Quadro vs GTX for Architecture Laptop (Heavy Viewport Usage)

[archnyc]

I just finished up my bachelors in architecture and am heading into a masters program in the fall. I am looking to put together a powerful workstation and just have a few GPU questions. Currently here is the build im looking at...

Sager NP8278-S
17.3" Full HD LED-Backlit Display with Matte Finished

Nvidia GeForce GTX 880M GPU with 8GB GDDR5 Video Memory or
Nvidia Quadro K1100M Graphics with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory or
Nvidia Quadro K3100M Graphics with 4GB GDDR5 Video Memory

4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4810MQ Processor ( 6MB L3 Cache, 2.80GHz)
MS Windows 7 Professional
32GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM
240GB Crucial M5 Series mSATA3 SSD
750GB 7200rpm SATA2 Hard Drive
6X Blu-ray Reader/8X DVD±R/2.4X +DL Super-Multi Drive & Software
Wireless-N 1202 802.11 A/B/G/N Wireless LAN + Bluetooth 4.0 Combo Module

My question stands mainly in the GPU, obviously the Quadro k3100 is the best for my situation but how much of a performance increase would I lose in the K1100 as its a major price jump (around $500). Also what type of difference would I see going the GTX route even though I know Quadro is engineered more towards viewport displays. I don't mind spending the money as I work in an office as well where I use my personal computer day in and day out, just curious on the different options.

 

[k1114]

What software do you use?

 

[archnyc]

3ds max and rhino mainly

AutoCad, Revit, Sketchup, Photoshop, Illustrator, plus a variety of rendering plugins

 

[k1114]

The k3100m is roughly double the performance of the k1100m. Gtx vs quadro performance is more dependent on which software. Ones that use directx like max, autocad and revit would perform better on the 880m but ones that use opengl like rhino and sketchup would be noticeably worse. Those adobe products will run well on any of these gpus. For any gpu rendering, the 880m has better cuda performance so would be better there. Quadro is supposed to be more stable and reliable but I've never had an issue running gtx and currently have not heard of any issues with any of these software.

 

[archnyc]

Thank you very much. I am guessing I can probably get away with going Gtx in that case. One last question, would you recommend the 880 or can I go lower? (870 is $300 cheaper than the 880)

 

[k1114]

The 870m is about 15% less performance than the 880m which is still quite a bit higher than the k3100m as far as raw performance goes. What do you work on now and how is the performance?

 

[archnyc]

For undergrad I was using a 2011 iMac/bootcamp-windows7/16gb ram. It wasn't bad at all I just need a powerful laptop and want to move away from apple.

 

[Luigi9212]

A NVIDIA Quadro K3100M is much better for 3DsMax because it gets special drivers for these programs (Website of NVIDIA). If you do Rendering, you will be happy too have an Quadro.
My Quadro K1100m is a little bit (30 sec.) slower, than my GTX 670 FTW of my PC (3D rendering in Photoshop CS6).

 

[k1114]

3D rendering in ps is nothing like max. Ps is nothing like max. The 3100m will not be faster for rendering with iray or qs.

 

[bobhalljr]

I'm in the market as well, and am looking for a very similar system to meet very similar needs. I am curious about what you decided. I won't be using 3DsMAX, but will be using the other apps you mentioned along with Blender for 3d modeling and static rendering (and maybe some short animations). Mind sharing the specs on what you ended up getting? I'm also debating between Sager and @Xi....why did you decide on Sager?

Thanks!

 

[archnyc]

I decided to go with Sager for the variety of options along with the value for the price. I ended up going quadro because I found out I was going to be doing a lot of work in Maya.

 

[vennel]

I'm also looking to buy a laptop for the same software. I wonder if you guys can help me in deciding which is the best GPU:

Quadro k1100m with 2GB memory
or
GTX 850m with 4G memory