Revit - Very virtual memory hungry

[anthony.doyle]

Can anyone help.

We have noticed that Revit is very virtual memory hungry. We are in the process of trying to build machines that have Revit running very smoothly, ie not jittery when you pan across the screen, refresh quickly and don't run out of virtual memory.

Our project sizes range from 30mb to 140ish mb. The smaller files are to much of a problem, but the bigger files are.

Does anyone have machine specs that work well, also has anyone tried running RS2008 on Vista. If so can you please pass on specs & feed back on vista compatiblility.

Regards

[dhurtubise]

I run Vista on a laptop with 4GB RAM (Ferrari Acer 5000) without any issuse. You might wanna have a look at that thread http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=71767

[david_peterson]

Can anyone help.

We have noticed that Revit is very virtual memory hungry. We are in the process of trying to build machines that have Revit running very smoothly, ie not jittery when you pan across the screen, refresh quickly and don't run out of virtual memory.

Our project sizes range from 30mb to 140ish mb. The smaller files are to much of a problem, but the bigger files are.

Does anyone have machine specs that work well, also has anyone tried running RS2008 on Vista. If so can you please pass on specs & feed back on vista compatiblility.

Regards
You may want to take a look at this (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=70735) thread.
According to Wes You need about 20 times the amount of Ram to the file size. Now knowing that you can't accomplish this without going the 64 bit route, my suggestion is to get the fastest processor money can buy and dump 4 gigs of ram in the box. Unless you do lots of rendering, just get the cheapest 256 video card you can find. Also I'd invest in quality fast Ram. That's my 2 cents.

[tomnewsom]

You may want to take a look at this (http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=70735) thread.
According to Wes You need about 20 times the amount of Ram to the file size. Now knowing that you can't accomplish this without going the 64 bit route, my suggestion is to get the fastest processor money can buy and dump 4 gigs of ram in the box. Unless you do lots of rendering, just get the cheapest 256 video card you can find. Also I'd invest in quality fast Ram. That's my 2 cents.
Rendering does not use the graphics card's processor, unless there have been developments in rendering engines that I haven't heard about recently.

Max out your RAM, of course.

[dhurtubise]

I've read something about an nVidia tool that would use the card CPU

[allan.wise]

Our IT guy here says XP can only work up to 3.26GB of ram where as VISTA can run up to ~16GB of RAM. A work mate is running REVIT on vista at home as says it runs "very good". Which may be nothing to do with ram anyway. BUT perhaps the smooth running of of REVIT can be improved with the Operating System used?


Also I intstalled a 2gb open GL graphics card - I do notice a difference in the tool tips/dimension display but that is about all.

[dhurtubise]

The fact with Vista is mostly a 32 vs 64 bits OS. So a 64bits OS can utilize A LOT of RAM which in return will make the software faster.
Revit doesnt run much faster with a very high-end video card, it's mostly the drivers that makes the difference.

[tmad101185]

Our IT guy here says XP can only work up to 3.26GB of ram where as VISTA can run up to ~16GB of RAM.

That's actually not true. I run 4 gigs of ram on my work computer with Windows XP & 4 of my home computer with XP as well.

But your best bet would be to get a machine w/ a dual core processor & install Vista than max out your ram. My 4 gigs still runs a little laggy in RS 2008 on windows XP depending on what it is I'm doing. You can get computers that can support 8 gigs even (which you shouldn't ever need that much) but if you have the money it doesn't hurt...

[david_peterson]

That's actually not true. I run 4 gigs of ram on my work computer with Windows XP & 4 of my home computer with XP as well.

But your best bet would be to get a machine w/ a dual core processor & install Vista than max out your ram. My 4 gigs still runs a little laggy in RS 2008 on windows XP depending on what it is I'm doing. You can get computers that can support 8 gigs even (which you shouldn't ever need that much) but if you have the money it doesn't hurt...
Back to this debate again?
See this (http://www.realtime-vista.com/installation/2007/08/windows_vista_ram_limitations.htm)for more info.
While you can put 4 gigs in the box any 32 bit system will only use a tick over 3 gigs. Now, that said, you may get a slight increase in performance with the additional gig of ram. Windows Vista (the 32 bit version) won't use all 4 gigs. Now if you go to a 64 bit system, then you can get more, but it depends on the version (8 to 128 gigs). Get Widows server and you can use up to 2 terabytes. Now your only problem is finding the box to put it in. if you want to use more than 4 gigs, you need a 64 bit version OS, which (while people are getting it to work) Isn't supported by Adesk (except Acad). The other issue is if you go 64, make sure you have a 64 bit chip that will still run 32 bit programs. Revit is 32 bit. Some of the new AMD chips (from what I've heard) won't run any app that isn't coded for 64 bit OS.
Hope this helps.