Tag: hardware

Revit Hardware and Performance tips (mid-year 2012)

Luke Johnson

Here are a few interesting (and in some cases controversial) quotes from new Revit blogger, the Pragmatic Reviteer.
”
CPU – single threaded speed is the most important thing.


In my experience, the main key is that there is simply no need or value in “professional” grade cards like the Quadro and FireGl/FirePro series.


For the next few years, Windows 7 x64 is a safe bet for all non tablet needs, especially for Revit use.


Gigabit Ethernet is a must
“
Read more at:
Infrastructure Requirements Increase | the Pragmatic Reviteer

I have posted about hardware a few times, but some of my posts may be showing their age:
What Revit Wants: Revit Hardware

What Revit Wants: Revit Hardware – compatibility and performance

Faster Revit application load time for free

Luke Johnson

Cool tip from The Revit Convert on how to skip the splash screen and speed up the loading time of your Revit.exe.  Just right-click on your Revit shortcut icon and go to Properties, then:

From the Properties palette and in the Target box, go to the very end of that long sequence and add {spacebar}/nosplash  (after the ” marks, not inside them) (please do not type {spacebar}, that is just my indication that you use the space bar) 

Read more at:
Want to (slightly) speed up Revit? � The Revit Convert

Revit Hardware

Luke Johnson

Alexander Vysotsky makes the following recommendation:


CPU – i7 second-generation
Memory – 8 or 16 GB of DDR3
Video – NVidia Quadro, more accessible – GeForce (Budget)
Hard Disk Drive – solid-state, more available – WD Raptor
Screen – 1 or 2 display with a resolution FullHD (1920 x 1080), 22 inches

via
Google Translate
of
Заметки о Revit и том, что с ним связано: Конфигурация компьютера для работы в Revit

For further information, check out my previous posts:
Xeon vs Custom Built

The CPU to beat (December 2011)

Hardware priorities for Revit

Computer configurator for Revit

Revit benchmark

Forum links (2009)

Overclock your video card – but stop if you smell something burning

Luke Johnson

In the past, overclocking your graphics was risky, difficult, and yet at the same time it could be very beneficial.  These days, it is easier to do, but video cards are often cheaper and some people may ask ‘is overclocking really worth it?’

In any case, if you are interested in giving it a go, the new overclocking utility of choice is MSI Afterburner.

Obviously, you use this utility at your own risk…

MSI Afterburner

Platform: Windows
Price: Free
Download Page

Features:

  • Change your core clock, shader clock, memory clock and fan speed using simple sliders
  • Works on nearly any video card, not just MSI-manufactured cards
  • Turn on voltage tuning for super high overclocks
  • Built-in access to MSI’s Kombustor benchmarking tool
  • Monitor your clocks, voltage, fan speeds, frame rate and more from the app’s drawer or from an on screen display during games
  • Save your settings to five different profiles for quick loading
  • Take screenshots and capture videos from your games with hotkeys
  • Fine tune the automatic fan control so you stay at the temperatures you want
  • Multiple different skins for changing the interface
  • Start with Windows or apply settings at boot, so your card is always overclocked

via
App Directory: The Best Video Card Overclocking App For Windows | Lifehacker Australia

Show me a tablet PC without its head in the cloud

Luke Johnson

I’m waiting for a tablet PC that can run Revit – without its head in the cloud.  In other words, I want it to be powerful in its own right.  I don’t want to have to rely on someone else’s processor to do my work for me.  And I want a decent amount of storage on-board. 

Currently, there are only a couple of Tablet PCs that I would even consider buying:

I’m particularly interested in these two tablets because I like both brands – I own a Samsung LCD TV, which is beautiful, and my ASUS laptop has been very reliable and capable.  Both of these tablets run Intel Core i5 processors and can have 4 GB of RAM.

If you didn’t know already, I am NOT an Apple guy – I have no iPhone, iPod or iPad.  Nor do I have any plans to purchase any of these devices.  I don’t care to elaborate (maybe in another post), but I’m just not interested in joining the masses in this particular instance.

With regard to tablet PCs in general – I know that things will improve next year, with Windows 8 and cheaper, more powerful Tablet tech.  So I may wait for a while before making a final decision.

Do you have any tips or advice?  Feel free to comment.

CNET links for the above two tablets:
ASUS – CNET

Samsung – CNET

Samsung

Asus

New AMD Bulldozer chips may help with local Revit rendering?

Luke Johnson

AMD has released the first true 8 core processors. Current Intel i-series chips have up to 4 cores with Hyperthreading, which displays 8 cores to the OS. However, the new AMD architecture may ultimately provide some performance benefit in certain applications (such as rendering).

Initial benchmarks for the new ‘Bulldozer’ architecture show that they are roughly on-par with some of the midrange Intel offerings. However, the new processor architecture has the potential to offer significant gains as applications are optimized and as price points improve.

In Revit terms, more cores means faster rendering.  In day to day computer terms, more cores means you can do more things faster.

In terms of technology and competition, I guess we can be glad that there are at least two big CPU manufacturers.  If you want to read about their mutually assured destruction, check out this link.

More information about Bulldozer CPUs here:
Unlock Your Record Setting AMD FX Series Processor Today

and here
Bulldozer (microarchitecture) – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia