I'm looking at purchasing a Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IRX9H Laptop. I'm pleased enough with the specs: 14th gen i9 processor, 32 GB of RAM (Probably going to upgrade that) and the fact it has two 1TB SSD slots (definitely going to upgrade those).

But...

Is it worth paying to upgrade the NVIDIA GeForce 4080 12GB to the NVIDIA GeForce 4090 16GB?

I'm not saying that money isn't an issue, but I can afford the upgrade (about $800). So this isn't a question about whether the price/performance trade-off. The question is, will the extra speed and memory actually be helpful? I sometimes make VERY large outdoor scenes – with lots of geometry on the trees, grass and such – and have had issues with performance.

Not sure if this link will work here, but here's a link to the specs for the two computers:

 https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&sortby=match&N=4294967288+4294818187+4294803333&myStore=true

I have no idea why my post printed in gray. Here it is again:

I'm looking at purchasing a Lenovo Legion Pro 7 16IRX9H Laptop. I'm pleased enough with the specs: 14th gen i9 processor, 32 GB of RAM (Probably going to upgrade that) and the fact it has two 1TB SSD slots (definitely going to upgrade those).

But...

Is it worth paying to upgrade the NVIDIA GeForce 4080 12GB to the NVIDIA GeForce 4090 16GB?

I'm not saying that money isn't an issue, but I can afford the upgrade (about $800). So this isn't a question about whether the price/performance trade-off. The question is, will the extra speed and memory actually be helpful? I sometimes make VERY large outdoor scenes – with lots of geometry on the trees, grass and such – and have had issues with performance.

Not sure if this link will work here, but here's a link to the specs for the two computers:

 https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&sortby=match&N=4294967288+4294818187+4294803333&myStore=true

The better question is if you are running out of GPU memory now, with what you presently have.

If you are not running out of GPU memory, or render in Firefly, having more memory gpu memory wont help anything.

So unless Superfly is presently erroring out from not enough GPU memory with what you do, you don't need 12 or even 16gig of gpu memory.

The speed difference between a mobile 4080 and a mobile 4090 is only about 11%, and you will use more than 11% more power to get that with the 4090 mobile....

Don't expect the battery to last long in a notebook doing that.

Keep in mind that a mobile 4090 is a nerfed desktop AD103 chip... A massively nerfed 4080 desktop chip at that.

Honestly, I would not want to be using the gpu in a notebook for compute. Or an I9 with Firefly in a notebook. That is a lot of heat, in a small place....

I use a 4070ti with 12 gig to render in my desktop, and I rarely run out of memory. A 4070ti is also faster than a 4090 mobile will ever be...

So the choice comes down to what render engine you use, how much memory you actually need for what you do, and how happy you will be when that notebook burns itself up and no one can repair it because everything in it is serial locked in the bios.... ( A fun tidbit about Lenovo system, that most people don't know.... )

Notebooks are no where near as fast as desktops either. And if you do use Superfly, you don't even need an I9. My system has a 13600k I5, and 20 cores is more than enough for Poser when using Superfly, Studio with Iray, etc.

You could buy a 13th or 14th gen desktop for the same money, that will run circles around that notebook.

It will last longer as well.

shvrdavid posted at 4:57 PM Sun, 3 November 2024 - #4490986

The better question is if you are running out of GPU memory now, with what you presently have.

If you are not running out of GPU memory, or render in Firefly, having more memory gpu memory wont help anything.

So unless Superfly is presently erroring out from not enough GPU memory with what you do, you don't need 12 or even 16gig of gpu memory.

The speed difference between a mobile 4080 and a mobile 4090 is only about 11%, and you will use more than 11% more power to get that with the 4090 mobile....

Don't expect the battery to last long in a notebook doing that.

Keep in mind that a mobile 4090 is a nerfed desktop AD103 chip... A massively nerfed 4080 desktop chip at that.

Honestly, I would not want to be using the gpu in a notebook for compute. Or an I9 with Firefly in a notebook. That is a lot of heat, in a small place....

I use a 4070ti with 12 gig to render in my desktop, and I rarely run out of memory. A 4070ti is also faster than a 4090 mobile will ever be...

So the choice comes down to what render engine you use, how much memory you actually need for what you do, and how happy you will be when that notebook burns itself up and no one can repair it because everything in it is serial locked in the bios.... ( A fun tidbit about Lenovo system, that most people don't know.... )

Notebooks are no where near as fast as desktops either. And if you do use Superfly, you don't even need an I9. My system has a 13600k I5, and 20 cores is more than enough for Poser when using Superfly, Studio with Iray, etc.
You could buy a 13th or 14th gen desktop for the same money, that will run circles around that notebook.

It will last longer as well.

Thanks for the input. You're way too late, though. I purchased the laptop (see the specs in the bottom of my signature line) and I'm very happy with the laptop. I would have taken your comments with a bit of salt, though, as your critiques hit a few things that just don't matter to me. Increased power consumption is the main one. I almost never work on batter power. In fact, the only time I use the battery is when traveling and I need a few minutes to check a file or respond to a work question that cannot easily be addressed via my phone.

As for the heat, I'm always on a powerful cooling pad and my monitoring of the heat hasn't shown significant issues. Only time will tell, however, if you're right and the heat is an issue for device longevity.

As for needing more video memory, in the past that has been an occasional issue for me. Not so much in Poser, but in Strata 3D and other programs. 

In summation, I think you are probably right about the 4090 being overkill. But I'm not upset with spending the extra money.
As for buying a Lenovo... well, it was not my first choice. I originally bought another Alienware laptop because I was very pleased with my first one. I wound up sending TWO of them back because the first was DOA and the second died after three weeks of use (if I left it on overnight it would freeze and I had to hard reboot it). My next laptop was an ASUS TUF with a 4080 and I sent it back because it was not configured correctly (I think someone opened the box or they were sending me a used machine and trying to pass it off as new). All of those were Amazon purchases. This Lenovo was purchased at the local Micro Center store, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. 

As for running a desktop: I think I would be happier with one, but since I do occasionally need a laptop to take to a work site (I'm a professional technical writer and sometimes use my own equipment for technical illustrations), maintaining two systems is not practical.

Thanks again for the input. If I do ever purchase another desktop (it might happen) I'll remember what you said.

I am planning to buy a new Laptop and I have a few questions :D  Is your Laptop fast in rendering with superlfy and GPU (especially newer hair models) and is making a scene smooth or still lcking if more models are loadet?

At moment I need to render with CPU because it is an old Laptop, and i hate it. Some renders need up to 10 hours and I am so tired of making everything invisible until I start the render.