Will Civil 3D 2010 run smoothly on this Computer? Advice Needed

[bryanc23]

Could someone more knowledgeable than myself please take a look at this computer on Tiger Direct and let me know if it would be a good candidate to run Civil 3D 2010 and/or 2009? I'm currently without a job and only my skill set is 9 yrs experience in AutoCAD up to version 2006 and Land Desktop 2006. Thankfully Autodesk is offering Student versions of their software for free for the unemployed and would really like to be able to take full advantage of it to broaden my skill set. I really need to find a computer than can handle Civil 3D and Revit for less than $900 if at all possible.

Here is the computer I've been eyeing.
HP dx7500 KR789UT Desktop Computer
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz
4GB DDR2 (upgradeable to 16 GB)
320GB HDD
DVDRW
ATI Radeon HD3470
Windows XP Pro/Vista Business
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4605172&CatId=2639

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. And if this computer isn't a good candidate please post recommendations if you will. Thanks.

Bryan Collins

[Anonymous]

That will run C3D. I can't say about Revit for sure, but I think that also
meets Autodesk's hardware requirements for Revit. For training it should be
fine. I went with Vista Business 64 bit in order to use more than 4 GB in
the computer. If you use a 32 bit version of Vista or XP, the operating
system will max out at 4 GB theoretically, and 3.5 GB practically. If you
are only training, I would not worry about more than 4GB for now, but you
may want the 64 bit operating system for the future, and learning Vista if
you have not used it would be a good idea. I ran Civil 3d 2009 on a 3.0 GHz
P4 with 3 GB of ram and it ran... slowly, but it ran. My 3.0 GHz Core 2
Quad seems to be only about twice as fast. I had hope for more along the
lines of a ten fold increase in speed, but until Autodesk multithreads C3D,
that may not happen. The main issues with speed in Civil 3D for me are with
rebuilding corridors and working with large airphotos. You should not have
that problem with training as the files are usually simple examples without
images.

I don't know about Tiger Direct's service after the sale. Unless you are
part IT guy, I would think about the company you are getting your computer
from and how well they are at service for the first 90 days or so. You may
not need anything after that for a while, but how well will they deal with
warranty work?

Brad
C3D 2010 on Vista Business 64 SP 2
LT 2010 on XP Pro 32 SP 3

wrote in message news:6240044@discussion.autodesk.com...
Could someone more knowledgeable than myself please take a look at this
computer on Tiger Direct and let me know if it would be a good candidate to
run Civil 3D 2010 and/or 2009? I'm currently without a job and only my
skill set is 9 yrs experience in AutoCAD up to version 2006 and Land Desktop
2006. Thankfully Autodesk is offering Student versions of their software
for free for the unemployed and would really like to be able to take full
advantage of it to broaden my skill set. I really need to find a computer
than can handle Civil 3D and Revit for less than $900 if at all possible.

Here is the computer I've been eyeing.
HP dx7500 KR789UT Desktop Computer
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz
4GB DDR2 (upgradeable to 16 GB)
320GB HDD
DVDRW
ATI Radeon HD3470
Windows XP Pro/Vista Business
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4605172&CatId=2639

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. And if this computer isn't a
good candidate please post recommendations if you will. Thanks.

Bryan Collins

[Anonymous]

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:45:50 +0000, bryanc23 <> wrote:

>Could someone more knowledgeable than myself please take a look at this computer on Tiger Direct and let me know if it would be a good candidate to run Civil 3D 2010 and/or 2009? I'm currently without a job and only my skill set is 9 yrs experience in AutoCAD up to version 2006 and Land Desktop 2006. Thankfully Autodesk is offering Student versions of their software for free for the unemployed and would really like to be able to take full advantage of it to broaden my skill set. I really need to find a computer than can handle Civil 3D and Revit for less than $900 if at all possible.
>
>Here is the computer I've been eyeing.
>HP dx7500 KR789UT Desktop Computer
>Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz
>4GB DDR2 (upgradeable to 16 GB)
>320GB HDD
>DVDRW
>ATI Radeon HD3470
>Windows XP Pro/Vista Business
>http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4605172&CatId=2639
>
>Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. And if this computer isn't a good candidate please post recommendations if you will. Thanks.

For future proofing the machine, I would only look at systems with a Core i7 CPU
with 3-6GB of DDR3 RAM. (i7 CPUs have chipsets which run triple-channel RAM,
meaning your memory is in 3GB increments instead of 2).

Unfortunately for Civil3D, because there is no 64-bit version (due I believe to
limitations with the MS Access database), you are stuck with 32-bit Windows XP
or Vista (I don't know for sure if you can run 32-bit C3D on a 64-bit OS, but my
sources say no).

Once they make a 64-bit version available, I would max out the RAM and put a
64-bit OS on it immediately.

Matt
matt@stachoni.com

[Anonymous]

C3D 2010 32 bit will run on Vista 64 bit, and Vista 64 bit is actually
recommended by Autodesk over the 32 bit OS. That said, C3D 2010 has some
quirks with the ribbon that seem to be more prevalent on Vista 64, but they
still happen on XP and 32 bit OS.

Brad
C3D 2010 on Vista Business 64 SP 2
LT 2010 on XP Pro SP 3

"Matt Stachoni" wrote in message
news:6240458@discussion.autodesk.com...
On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:45:50 +0000, bryanc23 <> wrote:

>Could someone more knowledgeable than myself please take a look at this
>computer on Tiger Direct and let me know if it would be a good candidate
>to run Civil 3D 2010 and/or 2009? I'm currently without a job and only my
>skill set is 9 yrs experience in AutoCAD up to version 2006 and Land
>Desktop 2006. Thankfully Autodesk is offering Student versions of their
>software for free for the unemployed and would really like to be able to
>take full advantage of it to broaden my skill set. I really need to find a
>computer than can handle Civil 3D and Revit for less than $900 if at all
>possible.
>
>Here is the computer I've been eyeing.
>HP dx7500 KR789UT Desktop Computer
>Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz
>4GB DDR2 (upgradeable to 16 GB)
>320GB HDD
>DVDRW
>ATI Radeon HD3470
>Windows XP Pro/Vista Business
>http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4605172&CatId=2639
>
>Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. And if this computer isn't a
>good candidate please post recommendations if you will. Thanks.

For future proofing the machine, I would only look at systems with a Core i7
CPU
with 3-6GB of DDR3 RAM. (i7 CPUs have chipsets which run triple-channel RAM,
meaning your memory is in 3GB increments instead of 2).

Unfortunately for Civil3D, because there is no 64-bit version (due I believe
to
limitations with the MS Access database), you are stuck with 32-bit Windows
XP
or Vista (I don't know for sure if you can run 32-bit C3D on a 64-bit OS,
but my
sources say no).

Once they make a 64-bit version available, I would max out the RAM and put a
64-bit OS on it immediately.

Matt
matt@stachoni.com

[Anonymous]

I was running Win 7 x 64 Beta until Windows 7x64 RC came out. It works
better than hoped for.

Bill

Civil 3D 2010

Intel i7 965 Extreme Edition 3.20 GHz

Gigabyte MB
Corsair Dominator 12 Gb Ram
Raid drives (2)
Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT
Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT
Using Windows 7 x 64 Ultimate Release Candidate
________________________________

[Anonymous]

I would imagine that anything would look good on the i7 965, even ME.

wfb wrote:
> I was running Win 7 x 64 Beta until Windows 7x64 RC came out. It works
> better than hoped for.
>
> Bill
>
> Civil 3D 2010
>
> Intel i7 965 Extreme Edition 3.20 GHz
>
> Gigabyte MB
> Corsair Dominator 12 Gb Ram
> Raid drives (2)
> Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT
> Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT
> Using Windows 7 x 64 Ultimate Release Candidate
> ________________________________

[Anonymous]

Hi Matt,

{Quote}
Unfortunately for Civil3D, because there is no 64-bit version (due I
believe to limitations with the MS Access database), you are stuck with
32-bit Windows XP or Vista (I don't know for sure if you can run 32-bit
C3D on a 64-bit OS, but my sources say no).
{Quote}

If you did even a minor read of this newsgroup you would find numerous
users using Civil 3D in 64 bit O/Ss and far happier than those using 32
bit O/Ss.

Why would you expect Access databases to be the limiting factor?

Regards,


Laurie Comerford


Matt Stachoni wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:45:50 +0000, bryanc23 <> wrote:
>
>> Could someone more knowledgeable than myself please take a look at this computer on Tiger Direct and let me know if it would be a good candidate to run Civil 3D 2010 and/or 2009? I'm currently without a job and only my skill set is 9 yrs experience in AutoCAD up to version 2006 and Land Desktop 2006. Thankfully Autodesk is offering Student versions of their software for free for the unemployed and would really like to be able to take full advantage of it to broaden my skill set. I really need to find a computer than can handle Civil 3D and Revit for less than $900 if at all possible.
>>
>> Here is the computer I've been eyeing.
>> HP dx7500 KR789UT Desktop Computer
>> Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz
>> 4GB DDR2 (upgradeable to 16 GB)
>> 320GB HDD
>> DVDRW
>> ATI Radeon HD3470
>> Windows XP Pro/Vista Business
>> http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4605172&CatId=2639
>>
>> Any and all help will be greatly appreciated. And if this computer isn't a good candidate please post recommendations if you will. Thanks.
>
> For future proofing the machine, I would only look at systems with a Core i7 CPU
> with 3-6GB of DDR3 RAM. (i7 CPUs have chipsets which run triple-channel RAM,
> meaning your memory is in 3GB increments instead of 2).
>
> Unfortunately for Civil3D, because there is no 64-bit version (due I believe to
> limitations with the MS Access database), you are stuck with 32-bit Windows XP
> or Vista (I don't know for sure if you can run 32-bit C3D on a 64-bit OS, but my
> sources say no).
>
> Once they make a 64-bit version available, I would max out the RAM and put a
> 64-bit OS on it immediately.
>
> Matt
> matt@stachoni.com

[Anonymous]

On Sun, 6 Sep 2009 02:09:08 +0000, Laurie wrote:

>Hi Matt,

Hi, Laurie!

>{Quote}
oh the horror
>{Quote}

>If you did even a minor read of this newsgroup you would find numerous
>users using Civil 3D in 64 bit O/Ss and far happier than those using 32
>bit O/Ss.

THIS IS VERY VERY TRUE.

...As I was reminded by SEVERAL people in private messages since I made my
idiotic reply way back when. Consider my forehead roundly slapped. Even monkeys
fall out of trees, I guess.

But, thank you anyway for offering yet another correction - in addition to the
three responses to my reply - to what was OBVIOUSLY a HUMONGOUS GLARING MISTAKE
on my part, to what is now a three-week-old post.

And thank you for reminding me to do minor reads of this newsgroup. To think
that all this time I have been poring over all of these posts, every single day
for several years now, and trying to provide a modicum of help to other users. I
must have responded to thousands of posts over all this time, and still I
totally screwed the pooch, as they say in the trade, on that one.

Now I know the secret. Minor reads .

>Why would you expect Access databases to be the limiting factor?

What I meant to mean was that there is no 64-bit version of Civil3D due to the
limitation with the Access database connector provided by Microsoft in 64-bit
versions of Windows. From what understand this is one cause of the issue.

See, what I think happened was that I was in the middle of helping two customers
with 64-bit C3D questions and responding to this thread at the same time and got
everything all katywhumpus and kerfluffled - that is to say, royally messed up.

But again, I'm no C3D expert. Clearly.

So obviously, I hadz teh dumb0rz on this one, so please, everyone, disregard my
stupid reply on this post. For your own safety. ...Hm...where did I stash that
rattan cane I got on vacation in Malaysia?

Again, thank you so much for keeping a sharp eye on these things.

Matt
matt@stachoni.com,