performance problem RAC 2010

[cliff collins]

We have a few machines (3) which have a strange performance slow-down in RAC 2010,
when accessing pull-down menus for loading components/families, and when performing
routine tasks such as loading/editing 2D Detail Components, editing text note leaders, etc.
We also have several identical machines, which do not experience the problem.

These machines are running on Win 7 64, Quad core Dell Q6600s 8 GB RAM,
RAC 2010 64 bit.
Tried turning off hardware accelleration/Direct 3D -- problem persists.

We have the problem on a variety of Revit projects, so it is not project-specific.
It seems to only happen in Revit--not in other apps like AutoCad, PS, etc.

We have even changed out the CPU and RAM on one machine, reinstalled Revit 2010
with all current builds/service packs, etc. and the problem persists.

We have also done all routine maintenance, defrag, error-check, install latest drivers, etc.

Anyone else seen this?

cheers......

[truevis]

Have you tried cleaning-out all of the Startup cr@p?

I'd also try setting Windows to maximum display performance and maximum power performance.

[cliff collins]

Meaning MS Config-Windows Startup? No.

But we do keep it fairly clean--light on its feet.

But hey--worth a check at this point.

Have you seen this cause a problem such as the one we are having?

cheers...

[ron.sanpedro]

Cliff,
any chance the machine was an upgrade from Windows XP x32? I have seen a few situations where the old configuration was XP, 2GB of RAM and a fixed size swap file of 2G-4G. After upgrading to Windows 7 x64 and 8GB of RAM, the swap file is still a fixed, and now very small, size. Another possibility is if the drive is getting full, and the swap file size is being managed by Windows, you could be getting a fragmented swap file. A defrag then reset the swap file to a fixed 8-16GB (opinions vary on size ;) might help. I usually defrag again after I reset the swap file, but I am not sure that isn't just my lucky socks superstition.

Gordon

[cliff collins]

Gordon,

Yes-machines were upgraded from XP 32 to Win 7 64.

We changed swap file to max. allowed, and also let apps manage virtual memory
allocation--no affect, problem persists.

We did look at defragmentation and have it scheduled to run in background at 1:00am.

But we are running manually again to clean it up, as well as check disk for errors, etc.

cheers......

[truevis]

...Yes-machines were upgraded from XP 32 to Win 7 64...I suspect a clean install of Win7 is in order.

[cliff collins]

Yes--

Clean Win 7 64 install is on our troubleshooting list.

Will try this on one of the problematic machines.

cheers........

[Elmo]

Have you done a complete disc check? Make sure you have temporary files ticked on. If you have then it will most likely be a windows upgrade problem.

[Rick Moore]

Gordon,

Yes-machines were upgraded from XP 32 to Win 7 64.

cheers......

I thought that wasn't possible from XP or any 32 bit OS, you have to do a clean install.

[cliff collins]

Rick,

You are correct. They were not really "upgraded"--we wiped the drives and then installed
Win 7 64. The Windows 7 64 installer "replaces" or overwrites the XP 32 registry.

Could be there was some registry stuff from XP Pro 32 lingering or causing
conflicts w/ Win 7?

We are also going to install a second hard drive on one of the problematic machines and have Revit send its paging file to the 2nd drive to see if this improves performance
and fixes the problem.

cheers..

[btrusty]

replaced ram and cpu - ok
did clean install of win7 x64 & revit software - ok
configured swap files, registry hacks, etc

1. did you try trading out the hard drive
(and or doing spinrite / s.m.a.r.t. check)

2. did you try running the computer at a different location
e.g. if there is some strange power-surge issue with locations current / power

[cliff collins]

Next step is to replace hard drive.

Checked power supply-- output is spot on.
Have not changed physical workstation location / power circuit.

cheers

[Rick Moore]

Rick,

Could be there was some registry stuff from XP Pro 32 lingering or causing
conflicts w/ Win 7?

cheers..

Shouldn't, the installer formats the drive

[DaveP]

We're seeing exactly the same thing .
Just filed a Support Request on this yesterday.

Several people who we've recently given new Win7-64 machines have been complaining about 5-second pauses. Same person, same project, same location. The only thing different is Win7-64 & Revit 2010-64 vs XP-32 & Revit-32.

[twiceroadsfool]

Odd. We dont see that behavior here. Theres a slight lag, but i put it in the 1 second range (which is still too long, imho).

I hope the answer doesnt come back from Support that RAC 2010 isnt officially supported on Win-7 64, because they came back to us with that when we were having trouble with a Project. BUT, we ruled out Windows 7 as the culprit by reproducing it on a Vista box, and they are still looking in to it. But if its ONLY a problem in a win7 box....

[iru69]

I actually had a very similar problem in 2011 (W7 x64 8GB RAM) as well... working in a drafting view, detail components/lines became impossibly slow (it was just a typical detail, not thousands of lines or anything).

Closing and re-opening Revit "fixed" the problem.

[DaveP]

Of course, I can't reproduce this on my machine either.
All I can do is try to deal with users who tell me:

User: "You know, Revit is really slow"
Me: "Can you show me what happens?"
User: "Well, it's not doing it now, but it was really bad yesterday"
Makes it real easy to look at an 8 Meg Journal file & try to find a 5 second pause. :roll:
This definitely started happening when we went from 32 bit to 64.
Lots of crashes in 32-bit, so we told them 64-bit would fix all that. Now it doesn't crash, it's just painfully slow.
My personal opinion is that it's tied in to the Video driver and the Ribbon somehow.

I'm waiting for the 2011 Service Pack before upgrading projects. Too many consultants to upgrade a project just to test.

'X,, (That's supposed to be a smiley for crossed fingers)

[jgarcia.236964]

Same problem here. Clean install of Windows 7-64 and Revit 2010. Serious lag when working in drafting views, especially when accessing the ribbon drop down or any line based drafting components.

[cliff collins]

Try uninstalling Google Toolbar if it's present--this actually did the trick on some of our
users' machines! ( there was another thread here about that.)

cheers

[jgarcia.236964]

So here's what I did and it seems to have helped though I'm not sure which step helped the most since I did them all at once...

- Windows Control Panel/ System and Security/ System/ Advanced System Setting/ Advanced tab/ Performance/ Settings/ Visual Effects/ "Adjust for best performance" (makes windows ugly, but very responsive)

- Advanced Tab under Performance Options from above/ Virtual Memory/ Change/ Custom Size/ Set to 2 1/2x the system RAM.

- Disabled McAfee

- Disabled Google Desktop

- Purged Unused and Audited & Compacted Central Revit file that was giving me a headache.

- Reboot

The drafting views are now flying when modifying drafting components. Drop down list could be faster, but at least I'm not waiting 5 minutes to do anything anymore. I'm sure not all the steps above are completely necessary, but my system certainly does feel more snappy in general. Hope this helps anyone else with this issue.