Hardware recommendations

solo

I did a performance video of the partial model, it's 126MB, has 1.8 million faces and double edges.

Even with shadows on it was smooth, this does not orbit well on any other machine I tried, and not at all with shadows on.

[flash=600,355:2xd6zd10]http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/XlW0fYb7dZQ[/flash:2xd6zd10]

thomthom

That's impressive. Didn't see it degrade to wireframe at all.

solo

I did a fast and dirty 8 second animation in Vue, just added two cars and an atmosphere, put extra motion blur for drunk effect. rendered in 26 minutes.

[flash=640,400:2xa87muf]http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/Mng2dgFxzIs[/flash:2xa87muf]

Chris Fullmer

Thats really impressive Solo!

I still feel like I'm missing something about Vue. Hopefully I'll figure it out in time, I'd really like to use that software.

Chris

thomthom

Animation in Vue? Another reason for me to check out that application.

solo

This is the Vue 7 presentation video, all done with Vue animation, wind, sun movement, poser animation, avi alpha planes, solid growth plants, planets, atmospheres etc.

[flash=560,340:9g1mhfam]http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/48LAOpVTVdY[/flash:9g1mhfam]

lucifer1101

oo i may have to upgrade to vue 7 from vue 5.

I had never thaught of using that with sketchup cool idea....

thomthom

I just tried the candle light test Solo did. Replicating his moves. I looked to get similar behaviour. Upon the beginning of an orbit there was a small lag, but thereafter it was smooth.

ASUS P5Q-E
Intel Q9450 2.66GHz Overclocked to 3.3GHz
8GB 800MHz RAM
Geforce 8800GT 512MB - 4X AA
Windows7 RC 64bit
Sketchup7
22" Monitor 1680x1050 (Primary which SU runs maximized on)
17" Monior 1280x1024

thomthom

Crud! Something went wrong when I made the computer go to Sleep. I refused to reboot until I reset the CMOS. Then my OC settings where lost. Fortunaly, the guy who helped me OC saved the settings which I then could load. Unfortunately, it was saved when it was set to 3.2GHz, and not when we pushed it up to 3.3GHz... meh!

Sir

I just had a new computor built for me so i could get a project done in time... did it, but had to take the tower home for some weekend work!

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3

      Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz with HT tech
         Memory: 2046MB DDR3 corsair RAM
    Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS 512.0 MB

gotta say it works like a dream for SKP, but other things that can actually use multi procs are a bit slower... AutoCAD 2010 im looking at you you pice of RAM hoggin VM sucking piece of c***

Wazzer

Hi Guys My search for a new company laptop continues

I would like your opinion on this note book for use with Sketchup and AutoCAD.

Its a Lenovo W500
Intel Core 2Duo T9400
4GB Ram DDR3 1066Mhz
ATI mobility FireGL V5700 512mb
200gb Hard drive at 7200rpm

I use it primarily for Designing Mechanical components with AutoCAD and Sketchup.

Cheers

Ben

remus

Looks good, although you might want to try and find out how well the graphics card will work with SU.

Anssi

It seems that if you must have a 15-inch Lenovo workstation, you are stuck with the FireGL - all the models with QuadroFX seem to be with 17-inch screens. You should definitely test it.

Anssi

Wazzer

Thanks for the reply guys

The problem is that the Lenovo notebooks with QuadroFX and 17inch screens are Massivly more expensive than the 15 inch notebooks. I mean they are about 4 times the price!!!
They tell me we just dont have the budget for one.

I am also concernd that the FireGL graphics card wont play nicely with sketchup

Does anyone have any experience of these cards with SketchUp?

I wont have access to one to run any tests on it until we order it and recieve it. This is obviously far too late if its no good.

The problem is I am being pushed into making a decsion very soon and i cant afford to make a mistake.

Cheers All

remus

The only info i can find on it is the following:

@unknownuser said:

FireGL v3100 - 128MB; Windows XP sp3
Problems selecting and painting.
Shadows display incorrectly.
OpenGL version 6.14.10.7660
2D driver version 6.14.10.6822

Not looking good so far

Wazzer

OK i think we may have a winner

I have resigned to the fact that i will not find a suitable Notebook with the performance i want within the budget the company has set so i have relented adn decided on a Desk Top
Please can you check out the specs of the following PC and let me know what you think, I quite like it.

Processor Intel Xeon W3570 Processor ( 3.20GHz 1333MHz 8MB )
Operating system Windows XP pro SP3
System graphics NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 768MB
Total memory 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz
Hard drive device 500GB 7200rpm

Cheers guys

Ben

Anssi

@wazzer said:

Processor Intel Xeon W3570 Processor ( 3.20GHz 1333MHz 8MB )
Operating system Windows XP pro SP3
System graphics NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 768MB
Total memory 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM 1066MHz
Hard drive device 500GB 7200rpm

Last week I tested a desktop with a four-core Xeon with a clockspeed of 2.53 GHz and the same video card that you are contemplating. IMO SU worked OK with it. Comparing to a 3.6 GHz P IV with a QFX 1300 card it was somewhat faster but not stratospherically. So you should be OK. Frankly, as things now stand, it is about the fastest system for SU that money can buy at the moment. The graphics card is not the most expensive one but I am not convinced that it should be.

Anssi

chango70

If you are only using SU then I strongly recommend against Quadro FX cards. The performance gain from optimzed openGL is marginal at best which doesn't justify the price difference. I have tested both Quadro FX 3700 and Geforce 9800 GT on my system (They are roughly equivalent hardware wise) and there is no difference in SU performance, however, Quadro is 6x the price. Don't fall for it. Quadro does play nicely with Rhino though thats why I stuck with it.

Wazzer

HI Guys

Thanks for the responses.

The problem i have is that this is a company computer and they have to buy something "off the shelf" and it has to be from Lenovo.

So far the above specification is the best i can find for a reasonable outlay. If you guys know of a better spec lenovo Computer for a reasonable price please let m eknow as i am now Desparate!!!

Thanks again for the feed back

Ben

Anssi

Hi Ben,

In fact I am in the same fix as you. Company policy limits our choice to a particular make. The model range that I have to choose from does not even carry the CPU that you chose, so we are settling to a somewhat slower clockrate and a more expensive video card instead.

However, as I said in my previous post, your choice is about the fastest desktop computer that you can get, and choosing a different make will not help, as adding a second CPU does nothing for SU. The Lenovo workstation I tested was a bit noisy, though. The modern Xeon processors are based on the same technology as the i7 range, and the new features really seem to help single-threaded apps work faster than with the Core2Duo-range CPUs.

Anssi