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Thread: CAD performance - what does it take?

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    Default CAD performance - what does it take?

    I just watched a video demonstration from Heidi Hewitt’s AutoCAD Insider blog regarding the new 3D navigation tools (View Cube & Steering Wheel). It was way cool the way she zoomed around her four story building. My question is what does it take to be able to do that stuff? We just bought brand new $5000 workstations with 64 bit XP, quad core Xeon, 16G RAM, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 3700 cards, and loaded up ACA2009. I thought these things would scream, but it’s still the same old thing. Even on small files, when hidden or realistic shade mode is on, every touch of the mouse and you have to wait for the image to rebuild itself. It’s impossible to move around the model the way they show it in the demo. Do we have something set up wrong? Can anybody else get those kinds of results? Thanks for any advice.

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    Default Re: CAD performance - what does it take?

    Publish to 3D DWF and zoom all you like.

    Andrew

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    Português - Programação Moderator Filipe Francisco's Avatar
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    Default Re: CAD performance - what does it take?

    Quote Originally Posted by libbybapa View Post
    Publish to 3D DWF and zoom all you like.

    Andrew
    Great Ideia,



    cheers

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    Certifiable AUGI Addict dzatto's Avatar
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    Default Re: CAD performance - what does it take?

    I do 5,000 to 10,000 square foot commercial buildings and I don't have a problem with it. The first time I 3Dorbit in realistic shade, it takes a second to gather the info, but after that and on subsequent orbits, it's smooth as silk.

    What size are your processors?. ACA only recognizes a single processor, so a dual core would have been more than enough. A quad core was a waste of money. If you have a 1.8Ghz quad, then basically you're underpowered.

    Here' s what I'm running.

    Core 2 Duo 2.6 Ghz.
    Vista 64
    Nvidia Quadro FX 570 video card
    4G ram

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    Default Re: CAD performance - what does it take?

    I was just upgraded to a quad core xeon on 32 bit xp with 4 gigs of ram. I used to have a P4 with 2 gigs of ram. Both Video cards were similar. I'm running ADT2007. I've been working on a very large model (structure for 500K net sq foot about 750K gross). I didn't notice much of a difference with I upgraded the box. Problem is, Rendering will take advantage of the extra cores, simple modeling and rotating 3d views, won't. Hence a fast P4 acts about the same (modeling wise) as a great xeon.
    Here's my point. Until Autodesk gets up to speed with multi core processors, you're out of luck. Sad part is, they could do this but I don't think they want to re-write the program. Personally I'd love it if they went back Unix Based X-Windows version. They you can use as many processors and as much Ram as you can buy. And the program with use it.

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    Default Re: CAD performance - what does it take?

    Thanks for the responses. Our Xeon is an E5430 2.66GHz. We went with the Quad because we run other applications besides AutoCAD that can take advantage. Using a 3D DWF may be OK for putting on a show, but the point is to be able to analyze and assess our designs in the CAD platform where we can do something about what we see. Besides that, if they put these walk and fly through tools in AutoCAD, shouldn’t they work? We’re spending a lot of money on the assumption that what we see in the demos is what we’ll get.

    dzatto, I am encouraged by your response. I just can’t figure out what you are doing that we are not…

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    Default Re: CAD performance - what does it take?

    On another note, here's why we went quad core.
    If you figure a 3 yr life cycle for your hardware, it's not out of the question that within the next few years that Adesk might start to make use of these extra cores. So that was our thought. Also when you get someone in that's giving you a demo on the next best thing since individually wrapped sliced cheese, think about the hardest, most complex geometry you've done with solids and ask them to reproduce it. I got Paul Aubin stuck, until he gave up on using walls. That's why I love to use Mass Elements for foundations.

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    Certifiable AUGI Addict dzatto's Avatar
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    Default Re: CAD performance - what does it take?

    Quote Originally Posted by dhallett View Post
    Thanks for the responses. Our Xeon is an E5430 2.66GHz. We went with the Quad because we run other applications besides AutoCAD that can take advantage. Using a 3D DWF may be OK for putting on a show, but the point is to be able to analyze and assess our designs in the CAD platform where we can do something about what we see. Besides that, if they put these walk and fly through tools in AutoCAD, shouldn’t they work? We’re spending a lot of money on the assumption that what we see in the demos is what we’ll get.

    dzatto, I am encouraged by your response. I just can’t figure out what you are doing that we are not
    I have no idea! If you want you can post your drawing and I can see how it acts on my machine. I'm using project navigator, are you? Maybe the fact that my stuff is Xref'd has something to do with it.

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    Default Re: CAD performance - what does it take?

    Quote Originally Posted by david_peterson View Post
    ...the next best thing since individually wrapped sliced cheese...
    <<off topic>>Not that you asked for my opinion, but just about anything is better than individually wrapped cheese "slices". I have a hard time telling where the plastic wrapper ends and the cheese begins.<</off topic>>

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