the labor markup which is significant.
@norman-oklahoma
SSD are relatively cheap right now. If you save alot of jpegs, tiffs, and pdfs, they eat up alot of memory. Windows 10 requires a minimum 256G harddrive. Too much harddrive is just about right.
I remember when 40M was a huge harddrive.
Yeah, they’re not bad now. I have a pair of M.2 2TB SSDs in my desktop right now and they were only about $200 each if I remember right. I left my old (8-9 years) 500 GB SSD in there too and that was $400+ when I got it.
@norman-oklahoma Going out in a limb dangling precariously over high power lines... I believe Quadro cards are essentially OK, it’s the drivers for the cards that seem to be at the heart of the problem. If one Googles “problem with nVidia Quadro,” there are all sorts of reports between the various cards and applications.
It reminds me of the video card issues AutoCAD had years ago which prompted the WHiP and/or Heidi driver developments.
I think what it usually comes down to are OS updates that cause drivers to become stale/ outdated and then conflicts with graphics- intensive applications start to appear.
Interesting enough, the following article just hit my news feed this evening:
Microsoft accidentally ruins PC gaming performance in latest Windows 10 update
https://www.pcgamesn.com/windows-10-game-performance-hit
Prudence is recommended at all levels. As for the other items in my list, I would tend to claim it as an ideal setup but certainly not a “Systems Requirement” setup. For that, I’d direct interested persons to:
https://www.carlsonsw.com/support-and-training/system-requirements/
One can scale up from there. I hope this information helps.
That is interesting. We run Civil 3D at a fairly high level, with big Quadro cards, but as far as I can see on the performance monitor, the cards are never used more that 1-2%.
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