Event ID 500 in Win7, need new graphics card?

[patricks]

I see tons of Event 500's in my Windows 7 x64 Event Viewer. It says "The Desktop Window Manager is experiencing heavy resource contention. Scenario: Video memory resources are over-utilized. Reducing number of running programs and open windows may help resolve this condition".

My system setup is fairly substantial (dual Xeon 5150 dual-core CPU's, 16GB RAM), with the exception of the graphics card. I'm still on the same nVIDIA Quadro FX550 128MB graphics card that shipped with the system almost 3 years ago. The nVIDIA driver is the most current as of about 2 weeks ago.

Could this be why I'm seeing all these Event 500's? Do I need to go to a 256 or 512MB workstation card? If so, I would probably go with an FX580 card.

[iru69]

It does sound like you might need a new video card with more video RAM, but it's also possible it could also just be a driver issue.

You recently went from XP to 7, correct? I'd suggest first disabling "Aero" in Windows (if you're not sure how, just google it). Aero can make heavy use of the video card. See if that makes a difference.

Do you have Revit HWA on? That could also be causing problems. Between Aero and Revit, it may be too much for the card.

You have two displays running off the card? That's a lot of pixels. You could try disconnecting a display to see if that helps.

However, sometimes in an office setting, it's literally cheaper (billable time) to buy new hardware (and hope that fixes it) than trying to troubleshoot it.

[patricks]

I have tried various flavors of stock Aero themes, Basic themes, and modified Aero themes (with various animations and other settings disabled).

I am running Revit with HWA turned on, but it hasn't crashed yet in the ~3 weeks since I upgraded the system to 64-bit.

[iru69]

So you have tried running it with Aero turned off and still got the error message? Additionally, have you tried turning HWA off as well and still got the error message?

The issue is that Aero and HWA are both using DX and potentially making heavy (relatively speaking to your card) use of the video card resources. With both Aero and HWA off, if you're still getting the error message, that seems less likely a case of video RAM specifically.

That you've run Revit with HWA without crashing indicates that Revit is able to use the HWA (DX) features of the video card, not necessarily an indication of whether you have adequate video RAM.

Wish I could help more, but I'm out of suggestions. Hopefully someone else here has some ideas. Good luck!

I have tried various flavors of stock Aero themes, Basic themes, and modified Aero themes (with various animations and other settings disabled).

I am running Revit with HWA turned on, but it hasn't crashed yet in the ~3 weeks since I upgraded the system to 64-bit.

[patricks]

Well, I've only really paid attention to the event ID's and messed with Aero and non-Aero themes yesterday and today. Yesterday I didn't have any Event 500 or 501's and I think I was on a non-Aero theme most of the day. Today I have been on Aero themes most of the time, but have been playing with different settings, and I've gotten 4 of those events today.

[ron.sanpedro]

I see tons of Event 500's in my Windows 7 x64 Event Viewer. It says "The Desktop Window Manager is experiencing heavy resource contention. Scenario: Video memory resources are over-utilized. Reducing number of running programs and open windows may help resolve this condition".

My system setup is fairly substantial (dual Xeon 5150 dual-core CPU's, 16GB RAM), with the exception of the graphics card. I'm still on the same nVIDIA Quadro FX550 128MB graphics card that shipped with the system almost 3 years ago. The nVIDIA driver is the most current as of about 2 weeks ago.

Could this be why I'm seeing all these Event 500's? Do I need to go to a 256 or 512MB workstation card? If so, I would probably go with an FX580 card.

Desktop Window Manager is what enables all the aero theme stuff like transparency, and also what stores the contents of entire application windows in graphic RAM, thus allowing you to move windows around without getting blank white areas of apps that are too busy to refresh on demand (as you would in XP). The amount of graphic ram you need depends a lot on both how big your monitor(s) is, and how many open applications/windows you have. My guess is that with Aero on, two 19" monitors and a bunch of open apps, 128Mb is getting pretty tight, but without a Graphics RAM monitoring tool it is hard to be really sure.I have tried using Riva Tuner to look at graphics RAM usage, but have had no luck figuring it out.

That said, given that most cards pair faster GPUs with more RAM, upgrading can make sense on both fronts, especially if you have 64 bit Windows 7 where there are no caveats with regards to the amount of graphic RAM. In a 64 bit world, more is better. If you know someone with a 256Mb card, I would install it and see if the errors go away, then switch back and see if they return. Ideally the card would be one that can use the same driver you have now so as to minimize the variables. Unless of course someone mentions a Resource Monitor that will track Graphics RAM usage, at which point you can just look and see. Hopefully someone has a recomendation there, because I think there is going to be a real need to upgrade graphics cards in the post Win 7 x64 world, and having some solid data to go on would be really nice.

Best,
Gordon