Newbie with Mac Questions
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Hello Everyone-
I have been using SU since the spring of 05. I recently started my own company (architecture) and decided to switch to Mac. I purchased a new IMac (2.8 Ghz Extreme with 2G of RAM) to run ArchiCAD and SU. Last week I purchased SU Pro and have been working on an interiors model that is approximately 13MB.
Here is my frustration: I was under the assumption that the hardware I was purchasing was powerful enough to handle SU with no problems (according to the Genius I spoke to). However, I am now finding out that the graphics card that came with the Imac is considered lower end for what is on the market today. I am not too impressed at all with the hardware ability to work with this model that is only 13MB. It is jumping when I pan and the rotate function stalls out a lot. I see that SU requires a min of 512MB on the video card and the card that came with the Imac has only 256MB.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? Any suggestions on how I may speed up my productivity? I have turned off the 'fast feedback' function but I do not see any difference. Also, I have deleted all of my materials and I am using simple colors only. That helped the most.
Thanks
Dan
P: yuri00
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hi yuri,
as a fellow mac user i know exactly what you feel. i started using SU in my eMac (32 Mb graphics card). just imagine how slow that was. after that i bought an iMac intel with 3Mb RAM and a 128 Mb card (i was stupid enough to overlook the possibility of buying one with a 256 Mb card). of course, things improved enormously but not to the point of handling any file.
quite recently i got a macbook pro with 4Mb RAM and a 256 Mb graphics card. it runs very well but, to tell you the truth, there was no noticeable change from the imac.
all this to tell you two things: the only machine that would handle anything would be the mammoth mac pro but who needs a bazooka to kill a bird? the other is: james is right, one has to resort to some strategies to keep the file manageable. one useful thread is this one on the use of layers.
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Thanks for the help. I ordered 2 more gig of ram that I should get tomorrow. I don't know if that will make a difference but it is recommended by ArchiCAD to have 4G.
I have used the layer management techniques a lot and that seems to help.
P: yuri00
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I am not sure if it is simply my imagination but I have noticed a big difference with jumping up to 4 gig.
Is that possible???
P: yuri00
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i surely think it is! doubling your RAM has to have some effect on your machine.
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