Mobile hardware / Notebook hardware

PIX4Dmapper PIX4Dmapper Questions/Troubleshooting
1

Hi,

I’m in the process of buying a new notebook for mobile processing. I don’t want to spend unnecessarily much on the device. I have a few devices on the list, they all share having a 15.6" display with Intel i7 CPU, 16 GB Ram, NVidia GTX 1060 and 256 GB SSD.

Questions:

  • Is it worth getting the new 7th generation i7 7700HQ or is the 6th generation 6700HQ enough? I heard the speed difference is about 10%.

  • Do you recommend getting the NVidia GTX 1060 with 6 GB Ram, or is 3 GB sufficient?

  • Most notebooks offer a maximum of 32 GB Ram, some offer 64 GB. Does it make sense to take a device that could handle 64 GB (in case I want to upgrade in the future), or does such a combination makes not much sense (with respect to the CPU and GPU)?

2

Hi Philip,

Keep in mind that when configuring a computer, the most important is to have a balanced configuration so that there is no bottle neck. The 4 key components are:

  • CPU
  • RAM
  • Hard Disk
  • GPU

To reply to each of your questions individually:

  • Is it worth getting the new 7th generation i7 7700HQ or is the 6th generation 6700HQ enough? I heard the speed difference is about 10%.

Note that most of the processing is done in the CPU. A faster CPU is the first key to increasing processing speed. Hexa and octa cores, latest generation i7 or Xeon CPUs are recommended. Clock speed generally impacts the full project, and the number of cores impacts processing of Step 2.

  • Do you recommend getting the NVidia GTX 1060 with 6 GB Ram, or is 3 GB sufficient?

For the NVidia GTX 1060 we would suggest min. 2GB of RAM (so yes, 3GB is sufficient).

  • Most notebooks offer a maximum of 32 GB Ram, some offer 64 GB. Does it make sense to take a device that could handle 64 GB (in case I want to upgrade in the future), or does such a combination makes not much sense (with respect to the CPU and GPU)?

The amount of RAM mostly has an impact on the number of images that can be processed in a single project, and less on the processing of step 2.  

Additionally:

For more information about the processing speed:
https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/204191535

Recommendations about hardware and software configurations can be found here:
https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/202559159

Best regards,