Autocad on new 2013 Mac Pro

[vitruviusx]

hello,

Can anyone comment on using Autocad on the new 2013 Mac Pro, the cylinder version, via bootcamp or windows virtualization software?  I would like to know if there are any compatability or performance issues, and which Mac Pro set up would be best for Autocad.

thanks,

v

[heikohabig]

So what i can tell you is this.

I have purchased the Mac Pro with ALL its upgrades that it comes with from Apple direct, ( over $11k) the tried to Install Win 7 on it, that does not work, It has to be Win 8,x, Hardware is not supported for Win 7, no way around btw , talked to Apple about it when i ran into that issue.

Ok, installed Win 8.1 then installed my AutoDesk FDS 2015, which also Auto Cad Achitecture 2015 Full Version is package of that, besides Inventor and various other.

Then after using Autocad it became clear that there was some type of performance issue, slow respond, copy paste functions take forever, Block Edit is painfull, cursor jumps aso.

So i goofed around with it for a while and called KETIV Tech Support which i have my AutoCad from with Service Plan, they couldnt help me over the phone, so i asked if i could stop by in Los Angeles at their Office to set up Mac for a side by side test with one of their Computers, which i did, and they couldnt answer any of the issues either.

So now i keep on working with my 12k investment and have a hard time not to pull out my hair when i do, cause its actually painfull.

So and i was searching Forums for answers and all pointed towards "Old Hardware", so here are som Data from the Mac i got.

12 core Intel Xeon E5 2.7 Ghz

64GB 1866 MHz DDR3 ECC Ram

2x AMD FirePro D700 Graphics Card with 6 GB Ram each

1 TB Flash Harddrive

BootCamp

Win 8.1 64 Bit

Maybe that helps you maybe not, but thats what im dealing with at the moment

PS

I hate Win 8 , its Crap, sorry had to say it.

Heiko

[pendean]

You bought an Apple PC, and proceeded to install Windows 8 on it (that you hate), and now you want all the Windows applications/developers to help you solve the problem of performance?

Other than changing hardware acceleration in ACA 2015, GRAPHICSCONFIG command, and turning off LINESMOOTING and LINEFADING you are posting in the wrong forum for your software and I'm not sure anyone can really help with this unique configuration.

AutoCAD Architecture forum is here: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-architecture/ct-p/56/interaction-style/forum

[heikohabig]

Thanks for your worthless reply,

if you would have paid attention then you would have seen that i have answered to the prior post and nothing else, i know already by now that i cant expect a lot of help from the Windows firm, Thanks and have a fantastic day on Win 8

Ps, this reply was written while working on OSx to make sure i could end the sentence without a Blue Screen

Heiko

[maxim_k]

Hi,

Apple hardware designed to run OS X and other OSes are only optional.
Seems AMD have not enough time to develop quality hardware drivers for their D700 graphics cards (in Mac configuration) to enable them to work properly with Windows, maybe there are some limitations in Windows itself.
I have seen a lot of complaints about D700 and Windows 8 on Mac Pro.
The only one trick which works for Windows users in such situation is to disable one of the graphics cards (Mac Pro has two of them). After disabling one of them users have less problems with Windows 8 on Mac Pro 2013.

Maxim

[push_pull]

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@vitruviusx wrote:

hello,

Can anyone comment on using Autocad on the new 2013 Mac Pro, the cylinder version, via bootcamp or windows virtualization software?  I would like to know if there are any compatability or performance issues, and which Mac Pro set up would be best for Autocad.

thanks,

v

---

From the comments above I would not recommend the mac pro.  While they are beautiful feats of engineering, I would take issue disabling the graphics cards just to run Autocad.  I would highly recommend an iMac.  For autocad it will actually be faster than the Mac Pro.  AutoCAD utilizes primarily single cores for its processing.  The 2 top of the line iMac's have the fastest single core performance in the mac line up.  So the optimal specs would be to get the fastes i7 processor, the most ram you can afford (I have complex .dwgs and often use more than 16gb of ram and up to 20gb) the largest ssd you can afford (or the 256 with an external ssd in a usb 3 enclosure as you need it) any of those video cards 2 or 4 gb will be fine for autocad.

If you need the mac pro ( autocad is not your only or primary software ) then the 6 core has the best single core performance.  Same deal with ram, ssd, and video cards.....However it sounds like windows 8 is the issue here.  

Autocad for Mac is comparable to windows but lacks some key features.

I uses the highend non retina iMac with AutoCAD Lt 2013 for Mac.  It is ok but I will be getting the windows version of ACLT next time if the features I want havem't been added yet. I will run it in a virtualized windows on my mac.  I did that with AC 2006 on a 2010 MacBook Pro.  It ran great.