Planning new PC system - requirements?

[Glenn Warner]

I have the quadro fx 1700 (not really high end) card and can't open the stage file. It hangs the machine. But if I was working with files of this size all the time I could upgrade the card. The problem with low end computers purchased from the borgs is that they might not be so easy to swap out components.

[Gregory Hairston]

Unfortunately my computers were stolen last month. I did purchase a new laptop and so far it runs Ecab fine. Kerry it opens your stage program and could manipulate it with maybe a 1 second delay. Much better than my last computer. I plan to build a new desktop. I will buy one of the better quadro cards to see how it does. Hopefully you guys are correct in saying the quadro is actually better.

Greg

[Nick M Singer]

Kerry I never said there was no difference, I said that the same GPUs were used between these cards. Secondly I said I found no difference between the performance of my 2 systems on the jobs I was running. Re your file I can not open it it crashes eCabs let alone manipulate or render it. I can not run it on my Quadro system (Dell M90 with 4 meg RAM and Quadro 3500 with 512Meg) because if you refer to one of my previous posts the eCabs on that needs to be reloaded as it just decided to up and die,(waiting for new disc) but I seem to recall having just as much difficulty with your file on that system. Will report back when I get it fixed.

[DanEpps]

The file loads for me...after 3-1/2 minutes. Then it took about 10 minutes to render. After rendering response times were horrible and very jerky mouse movements.

I have a Dell Precision Workstation 380 with a 3.4GHz Pentium D, 2GB RAM and an nVidia Quadro FX 540 with 128MB RAM. A better video card with more RAM would definitely help here as the rendering delays were in doing geometries and shadows.

I also tried in on my Vista laptop. It just laughed at me and refused to play.

[Kerry Fullington]

Dan,

I would like to try the Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5 GB Ram. I noticed that nvidia now has the 5800 with 4GB total. I didn't even look at the price. The movements on the stage file are jerky on my computer as well. I would bet some of the newer cards might perform better.

Nick,

I was arguing with this statement that you made.

Both run the same, Rendering is just as quick and handling of items in the editor is smooth. So my conclusion is.. save your penny's and buy a good gamers card, these high end high priced CAD/Workstation cards are simply not worth it... no matter what Dean says, the proof is in the eating.

Always listen to Dean.

I would bet the stage file will run on your other machine when you get it back up.

Kerry

[DanEpps]

The 5800 was just introduced this week and has a $3500 MSRP!!!

[Gary Puckett]

Any coments on nividia 9800

Gary

[DanEpps]

Any coments on nividia 9800

Gary

That is a gaming card. Check the new thread I just started about graphics cards.

[Nick M Singer]

Kerry if that is the quote you are refering to then I can not see how you can contradict it. My experience is they run my jobs the same and that is that! If you are also admitting that the "Stage" file runs abysmally on your system then what is the point of forking out wads of cash on something that makes little or no difference. My suspicions are that a lot of the problem lies with eCabs itself as I have not experienced such performance problems with other CAD packages. Now there is a whole different can of worms!!!!!

[Joe Harkin]

Well, I started this brouhaha so I guess I should offer a final comment, and a bit explanation for the basis of the OP. I have found the responses to be very informative, and the bottom line, unfortunately is "it all depends".
WARNING- This is going to ramble on a bit but bear with me.
I am a one-man local remodeling contractor who occasionally gets a chance to design and build custom cabinetry and furniture. A few years ago I stumbled across eCabinets and tried it out, but never used it much until recently. I am also an ex-IT/Telecom guy (20+ yrs) who was there to evaluate the original IBM PC 64K (yes 64K) dual-floppy (NO hard drives yet) machine for corporate use. I'm also an inveterate d-i-yer and a techie at heart, so I play around with and on the PC more than I should.
I am currently running on a 5+ yr old Dell4600, P4/2,4MHz, 1G RAM (mixed speeds - not optimal), 55G hard drive w/17G free, ATI Radeon 9000 AIO video card 64Mb(w/TV). The system is still serviceable, and runs most of the stuff I do pretty well, but it is getting tired and cluttered and newer apps take longer than I like to wait sometimes, so I decided to look at a new system (BTW This is from the perspective of someone who ran TELETYPE networks in the air transport industry, operating at a blazing 15 bps).
New system because I don't dare try to dismantle this one and upgrade it - 20 years worth of business and personal records; backed-up, yes but fear of re-installing.
I have a very reliable 'in-house' tech support helper - my son is an RPI M.E. with computer savvy far beyond mine, who is also something of a CAD/CAM expert, and who is a Software QA manager for Parametric Technology and knows Pro-Engineer inside-out (folks like Boeing use it to design stuff like 777 airliners).
He and I have built more than a few PC's over the years, and he's still in the thick of it every day, and every bit the d-i-yer himself. (I'm flattered that he still asks me for advice occasionally).
The specs I posted were for a system that could be put together for around $600 or less, provide lots more capability and capacity than I have now, and be incrementally upgradeable with open-market parts for several more years.
He has the ATI 4670/512MB video card running on one of his PCs and it will run Pro-E renderings with little effort. It does have OpenGL support. And it can be had in the range of $50. T paraphrase Glenn Warner, if I should be fortunate enough to get a job requiring the extended rendering capability of the Nvidia Quadro, I'll buy one and sell this one.
Thank you all again for the commentary, and I'll report the results of the new system after I get it up and running alongside this one (PS I haven't tried opening Kerry's Stage file yet but I doubt it will run on this system)
I'm also going to copy-post this in Dan's new thread on graphics cards and finish up there.

[Kerry Fullington]

Joe,

Pro-E is also used to design and test things like new Thermwood Routers.

Kerry

[Walker T Scott]

Tested: Stage

NVIDIA GeForce 6800
1 ½ min to load
Less than 10 seconds to render
26 min to do presentation view

Very jerky in overhead view and render view.

[Rick Palechuk]

I did my own little test last night. I put 40 banks of drawers and 30 upper cabs with crown in a room, no PE cuts or display parts and it moved amazingly well. Where it got ugly was the sheet layout. My CPU was tacked and the PF Usage was at 1.6G. 5000+ AMD 2G 800m Ram

[Damon Nabors]

I have found that my current system will not open Kerry's file. But it is lightening fast at Space Invaders, Pong, and Asteroids.

Commodore 64

CPU: MOS 6510, 1MHz
Sound: SID 6581, 3 channels of sound
RAM: 64K
Display: 25 X 40 text
320 X 200, 16 colors max
Ports: TV, RGB & composite video
2 joysticks, cartridge port
serial peripheral port
Peripherals: cassette recorder
printer, modem
external 170K floppy drive
OS: ROM BASIC

[Rick Palechuk]

Everybody keeps saying that Retro is coming back in style.