Improved rendering times in Revit 64

[ws]

There seems to be a real improvement in render times in Revit 2009 64 bit over the 32 bit version.

A larger version of the attached image rendered in 3 minutes in Revit 2009 wu2 on a 3GHZ Dual Xeon machine with 4GB ram,

but in only 1 min 40 seconds in Revit 2009 64 bit on a 2.6 GHZ dual Xeon with 8GB ram (well it was a Dual dual Xeon but I assume Revit still only uses the cores from one processor?)

I wondered if anyone else had had similar results.

[Scott D Davis]

Revit will use up to 4 cores, so the dual- duo xenon will render faster, and the 8 gigs of RAM definately helps.

[ws]

thanks Scott,

I thought I'd read that Revit would only use the multiple cores on one processor - in my case the two per processor, rather than all 4, but that would account for the much improved render times.

Whichever.. it's pretty fast ;)

[cliff collins]

I think the difference in speed for 64 bit will only be affected
by how much ram is installed--and that MR can now take advantage
of more than 4Gb w/ 64 bit OS and Revit 64 bit software.

(4) cores can be used in Revit, only when rendering--in 32 bit or 64 bit versions.
Try a test render, open Task Manager, go to Performance and you will
see the CPU cores of your machine running.

When not rendering, Revit will only use a single core--check Task Manager to see for yourself.

So, don't expect huge render speed gains with 64 bit.

cheers......

[ws]

Yes, you're quite right, thanks - all 4 cores are in use 100% when rendering even though it is two processors with 2 cores each.

Just running the same render in 32 bit Revit on Vista 64 Ultimate, the render time is almost the same as for 64 bit Revit on Vista 64 Ultimate.

What definitely is a lot faster is pre-highlighting and graphic performance generally in Revit 64 compared to Revit 32 running on Vista 64 - although subjectively that only seems to bring it up to what you would expect in Revit 32 running on XP Pro 32.

[Jason Grant]

I am definately getting better results on the Revit 64-Bit and have benchmark results to prove it. With the ability to use all 4 cores of a quad processor and almost unlimited ram the results are very impressive. Check out my post on the hardware section:
http://forums.augi.com/showthread.php?t=88535

[Scott D Davis]

At the Autodesk Design and Visualization Tour (click for link) (http://offers.autodesk.com/8/92645/?mktvar001=93154&src=93154&ch=EM) event in Las Vegas yesterday (coming to Kansas City and New York City next Tuesday and Thursday) we had the fastest PC (benchmark tested) available to us.

It was a machine by Boxx (http://www.boxxtech.com/) and the specs were something like this:

Dual Quad Core (overclocked to 4 Ghz), watercooled, 32 Gigs of RAM, Win XP 64, ATI 2 Gig (!!!) Video card (sorry, don't remember the ATI card name).

This computer has a special motherboard that is black, rather than "circuit board green" that is meant to help disappate heat. The PC had 8 fans inside....2 for the closed loop water cooling system, 1 specifically to cool the RAM with a tunnel that blows right across the chips, 2 on the power supply, 2 on the inside-back of the case, and one built into the ATI GPU to cool its processor. This is all in a case that is not much larger than a standard tower.

For the presentation, they had two of these that we ran Revit 2009 64 and Max Design 2009 64 on, and they were networked togehter. Max Design opened completely in less than 5 seconds. The splash screen stays up for a split second. Distributed rendering in Max Design was awesome! One image: 32 "buckets" bouncing around rendering one image in seconds instead of minutes. Our presenters, Amy Fietkau and Eddie Perlberg, were thrown off a couple times because things were so much faster than they expected, that their "typical" timing was off!

Revit 64 worked beautifully, and Amy rendered images live in front of the crowd in seconds. It seemed faster in all around workflow, and rendering was extremely fast.

If you are looking for a kick-a$$ machine, I suggest you check one of these out. I'm looking into one for myself!

[Jason Grant]

Wow Scott!!!

If I had an extra 13K+ I would get one also. Maybe Autodesk can raffle one off at Autodesk University :)

Is there any documented speed differences between this system and a typical workstation that business can afford? I'd like to see some stats...

[Scott D Davis]

Wow Scott!!!

If I had an extra 13K+ I would get one also. Maybe Autodesk can raffle one off at Autodesk University :)

Is there any documented speed differences between this system and a typical workstation that business can afford? I'd like to see some stats...

This was their "special edition" I believe, and definately is about as high end a workstation as one can get. They have other configurations available as well that are more cost effective. This one is the Bugatti Veyron, but you can tone it down to Porche level. 8)

I talked to their rep yesterday, and I'm going to send him the link to the Benchmark thread here at AUGI. He said he'd run the benchmark on Revit 64 and post the results.

[armbarsalot]

i think i might build one of these instead

This is the story of Helmer. A linux cluster in a IKEA Helmer cabinet.

http://helmer.sfe.se/ (Swedish link, its ok)

[rookwood]

If you are looking for a kick-a$$ machine, I suggest you check one of these out. I'm looking into one for myself!

Two years ago I purchased a BOXX mobile workstation for $6k. Unfortunately they no longer carry notebooks. Only a 1 year warranty was offered, so the interior guts simpy fried at month 14, due to the extreme heat generated.

I've used most all the majors (Dell/HP/etc) and, although most were good to excellent, none compared to the quality of service and tech support I received from BOXX. Even as a single unit customer, they made me feel and treated me, always, as if I were their main client.

I don't think anyone will be disappointed with the quality of product or tech support from these people. Very small company in Texas. At he time, they were only building about 50 units per month...dedicated group of people.