Tip of the month! October: Hardware recommendations

Lots of you will be investing in new hardware in the next few months, so we decided to give you some guidance with our recommendations. It is very important to distinguish between three major applications of Palette CAD, 3D design, visualisation and high-end VR implications. It can get a little confusing, so we'll break it down into a very simple example, like buying a car.

If your only concern is to get from A to B, and you never plan to travel over 200 kph, then almost any new car will do the job, and even plenty of older, second hand cars, keeping your buget at a minimum. Same applies for using Palette CAD if you do not wish to use the photo realistic visualisation, and use it purely for classical design purposes. It could look something like this:

Processor: Pentium Core 2 / i3

RAM: 4 GB

Hard drive: at least 30 GB free space

DVD drive

Graphics card: NVIdia with 1GB or more

Display: 1280 x 900

USB 2.0 or higher

Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10

If, on the other hand, your needs involve regular trips on the Autobahn, and you wish to cruise at high speeds, and in comfort, then, you need to invest in a mid-high range model. The better the engine/hp and nicer the interior, the more comftable and faster you will be able to travel. In this scenario the engine represents the graphics card, as it is the key to achieving better photo-realistic visualisations. Comfort can be seen in terms of better processor, RAM and monitor resolution. Below are our new purchase recommendations.

Desktop:

Processor: Intel Core i7

Graphics card: NVIDIA with 2 GB GDDR5 or more, ideally GTX series, e.g. GTX 950-1080

Display: 24“ or larger (Full HD 1920x1080 px)

RAM: min. 8 GB

Hard drive: min. 128 GB (recommended: SSD with 256 GB+, for operating system and Palette CAD)

Drives: DVD drive or Blu-ray drive

Internet connection

USB 2.0 (for program protector plug)

Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 (64-bit)

Notebook:

Processor: Intel Core i7

Display: 15.6“ or larger (Full HD 1920x1080 px)

Graphics card: NVIDIA with min. 2GB or more, ideally GTX series, e.g. GTX 850M-1080M

RAM: 8 GB or larger (ideally: 16 GB)

Hard drive: min. 128 GB (recommended: SSD with 256 GB+, for operating system and Palette CAD)

Drives: DVD or Blu-ray drive

Internet connection

USB 2.0 (for program protector plug)

Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 (64-bit) 

And then, we have the Nürburgring racing track enthusiasts, who are actually looking for a full-blooded racing car that is also street legal. Very simple solution, get the best engine available and complement it with equally good performance parts. That is what high-end VR requires. High-end meaning the use of the latest VR goggles, HTC Vive and Oculus in particular at the moment. At this point the hardware requirments switch to that of the VR equipment, and not for the use of Palette CAD. Here is what you need:

VR Headsets: HTC Vive, Occulus Rift

Graphics cards: min. NVIDIA GTX 980 / 1070 / 1080 with 4GB RAM

CPU: Intel i7-6700 central memory (RAM): 16GB

Video Output: compatible with HDMI 1.3

USB ports: 4 USB ports, at least 3 USB ports with Standard 3.0., at least 1 USB port with Standard 2.0

Operating System: Windows 10

Make sure you don't get this confused with the mid to low level end VR, such as goggles using mobile phones as screens, or Google cardboard.

In the end if all else fails, and you are still not sure on how to proceed, you can always contact our car tuning specialsts, I mean support team, and they will be happy to help out.

Happy Halloween!

Your Palette CAD Blog Team