laptop for Archicad and 3dsMax - GTX675MX or Quadro3000? i53366 or i73630?

Hi

I'm an architect currently running Archicad and 3ds Max on an old Core2Duo 2.15GHz laptop with ATI HD Radeon 4600 graphics, 8gb memory.

I run photoshop, all Office programs and normally have tons of windows open at once.

I want a new laptop and the performance improvements I want to see are specifically:
1) faster / smoother navigation in 3d as I build my architectural models in Archicad. At present I can build my models in 3d and but have to twirl the model round without seeing shadows; when I stop twirling it takes a second and puts the shadows in. If I set it to make the shadows full time, navigation is too jerky.
2) faster updates of the layouts when I put say 10 views onto a single A1 page. Each view has to update individually and this takes up to 10 seconds sometimes. These views might be the floorplans, sections, elevations, shadowed 3d views (but not lightworks renderings)
3) faster navigation of plan views with large models with lots of data - at present panning around can take 2 seconds to refresh.

I don;t know whether the quadro cards will help with this. I am on a budget of approx 1500 so the quadro is a big chunk. Would the GTX675MX handle the above? I'm told that graphics acceleration is important but am not sure whether this applies to Archicad.

there is a description of the issues here on archicad http://archicadwiki.com/VideoCardsForArchiCAD16?action=show&redirect=Video+Cards but it doesnt reference the GTX675MX.

I'm told the i53360 would be better as its 2.8GHZ instead of i73630's 2.4GHZ for navigating the model, but would that 0.4gHz make that much difference? when I do come to rendering something, which admittedly isn't often, having 4 cores would be twice as fast as 2 cores and then I'd really really notice the difference?

thank you so much
Christopher

Chassis & Display
Vortex Series: 17.3" Matte Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 675M - 2.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
180GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
500GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD5000BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
4x BLURAY ROM, 8x DVD ±R/±RW & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 5.1 Channel High Definition Audio + SPDIF/MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Firewire
1 X 1394a FIREWIRE PORT
Battery
Vortex Series 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (5,200 mAh/76.96WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 220W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
Microsoft® Office Home & Business 2010 (Incl Disc & 1 License for 2 devices) (£185)
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED BACKLIT UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£69)
Dead Pixel Guarantee
30 Day Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs (£12)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 8 to 10 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £1,559.00 including VAT and delivery.

Hi,

As you are going for a laptop there are perhaps fewer options open to you and I think you've got the spec right. 3DS Max is predominantly processor intensive, Archicad I'm not familiar with.

I think you need to bear in mind that not only does the i7 have more cores but it has cleverer instruction sets for processor intensive work. I would stick with the i7 and the GTX675 will provide some real power (for a laptop) if any of your programs have GPU distributed processing. The fact that the page you linked doesn't list the GTX675 isn't a problem in my opinion. They've only tested lower end and/or 'gamer' cards. They haven't listed any of the newer GTX cards but I would find it extraordinary to the nth degree if there wasn't support for the newer Kepler chipset Nvidia cards.

Hi Frank100,
thanks for your reply. I emailed Archicad and got this reply too which bears out your thoughts:

"It is true that the Quadro 3000M card is a professional (designed for CAD programs), and the GeForce GTX 670 is a gamer card, but the individual parameters show that the GeForce card might be better. There is more memory available in the GeForce card, and more memory is needed for big projects. Memory bus width is bigger in the Quadro, but its smaller. The memory speed is faster in the GeForce card, so it is also a good point on the side of this card. It is usually said that the driver of the professional cards are more stable, but I think this difference isn't significant with the NVIDIA drivers.
The shadows are not displayed during the navigation, so it doesn't require further resources.
The speed of the regenerating of the layouts doesn't depend on the GPU, so it won't be quicker with the Quadro card.
As I can see the £400 extra spent on the 3000M isn't worth it in this case"


I have one final thought. If I want to add a second monitor (currently using a Dell 24") would I have to purchase a usb to vga adapter or is there some hardware I can add to the laptop at the build stage?
thanks so much
Christopher