Just upgraded my computer

[James Melvin]

Dan Epps recently posted regarding computer configurations for running eCabs. For a long time I have suspected that many, though not all, of the problems we members are having with \"bugs\" are more related to not having the right machine for the job or not having it configured properly. (How many times have we used a #1 Phillips screwdriver to drive a #2 screw? Well, it kind of worked...) This is what I have been using for about 3 years:

ASUS A8V Deluxe Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
PNY Nvidia GeForce 5700 graphics card (128MB)
Western Digital 80GB HD

My son put this systerm together for about a grand. My complaints about how this setup worked were mostly related to poor graphics performance. The measuring tool in the CE would only detect a few of the blue dots, screen updates were slow, rotating objects or rooms was kind of rough and unpredictable, etc. When starting out with eCabs I just could not afford 2-3 thousand for a good workstation and I am still not convinced that it is absolutely necessary. But I did just upgrade to a used Nvidia Quadro FX 1000 video card ($56.00 on eBay) and an Athlon 64 4000+ (the fastest single core processor AMD makes, $60 from NewEgg). Well the results were very good. Now I get to run dual monitors, everything is faster, but most importantly I don't seem to be \"struggling on screen\" anymore. Measuring points now all seem to be \"hot\", tansferring large assemblies from room view to CE for editing is as much as 2x as fast, on screen jaggies are substantially reduced with low level 4x anti-aliasing and moving stuff around on screen is as smooth as silk. I can't wait to see how rendering works. I MUST also add that the \"tweak\" for Quadro cards that appears near the top of the forum is really VERYGOOD. It was like adding a supercharger to the FX 1000.

I hope this helps.

Jim Melvin

[Dean Fehribach]

Jim, thanks for the positive comments. My team and I have spent countless hours testing this video card and that for what makes eCabinet Systems sing. The Quadro FX series is fantastic and come in a many different price points. There's just no substitute for having an OpenGL optimized graphics processor with an OpenGL application. I'm glad you were able to move forward for so little pocket change.

Again, thanks for the positive comments.

[Al Navas]

Dean,

The Tweak Utility goes to 4X anti-aliasing. I attach images of the range available in my system. Would using anything higher than 4X simply slow down the system?


Edit to add: I set anti-aliasing manually. I wonder if this is OK? The laptop speed did not change perceptibly. Renderings are still VERY fast.


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[Dean Fehribach]

Al,

Beyond the 4X anti-aliasing on the Quadro FX 2500M graphics processor, you see what's called 8xS and 16xS, which (I believe) are \"Supersampling\" anti-aliasing techniques. These \"higher\" settings are actually of lower quality, IMHO, because of the technique used which makes the image seem fuzzy.

To enable the slider bar in the Control Panel applet, you must first \"uninstall\" the Tweak Utility to return control of eCabinet Systems to the nVidia Control Panel Applet. The Tweak Utility will supersede the manual settings for eCabinet Systems as long as it is \"installed\".

[Al Navas]

Thanks for the explanation, Dean. What would we mere mortals do without the experts like you folks???

To paraphrase what you stated, and so I won't get it wrong: The Tweak Utility IS the way to go, to avoid adverse effects from manually setting the anti-aliasing stuff improperly.

Another kudos to Dean and his Team!


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[Nick M Singer]

I have been following all this talk about graphics cards over the last couple of years and have yet to try a Quadro. I am a little leary of shelling out over 20,000.00 for a card and not get the results. I have used an ATI Radeon (which just stopped working) and now a Nvidia NX7900GT. I cant for the life of me tell much of a difference. My graphics steam along at a decent clip and have never really been an issue. In fact I was in at a clients studio yesterday who happen to be graphic designers and run very heavy rendering software and they are using Nvidia NX8800,s. More time is wasted by unnesessary processing. By this I mean the program regenerating costing info and body parts etc when in fact no change has been made to the cabinet, also having to relocate your view if you move from elevation to plan or CE to plan. I have brought this up before and wondered if this very meaningful change could be made to speed up things for us who spend a lot of time staring at the screen waiting for things to happen.

[Glenn Warner]

I have been following all this talk about graphics cards over the last couple of years and have yet to try a Quadro. I am a little leary of shelling out over 20,000.00 for a card .

I got a whole new Dell Outlet M90 top of the line laptop with Quadro FX2500 card for two grand. I think the card alone is around $500.

[James Melvin]

Well I gotta tell ya...I just did my first rendering with my new (used) Quadro FX 1000. Talk about smokin! Rendring must be improved by a factor of 2000%. As the line descended down the screen it hardly even slowed down for the Classic Brass pulls.

Bear in mind, this is an old Nvidia card purchased on eBay for $56.00 American. Yes it was a steal and I have no idea why no one snapped it up before me. There are plenty of other new and used Quadro cards on eBay in the $100-200 range.

Jim Melvin

[Nick M Singer]

Sorry guys this is South Africa, we need 7.5 of ours to buy one of yours, plus mail plus tax & duties. Gets pricey!!! But my main point is is that I dont find graphics display to be the real issue unles one is running a really crummy card. It takes about 20 seconds to do a full presentation render of a kitchen and all other handling in the cabinet editor is very smooth and quick. I feel the biggest time wasters come down to long unresolved programming issues.