g5 questions

[aahatimo]

is there any info available regarding the various g5 configs and actual archicad performance?
to be more specific, if the dual 1.8, 2.0 and 2.5 had the same ram and video cards installed how much actual difference is there between the different processor speeds, bus speeds ect? i mainly do residential projects up to 3 or 4plexes and some large custom homes.
tim

[Anonymous]

I don't have any direct comparisons between G5s that differ only in clock speed but there are probably some benchmarks on the web somewhere.

In general I have found that PowerPC processor performance scales nearly linear with clock speed (within a generation, i.e. G3, G4, G5).

ArchiCAD performance in 3D modeling (including section regeneration) and rendering seems pretty much completely processor dependent. The calculation is so intense that I don't think there is any significant waiting for memory to refill the pipelines.

Aside from the modeling and rendering... Navigating the 3D window (in OpenGL) is more display card driven. In most other areas such as drawing, switching views, etc. there is not that much difference between my 1GHz G4 PowerBook and a G5 running at twice the speed. Dual processors do make a big difference when running multiple applications though. When I have three sessions of ArchiCAD going on my PowerBook along with PlotMaker, Photoshop, and a few other programs, It definitely gets a bit draggy.

[aahatimo]

matthew,
good to know that 17" pb does so well in normal ac usage.
do you ever run an external monitor from it? still move 3d models well? i imagine the 128 meg video card would be future proofed for a while, just not capable of running that 30" display.
thinking about it, i probably need a vacation more than a 30" lcd so maybe that does not matter right now.

[Anonymous]

I use a 23" Cinema Display connected to my PowerBook when I am at my desk. The 3D OpenGL navigation w/64MB video RAM is just fine. Not as smooth as 128MB, but very workable.

I would consider getting a G5 but I don't think it's really worth maintaining two machines for the occasional power boost.

[Dwight]

But I am crying here with a dual G5 2.0 trying to make an animation - now I know what they are talking about. Going to take several days.... coping by turning the antialiasing way down....regrettable.

[Anonymous]

Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2004 1:21 am    Post subject: Re: g5 questions



But I am crying here with a dual G5 2.0 trying to make an animation - now I know what they are talking about. Going to take several days.... coping by turning the antialiasing way down....regrettable.
_________________
Dwight Atkinson, MAIBC


But you can still work whilst the other processor is animating, ...right? In other words the "dual" is like two computers. Am I right? Any special commands to accomplish "background" animation and "foreground" modeling, etc? (In the market for G5. Beginning to ask lots of questions.)

Jay S.

[Dwight]

No. The background function is suppressed and ArchiCAD can get confused if it lives back there for too long. Use the dual processors for rendering and leave the thing alone when rendering.


A fellow can have many applications open and it is easy to switch between applications, but heavy rendering wants two processors.

[Anonymous]

Personally I would let the machine get on with it.

Another question can you set up an external 'render farm' to cope with this work load and let you get other work?

[Dwight]

No.

Cinema 4D and some others do.

This is a major issue.

You can use other licenses on other computers to each do segments of the animation..... perhaps by copying the file perhaps with Teamwork [well?????].

Of course, doing animations in ArchiCAD sucks due to the lack of camera acceleration, so like, why bother??? But that isn't so bad because then you have to do some crossfading edits. Could be a good thing.

[Anonymous]

thought so but worth asking anyway.

Maybe some day...

Or at least getting individually images out quicker would be a benefit, so more time can be spend tweaking them for optium effect.