CAD on laptop

Hi everyone. I'm curious if the normal mobile graphics cards (like 670M or 7970M) are okay for running CAD or if it is best to use the business class cards like the K2000 Optimus cards and such. And is most of demand on the GPU or the CPU or somewhat equal for both? Just a few things I've been curious about since as I move on in school I'll be using programs such as CAD.

I think they make thinkpads for CAD stuff

Depends on the size of the models you're doing. Consumer-class GPUs do fine on small-medium sized CAD projects. If you're only doing CAD and not gaming, no reason to not get a workstation GPU (given that you can afford it).

Knufire said:

Depends on the size of the models you're doing. Consumer-class GPUs do fine on small-medium sized CAD projects. If you're only doing CAD and not gaming, no reason to not get a workstation GPU (given that you can afford it).

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but aren't most if not all workstation GPU just mid/high end consumer gpu's with modded drivers and bios ?

Okay, good to know. I'm curious because I'm in the market for a new laptop but I'm not sure which route to go. On the one side I'll eventually need a good mobile workstation (probably next year) but on the other I want a good desktop replacement right now. So I'm a bit torn, that's why I ask this.

Another question I have is are there workstation GPUs from AMD or is nVidia mostly dominate in this market? And what would you recommend as far as workstation GPUs are concerned?

I have an HP Elitebook 8740w for work. Uses an ATI FireGL that is the same as a 5800 series. Doesn't have issues with the few games I have tried, but it does push out a lot of heat.