Autodesk Inventor only utilises 4gb RAM

[CADslayer]

Hi everyone,

I would like to know why my beefed up computer only uses 4gb RAM when I have installed 24gb.

My specs are below:
Windows 8 Pro 64 bit
Intel i7 930 @ 2.80GHz
Installed 24 gb (3x8gb) Windows reads this fine
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R GB GeForce GT 240 (dx11) avail graphics = 4gb

When I run inventor 2012 with some large files It lags alot. I have been monitoring the Memory in task manager while it churns away and it does not go passed 4gb (it has been slightly higher) but generally uses only 15% of the available capacity..
I would like to know how to take full advantage of the RAM so I can load large assemblies quicker etc.
I am no Guru, but I know my way around the computer, and after some extensive googling I cannot find a logical answer yet to what is the bottleneck.

Any advice is greatly appreciated,Cheers.

[cadtag]

If you want to see the bottleneck points, load up Process Monitor from Microsoft, and let it log access attempts. (Is that geforce on-bard? or a separate video card?)

[dgorsman]

The program will take as much RAM as it needs, using "more" won't make it go "faster". Consider your work processes and how the model is constructed - both of these have a noticeable impact in Inventor.

[CADslayer]

If you want to see the bottleneck points, load up Process Monitor from Microsoft, and let it log access attempts. (Is that geforce on-bard? or a separate video card?)

It is a seperate video card. thanks I will have a look at Process Monitor and see what it says.

So basically there is not much I can do if the assemblies have been constructed elsewhere.

one of the issues is importing iges files, it is quite a large file. but im steering off the path a little as this is a hardware section...

Also, is the GeForce GT 240 Video card a bit weak for Inventor modelling? I am told else where that the Quadro video cards are better ?

Thanks for your responses.

[cfetherston]

The GT 240 is a 4 year old card, so yes there are better out there. A GTX 670 for instance is about $350 Canadian, and will be approximately 4x as fast as the GT240. The Quadros in my opinion are out dated and in need of a refresh. I believe the Quadro K series is releasing soon, these will be more comparable to this generation of graphics cards.

I would either wait to see what the reviews on the k5000 or k4000 look like, or just get a high end GTX card. Depending on where you order it from, a top of the line "gamer" card will be under $1000, where as the cheapest Quadro I would buy would be the K4000 is about 850-900. And the raw performance values are lower.

The Quadro "professional" series card shine in Open GL applications such as Autodesk product as the hardware is optimized for that type of calculation base. But if a "gamer" card runs twice as fast for the same price point I have a hard time seeing how the optimization can double the performance in any given task.

One caveat to mention in my long ramble here, is that the Quadro's are tested and manufactured to a higher standard so there will be less of a chance of crashing/losing data while working. But in my experience, if you have a reasonable save/backup procedure in place you should be fine.

On another note... A solid state hard drive will help with load times, assuming your not saving to a central server. Once the model is loaded inventor than uses mostly RAM for processing though.

Hope that helps...