Hardware recommendations
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Welcome to SCF Tommy, it's good to see another one of the Google gang on-board.
The database sounds like a pretty good idea.
I think one of the most important factors we come across here with computers and SU are the graphics card problems. It will be good to collect this information and use it to help and advise others.Edit: Tommy I am wondering if it is worth adding a section where you can mention if your Graphics card performs ok.
For example my home machine runs a Nvidia 6800 GS 256mb which runs fine.
My work computer has a Nvidia 8600 GT 512mb which makes using SU a nitemare for various reasons even after trying many different drivers. Just a thought it could be a chance of collecting some extra information. -
Hey Tommy...I have a request I hope you'll pass along to the right folk: Been ages since you guys (sketchup) vetted an nvidia driver...how'bout hookin' us up soon? (I'm sure ATI users would appreciate the same :`)
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Ditto what Dylan said, Tommy. NIce to have you here.....
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Hi Tommy, and welcome. I have already filled in/out the survey but it's a good idea to post it here as well.
Also, I made this topic sticky until you have enough data to post the results (then we can make that topic sticky or refer to it some other way).
p.s. it was great to meet you personally at BaseCamp - I hope it's not the only time we saw each other!
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Hi Tommy, nice to have You here on the forums.
Looking forward to those results.Cheers,
Mateo -
I have an Intel CoreDuo 6600 WinXP SP3 machine with 2GB, and a 256k GeForce 8600GT. I've not had any issues with SU performance until recently, when a model I've been working on for a while began to display jerky responses to repositioning instead of smooth movement. I checked the file size, and found that it had exceeded 10 megabytes.
My model is currently at 12mb, and has become sluggish. I'm guessing that 13 to 15 megabytes will be the largest model that I can process with this configuration.
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Good idea tommy, and welcome to the forums.
Im not sure about anyone else, but i found the processors bit of the survey a bit confusing, and kind of weird as well. I cant think of anyone whos got a computer with 8 separate processors, as your survey suggests. Perhaps it would be better to just specify the processor type?
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Hi Everyone,
Thanks for such a warm welcome
. You all rock, and I appreciate everyone's feedback on the form.Hi remus,
Excellent point about the processors. I struggled with a way to gather this information. I think I left "8" in the number of processors before adding the "Multi-core" question. I'll drop that down to 4.
Hi tomsdesk,
As you may know, GeForce 8800 cards haven't been playing very well with SketchUp. We found an older driver for this card which you can get from http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_169.02.html. Regarding vetting additional drivers, I'll see what I can do
. I hope everyone here posts their findings on driver performance as well.Hi Gaieus,
It was a pleasure meeting you, and I know that it won't be the last time we meet. After this post, I received 40 more responses to my survey (which almost doubled what I had). Thanks for your support.
Enjoy!
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@sketchup guide tommy said:
Excellent point about the processors. I struggled with a way to gather this information. I think I left "8" in the number of processors before adding the "Multi-core" question. I'll drop that down to 4.
Wait a minute
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Indeed 8 processors is still very rare (only servers?).
8 cores on the other hand isn't that rare.
My Mac Pro (using Vista on it) has 8 cores but only 2 (quadcore) processors (4 cores each).I think that, if you want the survey to be useful, the technicalities should be correct.
By the way: welcome
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I use a Macbook Pro 2.5Ghz C2D, 2GB ram, Nvidia 8600m gt 512 mb, It works pretty well. However my latest model was too complicated and time by time it was hard to navigate and create new objects. The configuration that is sufficient for you depends on what you are doing. I would prefer having a workstation graphics card. However cpu is more than enough. I get renders on Vray and it is really fast.
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Tommy, thanks.
Hope you can indeed get something done (if something still needs done after the release of the Great and Wonderous Wizarding Seven :`) I went with the Quadro a few months ago, only to find the latest Autodesk driver is the closest I can get to an SU wonder...done again, as things stand, I would have gone with the Geforce and spent my money on double the ram.
Best, Tom.
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Tommy,
Welcome.
Thank you for this survey. I think its a great idea.One suggestion, if possible, is to add a question of if any given system is using RAID hard drives and also a question on hard drive speeds.
I am currently using a VISTA Laptop (Core Duo 2.4, 4 gigs ram, NVIDA GeForece 8800M and Raid hard drives) and it handles SketchUp in ways I did not think was possible. I have very large models as well (1 million to 3 million faces) and it was jaw dropping. Its not perfect with Vista for something’s but I have a feeling the RAID is making a difference.
Thank you
Daniel Tal -
tald311, may I ask, which RAID configuration you are using and what harddiscs (speed, company...) that are?
I am going to buy a new notebook soon. and what you describe...@tald311 said:
...and it handles SketchUp in ways I did not think was possible. I have very large models as well (1 million to 3 million faces) and it was jaw dropping.
...sounds simply amazing.
cheers,
Jakob
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I didn't know sketchup was that dependant on the hard drive.
In 'Preferences' , I always see to it the' auto save' option is turned 'off' as it causes SU to slow down a lot, but I am surprised to hear that the hard drive has such an influence...Is this maybe because SU is not 'large adress aware' (it can only use a limited amount of RAM) and turns to the page file instead ? (=using a part of the hard drive as RAM replacement).
That could explain why better hard drives (in a RAID configuration) actually provide a speed gain.... -
I am not sure what SketchUp uses as hardware. I use gaming systems for modeling since they are designed for handling 3D models.
The only thing I am sure about SketchUp is it is single-core and that is because of the real-time rendering stuff. One of the Devs explained it to me but I am not that tech savy (so take this whole e-mail with a grain of salt).
The system that I just bought is this one:
http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668093.php
I know that RAID drives is recommended for some 3D games. And since I am a gamer (added bonus) I look for the most intensive graphics games I can find and see if my system can run it.
The current problem is VISTA and Shadows buts that only limitation I have run into. I am hoping SU 7 responds better to Vista since we do not have a choice any more but to use it.
I do know with Vista that JPEG snap shots I cannot take in XP, I can in Vista with high-rez. Your system does need to be designed for 3D graphics though – what ever that might be, which is why your survey is a GREAT IDEA!
Thank you again.
Daniel Tal
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I have a 256 mb Ati Radeon (I think X550) card in my desktop. I cannot really speed things up with hardware acceleration but get along with it pretty well. Some people have issues with ATI cards however so wait till a more experienced "hardware guru" chimes in.
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anyone uses radeon hd4850 for sketchup?
i heard radeon cards aren't very compatible with openGL apps..thx for the fast reply gaieus, and anyway this is my 1st post.. nice 2 meet u all
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Great idea for the hardware survey! I wish it would've been done before I upgraded my machine. I ended up going with the HPm9340f. For less than a grand, I got equipped with an Intel Q6700 Quad core, 6 GB ram, 750 GB HD and a NVDIA 9500GS with 768MB dedicated video memory, upgraded from a AMD 64 bit processor. I've seen a drastic improvement in handling large models in sketchup and it's cut my render times down by almost 80%. It's a good "bang for the buck" machine if anyone is undecided. I would still wait for Tommy's survey though.
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What a great idea- I filled in the survey.
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Hi All
I am new to the forum and this is my first post! Hurrah! Just want to say what a fantastic job you guys have done to keep this forum fresh and relevant.
I am looking for a new desktop computer so this thread is very useful to me. Having filled out the questionaire I would like to make a comment that some of you probably have picked up already. From my experience rating performance of your own machine is too subjective. It would mostly depend on the level of complexity needed in the individual modeler and therefore relying own their own judegement is perhaps not the best way to go about this. Perhaps there should be a collection of models for download with increasing complexity and let people note down each model from the lower end until their computer starts to show jerkiness on screen or show serious slowdown then post which model did it. Just a thought
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