CAD on Vista Performs Much Worse than on XP

[Buffeldrek]

just came across with some juicy articles of Vista vs CAD


http://aecnews.com/news/2007/01/31/2240.aspx

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/...sta/page7.html

[Mike.Perry]

Hi

Until software applications / programs have been written (updated) for use on Vista (Are Vista compliant), I personally feel such articles / statements are a little unfair / unjust... just my humble opinion.

Have a good one, Mike

[hand471037]

Hi

Until software applications / programs have been written (updated) for use on Vista (Are Vista compliant), I personally feel such articles / statements are a little unfair / unjust... just my humble opinion.

I agree. I used to think that Vista was going to be really bad for CAD, but the standard 3D benchmarks show it to only be about 5% slower currently than XP on the same hardware. Once Microsoft and the CAD vendors catch up things should speed up and be about the same.

Doesn't make any sense to me that things would be slower, you'd think Vista to be better than XP, but oh well. I personally am not going to use Vista until I have to, which I'm hoping by then many of these issues to be worked out.

[Buffeldrek]

true - the articles didn't say much about how the benchmark was performed - my first guess was that this might have to do something with the graphic settings - that the benchmark was executed with the microsoft Direct3D.
Don't know the present status - but caught once that OpenGL was not supported on vista. Only after installing a plug-in, one could access OpenGL.

On the other hand Tom's Hardware isn't the first/best reviewer that launches these "rumors". Solidworks claimed to be the first CAD system ready for Vista (or was it 64bit?) neuh - I remember Vista too... and it was in this test.

Caution is the advise at the moment

[cadtag]

Doesn't make any sense to me that things would be slower, you'd think Vista to be better than XP, but oh well. I personally am not going to use Vista until I have to, which I'm hoping by then many of these issues to be worked out.

It seems likely that the majority of the slowdowns are related to the internal encryption and DRM 'features' built into Vista. Not elements that are of any use to a worker-bee. But, not elements that will ever be 'worked out' because they are integral to the Gatesian vision of controlling all information flow everywhere and the strategic steps that MS is taking in regards to entertainment vs production.

In many ways, a reasonable W2K machine is a more effective cad box - just think of it as XP without some of the fluff and a simpler UI. Now if the original features in Longhorn would have made the cut, it would be a different story. I'd cheerfully take a 5% hit in speed for the benefits of WinFS.

[pcraig0888]

So don't buy vista to run CAD

[Brian Myers]

'depends if you are on subscription... the next group of Autodesk programs should run on Vista just fine if you have a fast enough 'puter to run Vista itself.

[jaberwok]

So don't buy vista to run CAD?

If you're buying a new pc it will almost certainly have Vista pre-installed.

[Mike.Perry]

AutoCAD and the New Windows Vista via Shaan Hurley

[michael.12445]

Shaan Hurley's article is, IMHO, quite telling - Vista is really great for playing Texas Hold 'Em. So THAT'S what they do behind the walls at Autodesk...

Now I'm not a systems programmer, but here are the facts as I know them:

1. When running just about any CAD application, the more system memory you have available for the application, the better it runs.

2. Every single review of Vista I've read says that Microsoft has seriously lowballed the hardware requirements - it runs very slowly with the recommended minimum of 512Mb of system memory. To make your Vista experience bearable, you need something more like 1Gb.

3. Several posts on AUGI state that many Autodesk products will not run at all on Vista.

4. Vista is Microsoft's first new desktop OS since Windows XP, and it took five years to develop. Microsoft delayed the release of Vista several times, and there was a significant beta testing period. Several application vendors (IBM, Symantec, Microsoft, etc.) developed Vista-compatible versions of their products prior to Vista's release, so that they would be immediately available to users of the new OS; Autodesk did not.

Conclusions:

If you rely on an Autodesk application, you need to avoid Vista for now. Since Autodesk applications run on Windows and Windows only, it seems inconceivable that Autodesk can continue to evade the issue of Vista compatibility, but given the resource-intensive nature of both CAD and Vista, it seems like an uphill battle. It's so much easier to keep playing poker.

Michael Evans
Togawa Smith Martin Residential, Inc.