Why can't software manufacturers tell you what you actually need to run their package

Is it me? Why can software manufacturers not tell you the best hardware to run their product? I want to know what the best spec is to run sketchup for high end complex sketchup models. I use many plant and tree components in my drawings. I know this creates large files, I know I need to purge where I can. I produce final scenes for visuals without edges or profiles. I get that these are big files, but I need to add shadows and I don’t want to wait endless hours waiting for my machine to upload shadows or just move the viewpoint 3 inches. I have what I believe to be a reasonably fast laptop. Specifically chosen for powerful graphics card and cpu as recommended when purchasing. Yet still I have problems, including software shutting down. My Predator helious 300 has the 2060 rtx graphics card, now I know there is the 3080 ti which is faster again… But will this help? Surely Sketchup should be able to tell me what I need to successfully run its own software!

There are System Requirements for SketchUp but identifying what is the best would keep a large staff occupied full time and the list would change day to day as operating systems, hardware, and drivers change. There’s a nearly infinite number of hardware combinations possible and no practical way to test every combination. Also what is best for me might not be best for you.

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Probably it will not help enough. What you are looking for to do is impossible to do without bogging the system down. You must use simpler plant components. It is unrealistic with any software to expect successfully to build forests with 3D tree models that have every leaf modelled.

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• SketchUp Help Center: Improving Performance

My RTX 3090 is noticeably faster…as it should be with 24gb ram.

I asked this question many moons ago with the same answer.
IMHO, you are asking a pocketbook issue, not a system issue. My advice is to buy the fastest, most advanced computer you can afford with the most memory you can install. Make sure to add a SSD for the main drive and add a separate drive for your projects (saves a lot of hassle in a crash). My current machine is 6 years old, and I have no issues no matter the size of my model (but I don’t do landscaping).

Good Luck

Intel Core i9-12900KF CPU
RTX 3090 graphics card
64 GB RAM (or more, perhaps)
SSD, size as you see fit

This is the fastest PC for SketchUp you can buy at the moment. As a desktop I guess that it would cost more than $4000. If your model has tens of millions of edges, it will be slow anyway.

Absolutely. I was originally just shopping for a 3090 in the fall of 2020, but graphic cards were in short supply. The least expensive options were still over $2K.

Then on Amazon I found through the MSI store a pre-built w/ i710700, 128 gb ram, 1tb SSD, 1 tb hdd & the RTX 3090 for $3,299 including mechanical keyboard, gaming mouse.

Deals are out there, you just have to be patient!

the intel Core i7-12700KF is nearly the same single-thread performance but 180 U$ bucks cheaper, i.e. delivers a better bang-for-the-buck.

The RTX 3080 Ti is actually faster but ~1.000 U$ bucks cheaper… the 12 GB VRAM should be sufficient for more or less everything.

Off topic

This reminds me a kind legends:
Bill Gates once declared something like that: “ 640 KB ought to be enough for anybody:wink:

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Yeah, I just checked a benchmark and picked the top performers in each with no regard for price. If I was going to buy a computer for myself the bang-for-the-buck factor would be my guide. The scores for the top ten processors are within 7% of each other - you probably wouldn’t even notice the differences.

I think you may appreciate the 3090’s 24 gb in a taxing render, especially if you have other work open.