Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> New Computer Hardware and Graphics: i7, NVIDEA GeForce GT 220

MYoung

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Joined: Wed, May 10, 2006
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Hi,

I have the task of researching and ordering new computers for our office, and I'm looking for advice thoughts/comments on the following:

Dell Vostro 430

Intel i7-870 (2.92GHz 8MB Cache)

Windows 7 Pro 64 bit

16GB DDR3 SDRAM

 Either NVIDIA GeForce GT220 or NVIDIA GeForce GTS240 card (both 1GB)

Will be using Revit 2011 (and CAD)

Those are the basics.  Its a package deal so I would have to choose from either of those cards, which I do not see on the Autodesk tested graphics card list.  I'm wondering if anyone has tried these cards, and/or the processor.  Any issues?

Our models can get quite large (towers, convention buildings etc.) so the performance is key.  Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike.

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brettgoodchild

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Joined: Sat, Feb 4, 2006
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This is (or should not be) a small task. We did this at our company and it turned into a 4 month test.

I would not limit yourself to just one computer spec. Take a good look at how you are currently using the software and where you plan to go as future use will affect your specs. I see that you have 16GB RAM speced and to be honest, from our testing there was little to no performance gain after 8GB RAM....this was a very consistent result....the RAM will however make a sizable impact on your end-users when they start multitasking Revit with other applications...but if they are not doing a lot of that 16GB RAM may be excessive (and expensive)

From that point...you will want to figure out how many slots you will need/want to get to the 16GB...thinking ahead to future upgrades and cost.

Test the processors...we tested 3 or 4 different ones...(I think I would go up to a 12MB L3 Cache over the 8MB...which may actually out perform other processors with faster clock speeds.)

Windows 7 64 hands down!!!

As far as the graphics...in all honesty they have a very small affect on anything. I know a lot of companies that are spending $80 or less on them as they are probably the lease important peripheral to consider.

Also consider your harddrive for testing.

Aside from all this...you want to test your infrastructure too...the best systems will be impacted by your network.

Also, you will want to test any enhancement out there...look at the model performance technical guide...read forums...anything you can think of.

Specing a new machine is not just about hardware...if there are tweaks and enhancements that make an impact then you should include them.

Aside form all that...you should also be testing these configurations and enhancements on live projects to accurately gauge the impact. Using the AU Benchmark does not accurately curse anything about your companies live projects and is in my opinion not a good way to figure out your new systems.

HTH

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MYoung

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Thanks for the help!  Its good to hear about your experience with the RAM. 

If anyone else out there has any thoughts, please share them.

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KMunkholm

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Joined: Mon, Jan 10, 2011
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-----------------------------------

-Munkholm

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