Hardware Guide for X3

[James Fenton]

HI Doug;

I just bought a new laptop last year. HP 19" Int6el Core 2Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz 2.20 Ghz
4. GB Ram
32-Bit OS

Is this wnat you are talking about we need for X3?

Thanks
James............................................. .................


James A. Fenton, Jr.
(505) 315-9644
www.JAFConcepts.com
Pick 3D PDF’s from our menu and have fun!

[James Fenton]

Hi Doug;

I had posted you yesterday while you, and called today and left you a message at your office. Could you lets me know more about the new computers requirements we will need for X3. I talked with Mark in sales today. He said X3 will not be out for 6 months so they don't know anything about the upgrade or what requirements we will need to run the upgrade.

I have an HP 19" Int6el Core 2Duo CPU T7500 @ 2.20GHz 2.20 Ghz
4. GB Ram
32-Bit OS

Is this close to what you say we need to upgrade from X2 to X3, I just bougt this less then a year ago. I don't need a new upgrade that needs $18,000.00 each year for a new laptop.


Thanks
James………………………………………


James A. Fenton, Jr.
(505) 315-9644
www.JAFConcepts.com
Pick 3D PDF’s from our menu and have fun!

[charlesu]

X3 will trigger my new system.

It will be a Dell and I need advise on specifics, the RAM, Processor and video card (see attached thumbnails)

Will I see a "gee wiz" improvement with 24 GB ram vs 12 GB?

Thanks,

[lbuttery]

24 GB ram vs 12 GB

either of those will probably cost a fortune ???

cost benefit ???

8 GB ram should be more than enough for normal chief running

if you have special needs or will be some serious raytracing ???

It will be interesting to see what CA says about 24 GB


Lew

[cache]

Looking at upgrading to the DELL precision M6400 Covet. Wondering if I should upgrade the processor. What is the significance of 6M L2 cache as compared to 12M L2 cache, specifically as it pertains to CA?

[Tim Sorrentino]

I have a Dell Precision M6400 with a 2.53GHz Quad-Core Intel CPU, 8GB of RAM and a Quadro FX3700M Video Card that has 1GB of VRAM. I started with Vista 64-bit and just upgraded to Windows 7 64-Bit and wish I could tell you that I get blazing fast performance from all of this expensive hardware and software. I don't notice any performance improvements with Windows 7 in any respect whatsoever and X2 renderings still take measurable amounts of time to build. Unfortunately I'm limited to a laptop platform so that I can take the "show" on the road and it's frustrating when I creating drawings and almost embarassed when I'm showing prospective customers renderviews as they look at the ceiling by the time I'm on to the third renderview and they're just sitting and waiting for the drawing to complete. Hopefully X3 code will optimized and enhanced to perform faster renderview builds. Can't change out CPUs and Video Cards on laptops....that's called buying a new laptop. I've monitored my CPU and memory usage and found that my memory has rarely even approached the 4GB mark. So if I had it to do over again (and I probably will have to in a year or two), I'd go for the most powerful CPU with 4GB of RAM and make sure that the particular laptop model had the provision for increasing the memory. With regard to the Video Card; it's hard to say if a lesser card would perform as well so I would stick with the best video card available in whatever model you choose. Hope this helps.

[SoloSK71]

24 GB ram vs 12 GB

either of those will probably cost a fortune ???

cost benefit ???

8 GB ram should be more than enough for normal chief running

if you have special needs or will be some serious raytracing ???

It will be interesting to see what CA says about 24 GB


Lew

I am beginning to spec out my next system, for advanced 3D modelling, scientific (chemical to be exact) as well as architectural and am also trying to get this question answered. Should a system with 16GB of RAM use most of that in CAX2/X3 if I have a large enough or detailed enough model? If I want to produce some renders like those on the front page of the website, without waiting 4 days, is CPU and system memory going to do the trick or should I look at more than a 1GB video card?

- Solo

[lbuttery]

Solo:

renders use video ram

raytraces use cpu ram

Chief X2 is 32 bit software and is limited to 2 GB ram

Chief X3 is also going to be 32 bit


Lew

[Ray C]

Hi folks



I managed to install NView on a Win7 64 bit machine with the GeForce GTX 295 card. The nview control buttons appear on most of the MS menu bars but not on Chief. I had hoped that NVidia would come up with a driver that would include NView for Win7 and Geforce card but from what I read they have no intensions to. What they do offer is,,,,, spend more money for Quatro! Quatro cards support NView on Win7 machines. UNBELEIVABLE!

That leads me to this question,,,, is anyone out there using or changed to a Quatro card to get back NView and noticed any performance change (better or worse?). should I remortgage my house or go with and entry level card.

I just can’t seem to function on a single monitor. The plan review process with clients on a dual set up is hard to beat.

If this is a duplicate post on this subject here by me I apologize,,, senior moment?

Perplexed, Ray

[BuildingDesign]

Hi folks

I managed to install NView on a Win7 64 bit machine with the GeForce GTX 295 card. The nview control buttons appear on most of the MS menu bars but not on Chief. I had hoped that NVidia would come up with a driver that would include NView for Win7 and Geforce card but from what I read they have no intentions to. What they do offer is,,,,, spend more money for Quatro! Quatro cards support NView on Win7 machines. UNBELEIVABLE!

That leads me to this question,,,, is anyone out there using or changed to a Quatro card to get back NView and noticed any performance change (better or worse?). should I remortgage my house or go with and entry level card.

I just can’t seem to function on a single monitor. The plan review process with clients on a dual set up is hard to beat.

If this is a duplicate post on this subject here by me I apologize,,, senior moment?

Perplexed, Ray

N/Vidia do not supply Nview for their Gtx range, only The Quatro! So multi monitor management is greatly disabled. I would not buy Nvidia again for this reason alone as ATI has its Hydravision control module add on the the catalysts drivers driver are very good and work with all their cards.
We went into this issue in some detail in this thread.
http://www.chieftalk.com/showthread.php?t=41153&page=21

I would not go Nvidia again (and I bought 2 x Gtx 275's). Only letting their quatro cards work with Nview is a rip off and I don't know why ART are recommending Nvidia over ATI. The loss in time alone because of this issues out-ways any gain in speed the GTX might have over the ATI cards.
I had a X800 Ati running two monitors overclocked and it was rock solid for 4 hard working years.

As I have said previously if you have multi monitors (as a lot of us have) buy ATI.
I so wish I had of known about this issue before I decided on the twin GTX 275's.
Which reminds me I was going to swap them out for ATI before I reformatted for win7 and the X3 upgrade.
I've gone to X3 but still to do the win7 & reformat. Now I must call my computer guy??
Its the full day I loose when doing this that's the problem LOL!!

[arcadian]

So Rick,
When do you plan doing the hardware upgrade?
I'm very intersted in your outcome as I'm about to go through a similar process. I'm running 2 monitors on a GTX 285 card, and wanted to run another monitor or two, and was about to order another 285 card to run this.
Now I'm new to this multi monitor thing, and thought I had reasonable control of the two monitors. What additional options would the ATI cards give?

Andy Smith
Arcadian Design Ltd
Tauranga, New Zealand

[baljamin]

U can update XP to Vista.

[LennyB]

I'll add my two bits.
Just got new Desktop I7, win7 64bit. 8gb ram. Does x2 really fast.
New Notebook: Elitebook8540w. I7, 64bit, 1 gig video. Is very fast with x2. Not too big but bulletproof, mil spec notebook. PCConnection had a special with the notebook and a dockingstation for 1650.00 or so. If I could do it again I'd spend more on the upgrade for the I7 just to get the faster processing speeds. But this one works just fine.

For hdmi, dvi, displayport cables you can't beat Monoprice.com They have great customer service too.
There you have my two cents.

[bendcadgirl]

Lenny, which i7 processor did you get, and what video card on your desktop? Did you buy a brand name computer, or have it built?

[jbt]

Anyone running the AMD's Phenom II X6?

Although the quad core i7 is faster overall for gaming type applications, wondering if the 6 core has an advantage in Chief? As I understand it, Chief does not support hyperthreading. Anyone have any comments?