650m and Autodesk 3DS

[laurent05]

Hi everybody.

Next year I'll be following 'Digital arts and entertainment'.
One of the main programs (besides photoshop) is Autodesk 3DS. (3D modeling program)
My question is wether the 650m with 512mb DDR5 ram is able to run this program smoothly without any problems?
I've got my eye on the classic MBP. I don't mind about the 0.3 cpu difference since their performences will be almost the same.

I know 3DS is windows only, but I'll be running it trough parallels or vmware.
That's why I'll defenitly buy 16gb of ram afterwards.
(Also gonna put in an ssd and the hdd in an optibay)

Comming from a 2duo 2.1ghz, 9600m gt acer, it'll definitly be a huge upgrade.

Since I'm going to buy the extra ram (already got the ssd) and a wacom tablet, I'll defenitly going to need the money.
So if the 1gb 650m isn't really necessary. That would be awesome.


Thanks in advance.

 

[Freida]

Of course you will be fine as your card right now is really old. I don't use Max as I only use Maya but if you want to know more then go to cgtalk.com and ask specifically there. ))

 

[dHk]

The 512mb will be beyond what you need for 3ds max. Go on and buy it. You wont need 1gb unless you game hardcore.

 

[laurent05]

Not a hardcore gamer.
Just minecraft, en the older games.. Need for speed, call of duty..

Thanks for the replies, I'll go with the lower end then.

@Freide: Thanks for that wonderfull site!

 

[uaecasher]

I'm studying architecture and use 3Ds Max a lot, it will run fine but you will take more time to render. also i think 0.3 will help but agin with render time.

For me i took the the 2.6 cpu, 8gb ram, 1gb gpu and 512 flash.

 

[yezza]

I only have experience with SolidWorks 3D modeling software, but you may want to investigate any potential performance issues running Autocad 3DS via virtualization software. For SolidWorks, performance through both Parallels (v6) and VMware is significantly hindered.

 

[laurent05]

I only have experience with SolidWorks 3D modeling software, but you may want to investigate any potential performance issues running Autocad 3DS via virtualization software. For SolidWorks, performance through both Parallels (v6) and VMware is significantly hindered.

That won't be the problem.
If i can create a second partition with windows, then I can load that partion trough vmware fusion in osx for full performance.

 

[uaecasher]

That won't be the problem.
If i can create a second partition with windows, then I can load that partion trough vmware fusion in osx for full performance.

I don't think doing this will give you full performance since osx is still running and sucking up resources, plus from what i know 3ds max doesn't run on virtual machines no mater how good is your gpu i tired running it on my iMac with 1gb gpu and 16gb ram and it told me graphic card isn't recognized.

My advice is just use bootcamp to avoid the hassle

 

[yezza]

For SolidWorks at least, I believe it is to do with access to the GPU's hardware acceleration while in virtualization. I'm running on a Mac Pro with 10GB ram and a dedicated SSD windows 7 drive. It's still a pig when running through Parallels, at least compared to running natively.