NEW DESKTOP

[sjg]

I currently use a Dell Vostro laptop,  Windows 7 w/ 4 GB of RAM running Civil 3d 2011 and I might be getting a new desktop.  Does anyone out there have any recommendations on what I should get?

[awood]

Serach this and the hardware blog and you'll come up with a number of suggestions. Here are links to two blogs that have quite a bit of information regarding systems and Civil 3D 2011.

http://www.civil3d.com/2010/04/2011-hardware-advice-from-my-buddy-matt-stachoni/#more-4391

http://indydrafter.com/civil-3d-2011-workstation-suggestions/

HTH

AWood

[sjg]

Is there a big performance change between the 32 bit and 64 bit C3D 2011. I have read that C3D was designed for the 64 operating system.

[Sinc]

The big difference between 32-bit and 64-bit is memory.  Some people can use C3D on a 32-bit OS without a lot of trouble, but others have lots of "Out of memory" errors and potentially other stability problems.

If you have 32-bit XP/Vista/Win7, you are limited to only 4GB of RAM in your machine.  Any more cannot be used (and in fact, you'll probably be limited to somewhere between 3GB and 3.5GB of usable RAM).  Also, your applications are limited to using at most 3GB of memory each (memory = RAM + pagefile usage).  A 64-bit OS removes both of these limitations.  That means that not only are you less likely to encounter "Out of memory" errors in C3D, you'll be able to run more applications simultaneously without issue.

The 32bit/64bit issue can conceivably increase speed for some tasks, but currently does not seem to have a whole lot of impact in speed for Civil 3D.