Revit 32bit vs. 64bit

[tknapp]

We just bought new 64bit 4gig RAM machines with Win 7 from Dell. We have added an additional 2gig of RAM & we don't feel that we are really seeing any speed increases. When looking at the performance of the machine, it never utilizes more than 3gig of RAM. This happened whenever we were trying to crash it. We opened an ACAD 3D model and rotated it and then adjusted a section box in REVIT. I guess I feel we are not seeing as big of difference as we expected from 32bit 3gig RAM Win XP.
The models seem to load at about the same speed, the graphic regen time is about the same. Wondering if there is something we are just missing or what? Why won't Revit use more RAM or CPU to make things faster?

[Scott D Davis]

Model size needs to get into the 150 to 200 mb range to start utilizing more RAM. How big is your model?

[tknapp]

The one I was testing was 56 mb with a 20 mb link attached. I do have a 130 mb model to try. This one has a 70 mb link as well as a 50 mb link.

So with the increased RAM, I won't see an increase in the speed of all models. Just the larger ones? Why is that? I was expecting that we would see an increase in speed overall.

[Steve_Stafford]

Changing from 32bit to 64bit isn't about speed, it is about file size and storing a project in RAM versus virtual memory. Very large projects require a lot of RAM and often 32 bit OS and Revit proved incapable of dealing with it. Moving to 64 bit OS means the lock and key on the gate to access more RAM is removed...opening the gate to larger project access. Autodesk has stressed from the beginning that providing 64bit compatibility alone does not provide enhanced "speed".

[patricks]

I would think that faster HDD's with larger cache, more memory, and faster memory (faster clock speeds) would make the most difference in the perceived "speed" of the Revit model.

I just loaded Win7 x64 last week, but unfortunately my machine is almost 3 yrs old and limited to DDR2-667 (PC2-5300) memory, which is kind of slow compared to newer products. However I'll soon be going from the original 4 GB DDR2-533 memory to 16 GB DDR2-667 memory (4 times the capacity, and maximum clock speed for this motherboard), so we'll see how much a difference that makes.

I also replaced my aging 80GB 10K RPM HDD with 16MB cache with a new 640GB 7200 RPM HDD with 32MB cache. I think it might have a couple of milliseconds slower read/write speeds, but hopefully the larger cache will make up for some of that.

[iru69]

I would think that faster HDD's with larger cache, more memory, and faster memory (faster clock speeds) would make the most difference in the perceived "speed" of the Revit model.

Assuming you have adequate RAM for the model, the CPU by far will make the most difference in the "speed" of the Revit model.

While the speed of the RAM will affect system performance, it's not the place to focus too much attention. The difference between 533 and 667 is not much from a practical standpoint... you're squeezing out a few percentage points at best.

The drive speed is at the bottom end of what helps/hinders Revit performance. Yes, opening and saving models are obviously greatly affected by the storage medium, but beyond that, it's not particularly critical once the model is loaded into memory.

As always, any single component can become a bottleneck to overall system performance.

However I'll soon be going from the original 4 GB DDR2-533 memory to 16 GB DDR2-667 memory (4 times the capacity, and maximum clock speed for this motherboard), so we'll see how much a difference that makes.

The change from 533 to 667 might show a tiny difference on some benchmarks, but the perceived difference is at best negligible.

I'm not sure from your post whether you're upgrading a three year old system with W7, RAM and HD or buying a new system with those components. In my opinion it's money down the drain on a three year old system - put it towards a new system instead. Also, I'd suggest looking a little closer at your actual RAM requirements before investing in 16 GB of RAM for a system new or old.

[tknapp]

Autodesk has stressed from the beginning that providing 64bit compatibility alone does not provide enhanced "speed".

Steve,
Then I am looking for options on what I should do to increase the speed in which I am able to work in REVIT. Do you have any suggestions?

[Steve_Stafford]

Steve,
Then I am looking for options on what I should do to increase the speed in which I am able to work in REVIT. Do you have any suggestions?

Define speed. What are your criteria? Just to match AutoCAD's speed at drawing a line that only appears in one drawing with a wall that appears in many views, may be tagged, scheduled and host dozens of other elements? Part of speed is perception, forgetting what else Revit is "up to" with that element.

Apart from the perception of slowness/speed there can be modelling issues, errors, user interaction, one weak pc with a group of powerful ones. Have you read the Performance White Paper Autodesk released?

[tknapp]

The speed I am refering to is model load speed, the speed at which it takes to adjust a 3D section box, the speed it takes to cut a section. I realize that the software is doing quite a bit of work, but there seems that there are always ways to speed the processes up. I was just looking for a few sugestions.

I did look at the white paper. Thanks, that did give me a few ideas, but for the most part we are at or above the system recommendations. Although, I do need to look at a few models to check for errors & warnings.

[patricks]

I'm not sure from your post whether you're upgrading a three year old system with W7, RAM and HD or buying a new system with those components. In my opinion it's money down the drain on a three year old system - put it towards a new system instead. Also, I'd suggest looking a little closer at your actual RAM requirements before investing in 16 GB of RAM for a system new or old.

Too late, already upgraded my 3-yr old system with the components I mentioned above. Oh well.

At least I won't have to worry about Photoshop or Acrobat complaining because Revit is hogging my system resources, which happened QUITE often when I had 4 GB RAM and the 3 GB switch enabled.