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Joined: Tue, Jun 29, 2004
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well, hehe, if I wasn't cheap and actually bought some fans that didn't come with the case, maybe I'd be happier. Thanks
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Joined: Wed, Sep 28, 2005
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what is more important for revit software is more of random memory than processor speed..(in the case of max, maya etc.. it is the processor speed which is more imortant).. so go for a ram of 2GB+ and make sure that the ram is DDR2 and better go for HT (Hyper threading) some intel dual core processor because it is very essential when u are working on huge projects to switch to other applications..AMD is good for graphics but it is not efficient when we need to work on multiple applications simultaneouly.. and visit this website www.boxx.com these people designs the confiurations based on tur need.... these computers are the fastes computers on this earth.... it is better to get the configuration from proffesionals...because the choice of supporting hardware like cabinet , SMPS are alos very important when u are going for high end computeres... so better not to take risk....
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Joined: Mon, Jun 19, 2006
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Hi koti03Just so you know that a good processor will always do a world of good when using Revit. Admittedly Ram is more important due to Revit being such a resource hungry application it is by no means the only thing one needs to focus on. I always suggest to a client when upgrading that you need to focus on you processor an your ram. After that you can get whatever else you want with the money you want to spend.
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Hai amlo, I do agree with u.. offcourse processor speed is important for revit too... i did mentioned in my previous post about the processor too.... based on the software u use the kind of hardware u need will be different... what i am telling is that ... processor is important, this is the general notion people has. they often neglect about the ram.... for the softwares like max processor speed is very much required.... but the same amout of speed definetely u won't need for revit.... as revit creates back up log file very oftenly it need very high capacity of ram.... and in the case of processors.... intel dual core processors are much better than that of AMD ... AMD processors are good for max as they won't get heated up faster.... and generally people will do the modelling in revit and the rendering will be done max.... and that computer will be of different configuration..... i don't think there is a ideal configurations for both of the softwares.... this is how it is done in our office
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Joined: Thu, Dec 16, 2004
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Our typical projects range from 300,000 to 1.5million SF. Our project files are 50 to 200 mb in size. Obviously performance is extremely critical for us. I did some fairly thorough testing and my results indicate: Greatest performance gain hands down is multiple processors. View generations, commands opening all are reduced by as much as 50%. The current dual and quad core processors (amd and intel) are very good in revit. 3 gb of ram is maximum for 32bit systems. Lots of ram is good. Any hard disk activity is going to be a bottleneck so if you can use as much ram as possible, you will see good performance. We use a gigabit network. We have our local files stored on the local disk. A good SATA drive helps quite a bit but doesnt seem to be the bottleneck to load times. No difference in performance on 64bit vs. 32bit. There is no 64bit optimization in the current build of 9.1. 64bit may make available more addressable RAM. No difference in performance with video cards. I tested a baseline Quadro and a midrange quadro with no detectible difference in performance. Revit does not appear to use OpenGL acceleration with the current nVidia or ATI cards.
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Joined: Mon, Jul 31, 2006
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http://www.alienware.com Configure an Area-51 7500 with all of their top of the line components with 3 large Dell flat screen monitors!! IT DOES NOT GET ANY BETTER!!!!! Expensive, but you will not need to buy another computer for 5 - 10 years. I just bought one, and it is really better than I could have ever imagined. For 3D modeling, this is the ticket!!
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Joined: Fri, May 18, 2007
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as of 2007-08-15, on Revit Architecture 2008 -- i would recommend as the best, keeping cost in mind: (yes, we can get a NASA grade computer, but who has 3.22 billion dollars to spend on a computer?)2.66 *dual* "quad-core" pentiums or AMD , overclocked to 4 GhZ (need liquid cooling set-up & extra fans in the case)one side dedicated to Revit alone.a genuine intel motherboard that supports the tweaking and overclocking and other adjustments(2) 150 Gb , 10,000 rpm hard drives1000 watt powersupply in a decent tower case, cool neon lights and plexiglass windows not necessary...64 bit Win XP operating system (you don't need vista, unless you are one of those people that gets great joy telling/bragging to everybody about what you have) vista is not stable enough yet, and win XP 64 bit is only ~$100all new drivers that are compatible with 64 bit applications, printers etc...your old 32 bit applications will need to be updated in the driver dept.4 Gb "matched" memory, minimum [(2) pieces of 2Gb] --highest speed that is compatible with board (if one piece of memory is slower than the other (not matched), they will only work at the slower speed. Don't skimp in this dept.512 mB Nvidia or equivalent video card, supporting open GL, using digital output to monitor(s)(Revit doesn't take advantage of anything much more powerful than this, according to AUGI forums) --spend this money on good brand name matched memory sets.22" widescreen monitor (or two!) with 1000:1 pitch rate minimum.fastest internet connection available (T1 or cablefastest compatible router to networka back up removable / portable hard drive 100 Gba 16x minimum DVD-r DVD-rw burner with lightscribe AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:an IT guy to set it all up and tune it up and keep it going... your computer is only as fast as its weakest link...THE ABOVE WOULD STILL BE PRETTY curse GOOD 5 YEARS FROM NOW... (IN MY OPINION)let us come back here 2012-08-15, and we shall see !go look this up in www.Newegg.com website and "add all this stuff to cart"i got a price of ~$2300, but now you I need someone to hook it all up and maintain it...If you tried to buy this from DELL, it would be ~$6000, but it would all come put together, and have a warranty, and have lots of other stuff that architects don't really need...
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Joined: Thu, Nov 10, 2005
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You can build the best of the best CPU right now for around $5000.00 if even that much any more, this will include motherboard, 4 Quad Core CPU's (16 CPU's total), 8+ GB of ram, over a TB of hard drive space, and a pretty good video card. As well as letting you get things like the case, keyboard, mouse, dual monitors, and some additianl cooling components. Right now what is the pourpase...XP can only use 3.5 GB of ram when formated correctly or unless you have XP x64 and Revit isnt dual core compatable. When Revit goes to a multi-core 64 bit program we will all see dramatic improvements, and will be albe to buy better computers that will help make Revit much quicker. Right now the technology of the two (OS and Revit) just isnt at par with eachother, I would be really surprised not to see RA09 go multi core, and even more surprised if it isnt 64 bit.
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I use Revit MEP 2008. The program is run on three different computers of vastly different capabilities. A: 2500+ @ 2.0Ghz, 1GB DDR 333, 2 striped 10K raptors, FireGL X3-256 128MB , win XP-32 (5 year old system). B: core2duo @ 3.3Ghz, 4GB DDR2 800, 2 striped 10K raptors, 8800gts 320MB, win XP-32, (1 year old system). C: Phenom quad @ 2.4, 8GB DDR2 1066, single 10K raptor, FireGL V3600 256MB, vista x64, (1 week old system).I have this advice: Processor: should be the highest performance available. Multiple cores are only utilized when rendering. Use a core2duo or AMD X2 of the highest available clock. as it has the highest performance per core.Memory: for windows XP 32-bit 2GB is the min, 4GB is max available. For vista x64 3GB min. Memory is cheap, max it out.Hard drive: really only important for bootup speed and file opening/saving speed. Use two or more in a RAID-0 stripe for really large progects doing local saves on the workstation. RAID-5 server over gigabit LAN (giga lan will max out at about 100MB/sec). If your LAN is 10/100 then any redundant drive arrangement on the server will do, as the network is the bottle neck here.Video card: FYI revit does not take advantage of powerful cards. However it does need professional openGL hardware acceleration. Don't use gaming cards, as they will not allow you to enable the hardware acceleration. Recommend the cheapest Quadro or FireGL card.Operating system: Revit MEP works with windows XP 32-bit, and vista 64-bit (in 32-bit mode, however it can access more then 2GB of memory).I assume XP 64-bit and vista-32 work as well, but I have not run those systems. Autocad MEP 2008 will not install on vista 64-bit (Revit has no problems, however it runs in 32-bit mode) without a couple of simple hacks to the INI and msi files. After the mod, it runs fine, utilizing well past 2GB of memory.Inorder of importance for a new workstation build: professional openGL Video card, 4GB memory, fast processor, giga LAN, Large monitor (min 22" , fast drives. This may change if the next build of Revit is optimized for multicore processors or for powerful video cars, however at this time it is not. I've attached a Revit system build from Dell $2700. You can save about $800 by assembling it yourself through newegg.com. Spending more will not help Revit performance at this time.
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Joined: Mon, Oct 1, 2007
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The main difference between 32bit and 64bit is that you are able to run 8gb of ram on a 64bit system. I am running Revit 2008 on a Intel Quad Q6600 G0 stepping overclocked to 3.0ghz, ABIT IP35 Pro mobo, 8gb of G.Skill DDR2 1000PC2 8000, EVGA 8800GTS 512 G92, Corsair 620HX psu, all on Vista Ultimate x64. No problems at all with Vista 64 and Revit. I don't know why people have issues with Vista. I think they lack the competence of learning a new OS.
Edited on: Sat, Feb 9, 2008 at 10:01:50 PM
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I'm a student doing Architectural Technology and this year we are using CAD '09 and next year we will be focussing on using Revit. I'm at a stage where I need to build a computer within a students budget, yet be fast enough to utilise these programs. So far the build consists of: INTEL CORE 2 QUAD Q8400 2.66GH ATI RADEON HD4850 1GB GDDR3 Corsair 4GB (2x XMS2 2GB) PC-6400(800MHz) DDR2 Samsung SH-S223F SATA 22x DVD-RW Cooler Master CM 690 Black Case SAMSUNG 23' 2333SW GIGABYTE EP45-DS3L LGA775 FSB 1600MHz DDR2 Western Digital 640GB SATA 3 Gb/s 32MB Cache Corsair HX-620 620w 120mm fan, PSU I noted in this section the need for 8G of RAM. I can upgrade the extra 4G before the end of the year so thats not an issue at this stage. I really am wanting to know about the HD 4870 and whether it would be capable of doing rendering within Revit reasonably fast. I have looked at the Quadro options but those are a little out of my price range. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Craig
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The graphics card was the HD 4870 GDDR5 sorry.
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A few things have changed sense my '08 post. The quickest processors are now the core i7. Revit now uses DirectX acceleration so OpenGL is not important. Rendering is still performed by only the processor; the video card does not help rendering at this time. The rendering engine is still limited to a maximum of 4 cores.At this time my preferred build would be:Intel i7 920  over clock it), vista 64, 6GB (12 for rendering) ddr3 1600, GTX 275, G.Skill Falcon SSD drive, ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX, Antec 300 case, Corsair 650W Power supplyBudget buildAMD Phenom II 720 (940 if rendering is done) (over clock it), 790GX, 8GB DDR2 800, WD Calvair Black, Antec Sonata III 500
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For an extra $360 NZD I have found I can build a healthy "bottomend" i7 rig. Intel Core i7 920 ATI RADEON HD4870 1GB GDDR5 kingston valueram 4gb 1333mhz ddr3 non-ecc cl9 Samsung SH-S223F SATA 22x DVD-RW Cooler Master CM 690 Black SAMSUNG 23' 2333SW Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R X58 Western Digital 640GB SATA 3 Gb/s 32MB Cache Corsair 620W 120mm fan, Dual Zalman ZM-F3 120mm Black Case Fan x 2 Im choosing the kingston ram as it runs at 1.5V and Intel recommends not to run ram at over 1.65V incase of damage to the cpu.
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Hopinh someone can help me out here... I was just asked by our IT if a computer system with specs that include a quad-core and hyperthreading would be benficial to the Revit users in our office. Can anyone explain if Revit recognizes and therefore would benefit (i.e. work faster) from these specs? Thanks in advance!
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