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ACA 08 Heavy Requirements - Help!

16 REPLIES 16
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Message 1 of 17
anthonyashford777
314 Views, 16 Replies

ACA 08 Heavy Requirements - Help!

Hi everyone...
I am looking for an answer on SPECS for the optimal performance out of a system and hardware when using ADA 08, Revit, Viz and or Max 08 & Maya and other multimedia software, ie ADO- - cs2 suite and Archi- - - 11.

The need is for very large scale projects 300-600 feet typically... To produce all AEC / BIM model in ACA or Revit and transfer to Viz or Max or Maya for high end communication, coordination, renderings and animations.

The Main Questions are:
1. Desktop vs. Workstation
2. 32bit vs. 64 bit
3. If 64 bit, which OS and which software other than ACA 08 doesn't work on it?
4. If 64 bit, what fixes are available for ACA 08, and where to find them, and do they work, what problems exist with them currently?
5. Nvidia GeForce vs. Quadro & which series is best...
6. 3GB Ram vs. 4GB Ram...on 32bit or 64bit OS.
7. What is the story on 32 bit OS not allowing use of 4GB ram? Why do resellers offer 32bit OS with 4 GB ram? Is there a fix?
8. SATA vs. SAS hard drives...I’m very used to the old SCSI and they have never failed me and enjoy the reliability...
9. Processors - Intel.... Quad Core or Dual Core Xeon, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Extreme???
10. And most importantly, if you go Nvidia Quadro, have you ever heard of having 2 different Video Cards, like a second being a GeForce, so us mega Designers can play some games too??? (Yes EA does not allow use on Quadro's). You can make them but not play them!!!

My current office system, which crashes under large scale projects and some small scale ones in ACA 08, is as follows:
- Dell - Dimension 9200 (PS - never used a desktop before for #D is this the problem?)
- MS Win XP Pro v2002 SP2
- Intel Core 2 Duo - 6600 @ 2.4GHZ 2.39GHz
- 2.0 GB RAM
- Nvidia GeForce 7300 LE
- Other specs unknown

Thanks!
16 REPLIES 16
Message 2 of 17
Anonymous
in reply to: anthonyashford777

ACA2008 is only a 32bit application, there is not fix or patch from
Autodesk, there are workarounds but the latest patch for ACA2008 does not
work/install.
AutoCAD2008 is 64bit, so are all the others you note, an installation
option.

Hardware discussion area is ideal for your needs, most likely you will find
recommendations by just searching too:
http://discussion.autodesk.com/index2.jspa?categoryID=42

--
Dean Saadallah
http://LTisACAD.blogspot.com
Add-on products for LT
http://www.pendean.com/lt
--
Message 3 of 17
Anonymous
in reply to: anthonyashford777

I'm sure someone will also answer before I'm done, but here's my view.

1. Desktop vs. Workstation

Not much difference these days really - it's all in the hardware. But
Xeon/Opteron machines with ECC ram and OpenGL cards are labeled as
workstations and cost a lot more.

2. 32bit vs. 64 bit
3. If 64 bit, which OS and which software other than ACA 08 doesn't work on
it?
4. If 64 bit, what fixes are available for ACA 08, and where to find them,
and do they work, what problems exist with them currently?

All related really. ACA '08 is not made for 64-bit - period. And I don't
think Revit is either. The workarounds may be more trouble than it's worth.
But I'll let others with more experience post comments about that.

5. Nvidia GeForce vs. Quadro & which series is best...

That all depends, now. Using DirectX in Acad, the mid-to-upper end GeForce
is not a bad option. But if sticking with OpenGL, then the Quadro is your
only real choice. The GeForce sucks at the level of OpenGL that any of
these Autodesk products operate at. With XP, you can choose either DirectX
or OpenGL for ACA. Dispite what others have said, Vista does support
OpenGL, but only through the graphics card manufacturer driver - Vista does
not provide one natively.

6. 3GB Ram vs. 4GB Ram...on 32bit or 64bit OS.
7. What is the story on 32 bit OS not allowing use of 4GB ram? Why do
resellers offer 32bit OS with 4 GB ram? Is there a fix?

64-bit will use much more than 4. It will use the max that the motherboard
can take - most current motherboards can take up to 8GB now.
As for 32-bit not using all 4GB, that's not exactly accurate. It's the
hardware system that for some reason takes a certain amount of ram for
itself for system driver use. Why it carves out some of that ram only when
you have 4GB? I don't know, and no one's been able to explain it to me.
What is the system using when there's only 3GB installed, or 2GB, or 1GB, or
128MB? System drivers are still loaded, but they seem to work just fine
without stealing system memory when anything less than 4GB is installed.
However, how much less than a full 4GB you end up with depends on the
specific system. Some may leave you with almost the full 4GB (like 3.8GB),
while others will take a larger chunk. There is no fix - it's apparently
just how the OS and systems work together.

8. SATA vs. SAS hard drives...I'm very used to the old SCSI and they have
never failed me and enjoy the reliability...

I don't think there are any issues with SATA. Don't be scared of them.

9. Processors - Intel.... Quad Core or Dual Core Xeon, Core 2 Quad, Core 2
Duo, Core 2 Extreme???

Well, Xeons are the high-end. For renderings, the more cores/processors,
the better. For ACA, the more cores, the less the return benefits since
(other than the built-in rendering) only redraws and regens are
multi-threaded. 2 cores help, but 4 cores probably help only a little
more - probably not worth the cost. But if rendering is a big part of your
usage, then, again, the more cores and the higher-end the better.

10. And most importantly, if you go Nvidia Quadro, have you ever heard of
having 2 different Video Cards, like a second being a GeForce, so us mega
Designers can play some games too??? (Yes EA does not allow use on
Quadro's). You can make them but not play them!!!

I honestly don't know how that can work. Sounds like driver-conflict city
to me. Even if you used an old PCI card for the second one.
Message 4 of 17

Thanks for the info on the 32 vs 64...
It seems nutty that a vertical platform like ACA 08 does not use 64 bit...
Have you ever done a 600 ft tower in ADT 05, next to impossible orbiting the model, a 300 ft in ACA 08 is just as bad based on my computer specs....this is all with using the navigator too, with broken apart constructs, elements, and composed views into a 3d model....Just Not forgiving in the 3d world....
And the worst thing is when i hear to simplify the model...how is one to comprimise the design or detail expecially if the detail is a composed style wall?
what is maybe a different work around?
I will be looking into all other software more closely too.
thanks...
Message 5 of 17

WOW man ....thanks.....
lots of heavy info....and valueable.....
May i ask what system your running on and what you do on it primarily?
Likes? Dislikes?
Message 6 of 17

OH yea...another thing is i cant find out how to post questions on the hardware sections! (no button)

haha!
Message 7 of 17
Anonymous
in reply to: anthonyashford777

You need to subscribe to it if you are using a newsreader... .

--
Dean Saadallah
http://LTisACAD.blogspot.com
Add-on products for LT
http://www.pendean.com/lt
--
Message 8 of 17
Anonymous
in reply to: anthonyashford777

That's why REVIT ARCH seems to be much more attractive: a coincidence?

--
Dean Saadallah
http://LTisACAD.blogspot.com
Add-on products for LT
http://www.pendean.com/lt
--
Message 9 of 17
Anonymous
in reply to: anthonyashford777

the orbit has more to do with your video card!

wrote in message news:5788552@discussion.autodesk.com...
Thanks for the info on the 32 vs 64...
It seems nutty that a vertical platform like ACA 08 does not use 64 bit...
Have you ever done a 600 ft tower in ADT 05, next to impossible orbiting the
model, a 300 ft in ACA 08 is just as bad based on my computer specs....this
is all with using the navigator too, with broken apart constructs, elements,
and composed views into a 3d model....Just Not forgiving in the 3d world....
And the worst thing is when i hear to simplify the model...how is one to
comprimise the design or detail expecially if the detail is a composed style
wall?
what is maybe a different work around?
I will be looking into all other software more closely too.
thanks...
Message 10 of 17

Thanks Dustin.... this has been my theory, as crashes occur during this process. (shaded or concept shade orbiting) but would this also be in part of not having the 3GB RAM spec and only 2? and I love video cards, but what is the best one out there for one who renders and needs to move fast in a large and complex 3D model in ACA 08. (rendering in VIZ or MAX)
Message 11 of 17
Anonymous
in reply to: anthonyashford777

the nvidia quadro FX cards are really good. With those cards money talks
http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx_family.html low end around $200-500 and
the highend around $1000-4000

wrote in message news:5788604@discussion.autodesk.com...
Thanks Dustin.... this has been my theory, as crashes occur during this
process. (shaded or concept shade orbiting) but would this also be in part
of not having the 3GB RAM spec and only 2? and I love video cards, but what
is the best one out there for one who renders and needs to move fast in a
large and complex 3D model in ACA 08. (rendering in VIZ or MAX)
Message 12 of 17

Have you ever had or configured a system with 2 video cards, a quadro and a geforce?
Message 13 of 17
Anonymous
in reply to: anthonyashford777

You are bettter off exporting the model to a 3D dwf. Then the rendered model
will spin like a top in a dwf viewer.



wrote in message news:5788552@discussion.autodesk.com...
Thanks for the info on the 32 vs 64...
It seems nutty that a vertical platform like ACA 08 does not use 64 bit...
Have you ever done a 600 ft tower in ADT 05, next to impossible orbiting the
model, a 300 ft in ACA 08 is just as bad based on my computer specs....this
is all with using the navigator too, with broken apart constructs, elements,
and composed views into a 3d model....Just Not forgiving in the 3d world....
And the worst thing is when i hear to simplify the model...how is one to
comprimise the design or detail expecially if the detail is a composed style
wall?
what is maybe a different work around?
I will be looking into all other software more closely too.
thanks...
Message 14 of 17

Yes i agrree, an excellent tool for presenting and markups...But this does not solve working in a Construct that is Spanning, ground to top of building over 300ft H. when designing a curtain wall system or variated building skins/shells. this requires all or some of the other levels to be xrefed and viewed to see composition, sometime unloading them helps vastly, but then designing blind with only recollection for column locations, a false 2d grid helps too in that spanning construct file.
Message 15 of 17
Anonymous
in reply to: anthonyashford777

2 video cards is really more of a gaming thing and not need for us. But if
you have that kind of money go for it.

wrote in message news:5788653@discussion.autodesk.com...
Have you ever had or configured a system with 2 video cards, a quadro and a
geforce?
Message 16 of 17

hey guys, can some one reply to the question asked above... with respect to that we are in 2012 please...

Message 17 of 17
MarySeufert
in reply to: anileasow1988

Look here for ACA 2008 system requirements. You might look into running 2008 in XP mode under a Windows7 64 Pro install.

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