A new hardware that doesn't make difference

[eng.douglasbastos814858]

Hey guys,

I'm Douglas From Rio de Janeiro Brazil.

My office have bought a new pc for working with revit structure, but I've not see much improve on my workflow. I have worked with AutoCad the last 3 years and now i'm missing the imediatelly response of autocad on my comands principally when I'm working on sheets with a few more viewports (about 7 ~ 8 viewports per sheet) we put some money on a new pc with better specs but principally on this point we have not take much improve on our workflow. The programs takes about 0.5 ~ 1 second on quiting/moving/entering at viewports on sheet, thats very annoying for someone that worked with cad.

Ok let's go to my specifications:

Project: 1 Tower with about 25 levels, with sheets for each one with 7~8 viewports per sheet, the file have 34.704MB, I try always work with only two views on my project (everytime I take a new view I give a CLOSE WINDOW).

PCS SPECS:
AMD PHENOM(TM) II X4 960T Processor 3.00GHZ
16,0GB of RAM
NVIDIA QUADRO 600
WINDOWS 7 64BITS

I'dont know the HD, but I think it is a Sata 2 or 3 with 500 GB

I have anothe pc in office with the same specs but instead of a Quadro 600 its have a GTX560 ti. I don't see much difference on the workflow of these machines. Does a Quadro makes all that difference?

Can anyone give me a hand? Principally explaning how I can improve my workflow with my viewports with sheets!

[apetitde]

Well, to be short, REvit is so much more powerful than Autocad that it cannot give you a response as immediate as Acad, even with a powerful computer.
So I guess you just have to get used to it, and you will soon realize that you can save plenty of time if you use REvit well.
Trust me, after a few time using only REvit, you won't notice it anymore.

[mrothman]

PCS SPECS:
AMD PHENOM(TM) II X4 960T Processor 3.00GHZ
16,0GB of RAM
NVIDIA QUADRO 600
WINDOWS 7 64BITS

The problem may be that the upgraded system you bought may not be as "upgraded" as you might think.. The Nvidia Quadro 600 doesn't even meet the recommended system from Autodesk to run Revit 2012.. That particular AMD processor isn't really very speedy either and is usually bundled with "value" systems instead of workstation systems.

Just to compare apples to apples, the processor that Autodesk recommends is the Intel Core i7 2600 processor. That runs at a PassMark benchmark of 8899, while the Phenom II X4 960T only comes in at 3761..
( http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html )

The video card "is" a Quadro class video card, however it's the lowest end card on the market that even qualifies to run Revit at all, let alone in a production environment with Structure and Architectural detailed models. While Autodesk suggests running a video card with at least 2GB of Video Memory.. This isn't the factor that should be focused on as much as the actual speed of the video card itself. While I'm a huge Nvidia fan, AMD/ATI make video cards that rank just as fast as their high-end cards in CAD applications for 1/2 of the cost.. Unless you're looking to be using iRay rendering with 3DS Max and/or Maya and you need to have those cards, ATI is better for the budget conscious Revit user.
Here's a list of video card benchmarks for you to look through as well to pick out the best bang for your buck.. Remember to stick with the Quadro or FirePro video cards to stay compliant with Autodesk (although, there's nothing stopping the Geforce or Radeon cards from working, they're just not directly supported)

That all being said (and I realize that it's a lot of information to take in) as apetitde said just above me, Revit is a much more powerful program and what you do in just a few steps in Revit replaces 10-20 steps in AutoCAD in most cases (not to mention what the Revit/AutoCAD Structural Detailing link gives you). A better configured computer is the long-term answer for your slow-downs, but in the meantime, as long as you're not getting crashes due to file size, there may be nothing you can do.

[scowsert]

The problem may be that the upgraded system you bought may not be as "upgraded" as you might think..

I'm not arguing against you but come on? Revit is slower to process a command then Autocad. Right? I'm not saying its doing more or less just yeah... what he's experiencing is just the way that it is. Right? I have a pretty dang state of the art desktop and its not quick. Its faster sure and yes its doing tons more then autocad does.

I'm not saying Revit is bad (I love it!). I'm saying that its not as quick as Autocad to process a command. Button press by button press.

Now Revit is doing tons and I mean tons more work then autocad is doing. Its like saying photoshop is so slow compared to paint. I might as well stick with paint.

Anyhow I say that just to bring his expectations down. I don't think anyone really can 'buy' revit to be as fast as his cad.

Perhaps I am wrong? Don't defend revit just tell me what hardware he can buy to make that system as fast as his cad? I don't think he can. Sure he can spend more and get that .01% quicker speed. Ok ok... his videocard. I'd probably replace that but still won't be as quick as he's expecting.

(puts up shield and hides)

[mrothman]

You're absolutely correct scowsert. I didn't even take into account the time difference between AutoCAD and Revit in my response in terms of button clicks. Revit will more than likely "never" be faster in terms of keyed input as AutoCAD, but as you stated and I'll give a different analogy.. It's DOS vs Windows trying to do two completely different tasks.. And lets be honest, if you're from the DOS days of computing, you're going to be used to extremely fast typing vs mouse clicks.. Even the best Revit/AutoCAD users have created keyboard shortcuts to bring themselves back to those days (myself included)..

--side note:
KS being the Keyboard Shortcut for the Keyboard Shortcuts inside of Revit is just good intuitive programming..

--back on topic..
The flip side to this is that while Revit is 1000% better at building the building itself, AutoCAD (in the hands of a proficient AutoCAD Drafter) will generally be better at finishing the 2D details of a building. This however creates another issue where the automated numbering/linking of Details/Model's goes away and the QA team has to be brought back down to that level negating the benefits. In the end, what I've seen firms do is take their 2D AutoCAD "un-referenced" Details and bring them into a Revit Drafting view after the fact and link them to a referenced callout/detail/section. No matter what anyone else says, AutoCAD still has a place in the BIM/Revit world and will have a strong place for many years to come.

[1corey]

AMD PHENOM(TM) II X4 960T Processor 3.00GHZ

Nice processor for gaming, or video editing, a bit of a dog in Revit though. On the next machine consider an Intel build, I really like their i7-2600K for the money (although they're being replaced)

NVIDIA QUADRO 600

Again, pretty low end Quadro, but likely not causing you noticeable slow downs. Graphics card isn't nearly as critical to Revit as CPU, I've found.

Technical issues aside, I agree moving from Autocad to Revit is more than just 'changing programs', as our office thought it would be. It's a completely new workflow, and some things definitely DO take longer, especially until you get your templates and standards going.

[patricks]

I have come to the conclusion that Quadro graphics and Xeon CPU's are a massive waste of money for Revit production machines. You can get every bit of the performance or even more, for FAR less money using Core i7 Sandy Bridge CPU's and GeForce GTX 5xx graphics cards. You can get a 1 GB GTX card for less than $200, and a 2 GB for less than $300. Want 2 GB on a Quadro card? $750 starting price. The GTX cards share much of the same components as high-end Quadro cards anyway.

[rbcameron1]

the drivers aren't near as good on the GeForce cards as far as 3D modeling is concerned. Although I would agree the Quadro's are wayyyy overpriced. I am under the impression the GTX cards don't run Revit as well as any Quadro. I'm on a quadro 4000 and have never crashed in Revit 2012 (11 months now).
Douglas - the specs you have listed will run revit, but not to the level you want it to. Step into an Intel Core i7 (over 3.0Ghz) or heaven forbid a Xeon E5 series chipset and you will see some improvement. Not to mention stepping into at least a Quadro 2000.