External graphics card

Simulation
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1

Hi all

Being regularly on the go, I work on an HP Zbook 17 mobile workstation (i7-7820HQ @2.9 to 3.7 Ghz - 64GB RAM - Quadro P3000 6G0 - 1TB SSD)
I would like to be able to increase the Solidworks performance of my PC when I am in the office and connected to my HP 230W Thunderbolt Dock station.

I've heard about eGPUs, but too little feedback on SW uses. The principle is to have a desktop graphics card in an external case, connected via Thunderbolt 3  with a dedicated power supply. The idea seems attractive to me to be able to increase the performance in the office and especially to promote the cooling of this component!

On the other hand, I understand that the configuration is not so simple, because the PC cannot run on 2 graphics cards, it must be able to detect which card to boot on.

 

Do you have any feedback on this type of hardware, its use, configuration and stability of Windows and Solidworks?

Is the switch from a P3000 (6GB) to a P5000 (16GB) significant compared to solidworks performance ? (complex assembly, calculations, renderings, etc.)

 

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Hello

Indeed, it's interesting. Given the price of these cases and that of a professional graphics card, I doubt their interest. In addition, the processor, which is a determining factor for SW, will remain less efficient than a fixed station.

In any case, it would be interesting to have feedback from people who have been able to test.

Have a nice day.

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Hello @icome 

I don't answer your question directly but in relation to my use I can say

Look carefully because if you use Visualize, some cards can do Ray tracing and others cannot.

Cuda or not cuda and also depending on the model you don't have access to the Denoizer.

It's not that simple, so you have to choose carefully

https://help.solidworks.com/2019/french/SolidWorks/install_guide/c_viz_prereqs_system_reqs.htm?format=P&value=

Kind regards

 

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 @remrem

It's true that these cases are a bit oversold, plus they don't offer a Quadro. The idea would be to mount a card externally in a personal case.

Indeed the processor is another subject, but in a laptop you are quickly limited (size, cooling...) For SW better an old i7 that runs on a few cores at 3Ghz than an i9-56cores at 2Ghz.

 

 @Zozo_mp

It seems to me that the whole Quadro series is running with Cuda, right?

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The problem I see is that each time you connect, you have to tell the system which graphics card to use.
It may be possible to make a small Powershell script that will run more or less automatically.

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 @stefbeno

Apparently some have managed to set up the machine's startup, such as: "If the external card is recognized at startup then we turn on it, otherwise we run on the internal card."

On the other hand I have no idea how to do it! and I think that any unauthorised de/connection is to be avoided!