Hardware Recomendations for 3D modelling

[mudsurfn]

Hi All

I'm doing a lot of largeish (around 12mb) 3d piping drawings with Autocad 2005 and find that once they get up in size they naturally slow down. My question is what should the minimum system I should be running, and what is important for improving speed when working with these models.

I'm currently running a pentium 2.8ghz, 759mb ram, intel graphics card

I have major problems with displaying 3d shaded models, and also plotting hidden 3d views.

Any suggestions would be appreciated

Gary Fleming
New Plymouth
New Zealand

[Glenn Pope]

From the specs you gave, the weak point is you graphic card. The Nvidia Quadro are really good. Sound like you need one of the higher end versions.

Also it's always good to get more RAM. Going to at least 1gb would be good.

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

Have a browse/search through this Forum (http://forums.augi.com/forumdisplay.php?f=36) for threads on "Graphic Cards".

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AUGI HotNews - Manage Your Drivers - March 2004 (http://www.augi.com/publications/hotnews.asp?page=400)

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Might find the following articles of interest -

Why Intel Xeon with 64-bit Extension Technology? - April 2004

http://www.augi.com/publications/hotnews.asp?page=432

What's New at HP? - August 2004

http://www.augi.com/publications/hotnews.asp?page=514

9. HOT HARDWARE: GRAPHICS CARD, PRINTER, NOTEBOOK

http://new.cadalyst.com/newsline/issue.cfm?issue=200419#9

New Xeon processor with support for PCI Express

http://www.cadalyst.com/cadalyst/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=104870

2.2GHz AMD Opteron-based system

http://www.cadalyst.com/cadalyst/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=85476

Dual processors deliver design power

http://www.cadalyst.com/cadalyst/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=79136

upFronteZine Issue #326 4 February 2003

http://www.upfrontezine.com/2003/upf-326.htm

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The Below comes from an old (September 2003) CADMgr Guild post by Richard Binning -

Current Apps include:
ADT 3.3 / ADT 2004
ABS 3.0 / ABS 2004
LDDT 3.0/ LDDT 2004
VIZ 4.0 / PhotoShop
REVIT 5.1
Sketchup 3D
RASTER DESIGN

Desktop computers, by their nature as relatively inexpensive computing devices which respond rapidly to advances in technology, have a short life cycle when compared to other office technologies such as the telephone, fax machine, and copier. Historically, the rule of thumb for obsolescence of desktop computers has been approximately three years, at which time the machine was deemed to be incapable of performing productive computing tasks.

The following CADD PC workstation requirements are based on typical user type operations such as graphics intensive data-entry (AutoCAD), navigating between multiple applications, and so on. Note: CADD Operators frequently have Outlook, Excel, and a web browser open in addition to AutoCAD and switch back and forth between applications frequently. Since these requirements stem from real-world scenarios, they are higher than the manufacturer's minimum for a given software application and operating system combination.

CADD PC workstation recommendations are as follows:

User Type - Power User & Designer
Processor - 3.2 - 3.06 GHZ
Memory (Mb) - 1024 - 2048
Video Card (Mb) - 256 - 128 {Dual Monitor}
Miscellaneous - DVD/CDRW & SoundCard & WheelMouse

User Type - Typical User
Processor - 2.4 - 2.8 GHZ
Memory (Mb) - 512 - 1024
Video Card (Mb) - 64 - 256
Miscellaneous - DVD/CD{RW} & SoundCard & WheelMouse

Minimum Configuration
Processor - {1.8} - 2.0 GHZ
Memory (Mb) - {512}
Video Card (Mb) - 32- 64
Miscellaneous - {CDRW} & {SoundCard} & Wheel Mouse

Note - stuff above in { } is amendment/addition by me :)

Monitor's -

Power User - 2 No 19 or 21 inc LCD's
Typical User - 1 No 19 or 21 inc LCD / 1 No 21 inc CRT
Minimum Configuration - 1 No 17 inc LCD / 19 or 21 inc CRT

******

Have a good one, Mike

[jaberwok]

Get at least 1gig of ram and set your pagefile/swapdisk/virtual memory to at least 1gig and set both max and min to the same value. I've been working on a 28 meg piping and equipment model with a less powerful processor and it's been Okay(ish).

John B

[Ferroequine]

I'm in the same boat, so to speak. My Radeon 9600 Pro is fine for 2D drafting and some 3D, but as I'm modeling a lot of 3D piping now, it's starting to lag pretty good. I had a look at the Quadro FX, but they're pretty pricy -- over $2K CAD. Is there a middle ground somewhere that I haven't seen yet?

I'm running a PIV 2.8 with 1GB Ram as well. Any experience or input is appreciated.

- Vince

[Ferroequine]

Anyone? Beuhler... Anyone?

[rosterreicher]

I'd definately get a Video card..Thats probly the #1 hold up.
Had the best luck with the Quadro fx line.
I'm running the FX3000, Had a Geforce fx in last computer. The Quadro FX line is much faster with open GL apps.
Hope that helps you.

On a side note:
New Zealand,, My Mother in law is from Christchurch, She's there now too..

[kleenhippie]

Being the new guy in the office I haven't gotten into the large 3D projects as the senior guys have. But they each got new Dells with the 3.2 P4, 1G of DDR, and the FX3000 video card and still AutoCAD 2004 lagged so bad that it was worthless. So in comes Autodesk Building Systems 2005 and viola', these machines are screamin'. I can't wait for my turn to get Building Systems and a new machine.