Program freezes much too often

[Anonymous]

My ArchiCAD 14 freezes so frequently that it's making me waste a lot of time.

My system is a Dell Inspiron N5010, equipped with an Intel (R) Premium (R) CPU P6200 @ 2.13GHz. It has an installed RAM of 3.00 GB and uses Windows 7 Basic, 64 bits operating system. The hard disk has 182 GB free out of a total of 283 GB.

Only thing I don't know is what kind of graphics card it has. It doesn't say on the PC's system properties page and I haven't been able to find out from Dell either.

But I guess many of you also use the Dell Inspiron N5010 laptop because it is very popular, so you might be able to tell me what graphics card it brings by default.

What are the possible causes of all the freezes and what solutions do you recommend?

[Karl Ottenstein]

From what I found in searching, your laptop does not have a dedicated graphics card, but uses an on-board Intel HD Graphics chip with shared memory (it takes some of your 3 GB main memory - perhaps an amount you can adjust in the BIOS).

This type of graphics functionality is great for desktop apps, but is generally insufficient for 3D CAD.

Have you tried disabling all graphics acceleration? That would involve 2D acceleration in your Work Environment as well as 3D acceleration in the 3D window (OpenGL Options button there, as I remember - not sure). Also, making your 3D window smaller.

Freezing that is temporary could be a swapping issue - too many programs running for the amount of memory you have, or a very large AC file. When AC seems to freeze, to you hear (or see if there is an activity light) a lot of disk activity? See this article:

http://www.archicadwiki.com/VirtualMemoryUsage

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your feedback Karl. Not being a technical person, I really don't understand your suggestions, but I will discuss them with a local computer technician and try to do what you said.

I appreciate your having researched the issue of the graphics card -- it's the first thing anybody has told me about it. So, if my PC doesn't use a "dedicated" graphics card and you think this may be part of the problem, what type and model of card do you recommend, where could I purchase it and what does it cost (ballpark figure)?

As for a very large AC file, I doubt that I have ever run into this situation since I am not an advanced user so what I am working on are relatively simple residential projects.

However, this is another matter of concern because I am about to start digitizing (for my portfolio) a very large resort master plan I did on paper many years ago, and I figure, if this thing freezes with a simple house project, it's certainly not going to be able to handle this master plan!

So, I have two other questions: how many MB would you consider a very large AC file? And how powerful a graphics card would I need to install to do the master plan (including renderings and animations) without undue freezes and delays?

[Karl Ottenstein]

Laptops mostly come with whatever graphics they come with - you usually cannot install / change the card - it is more a matter of purchasing the correct laptop in the first place, unfortunately.

Attached are some screenshots showing where you can change the graphics usage of ArchiCAD. First, with this post, is the Work Environment setting panel for 2D navigation in case any of your freezing has happened there.

If freezing in 2D, try lowering many of the settings - instead of Full Model for the display during navigation, try the next option down. Uncheck antialiasing.

I would guess (?) that you should still keep hardware acceleration on Full and memory usage at High, but you can always try sliding both all the way to the left to see what happens?

See also this article:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/2dSpeed

[Karl Ottenstein]

If the freezing happens when you are in the 3D window, then you can get to the 3D window settings by right-clicking a blank area of the 3D window and you'll see the attached dialog.

Assuming you're in OpenGL mode... click the Options button to see the OpenGL Options dialog shown. Consider turning off antialiasing and lowering frames per second. If things still freeze, try unchecking some of the other options (which will result in a less useful 3D view) just to see if the freezing stops...

See B1 at the bottom of this page:
http://www.archicadwiki.com/HowToControl3DPerformance

Just guessing...but none of this will hurt... you can always restore the original settings. If it doesn't help...maybe someone else has some ideas...

Karl

[Anonymous]

Thanks again for your feedback, Karl.

Just to update you and everyone else following this thread:

a) As you had indicated, the Dell Inspiron laptop came with an integrated graphics system that cannot be changed.

b) However, it allowed for the RAM memory to be increased. The factory-installed 3 GB consisted of two cards, one with 2GB and the other with 1GB. There are only two slots, so I had the 1GB card removed and installed a new 4GB card instead, for a total of 6GB, which means I doubled the original RAM memory.

c) I immediately noticed a considerable increase in booting and closing speed, and faster performance of all applications. As for ArchiCAD, I noticed it worked faster and did not freeze as often and did not produce errors like "ghost" drawings which seem to be so common. However, this was on a residential project. I am now working on a land subdivision in 2D and as I progress, it's beginning to freeze more often and to generate "ghost" drawings. I have had to restart ArchiCAD for it to return to normal. In the bottom right corner it shows 4 GB of free RAM memory.

Why this would happen on a simple 2D subdivision where I have used only the line tool and does not happen on a BIM house project where I have used almost every tool beats me. If anyone has an explanation, I'd like to hear it.

I have yet to experiment with the computer's graphic options, as you suggested Karl. If it improves performance, I will report it here. Otherwise, I guess I have no other choice but to wait till I am ready to buy a new computer and when I am, to make doubly sure that it meets or exceeds the minimum hardware/software requirements.

[Anonymous]

Why this would happen on a simple 2D subdivision where I have used only the line tool and does not happen on a BIM house project where I have used almost every tool beats me. If anyone has an explanation, I'd like to hear it.

I have heard thousands times the same question. I have not the 'very technical' answer. I have made some surgery on many files containing many 'flat 2D' info (unlinked sections and elevations, imported images, loads of layouts etc.). I am always very surprised to see when all unnecessary info is deleted (pieces of 2D stored just in case on the side for instance, old layout kept just in case) to see how much the file size decreases, sometimes by half and often much more.

Most users do not realize how 3D can save memory and power within AC. Often they tell me : the file cannot be big there is only 2D. My answer is always 'it is big because you do not use 3D… if you use 3D you will divide the file size, if you use 2D the file size will automatically increase, because you store so many unnecessary stuff on the side…

If this can help

[Anonymous]

My 2¢...

I think you need to upgrade your laptop. In my experience discrete graphics with 256 MB vRAM and 4GB of system RAM is a minimum for ArchiCAD for anything more than small residential work. I recommend 512MB + 8GB or more.

I work on very large projects with lots of detail (hospitals and such with full mechanical systems and structural detailing). My workstation is 4 1/2 years old but was top of the line at the time. It seems to run fine with 24GB RAM and (2) 512MB video cards (dual monitors). I also have the latest (last? ) 17" MacBook Pro with 16GB RAM. Both of these handle my projects quite well.

I find the best value in computers in our business is to buy top of the line (or one step down if they're really gouging for that extra 10% speed) and keep it for a few years. Entry level machines barely work for BIM when new and obsolesce almost immediately.