ARCHICAD 19 Reviews

[Laszlo Nagy]

http://www.aecmag.com/software-mainmenu-32/856-review-archicad-19-performance-bim

[Daniel Ward]

To be honest, I'm a little curious as to why an ArchiCAD 19 Beta Tester would be posting questions in the Public Forum about the ArchiCAD 19 support for GPU rendering? Strange.

[Bricklyne Clarence]

James wrote:

Bricklyne wrote:
ArchiCAD uses your GPU for the 3D Window functions when modeling and working in 3D.

That's what the OpenGL implementation entails.

(conversely, your 2D window functions - Sections, elevations, plans etc - leverage the CPU and more pointedly the multicore capability of multicore CPU's (which pretty much all computers are these days))

We use OpenGL also in 2D windows (on Mac, PC I think uses DirectX), so things like panning, input, trace/reference etc can utilise OpenGL to provide feedback. We have also made improvements to speed these up in AC19, as well as with the 3D navigation as already mentioned.

Wouldn't that depend on the specific Graphics card (I'm talking on the PC side) ?

Like whether it's NVIDIA or AMD?

Or am I confusing OpenGL with OpenCL (versus CUDA, which I'm certain is limited to NVIDIA) and in which case does OpenCL play any role in the graphics handling that ArchiCAD does (I know it's important in GPU rendering)?

I do know that certain programs allow you to choose between Direct X and OpenGL processing for your Graphics cards (like Google Earth, for instance - and in my case OpenGL is the default) depending on how well (or badly) it handled each implementation.

Not to get too technical or wonky....

[Anonymous]

The situation where you have two cards one intel and one quadro is to save the battery. We are typically turning it off (intel) on all out machines (dell M6800). It's creating more problems than it solves. By default if you have it on it is managing the main display and the 3D performance is quite dismal in comparison. Just use quadro and call it a day.

[Steve Jepson]

Miki wrote:
The situation where you have two cards one intel and one quadro is to save the battery. We are typically turning it off (intel) on all out machines (dell M6800). It's creating more problems than it solves. By default if you have it on it is managing the main display and the 3D performance is quite dismal in comparison. Just use quadro and call it a day.

Thanks for that input. Is there any specific settings you use for your Quadro card ?

[KeesW]

Are professional Quadro type cards really faster than high end NVidia 'gaming' cards? The frame rate for gaming cards is very high - higher than Quadro cards, I think. If not speed, what do the professional cards offer? If one does good quality architectural work comprising the usual plans, elevations, sections and some 3D to illustrate proposals without making presentation one's life's work, is it worth paying the extra for high end graphic cards?

From the discussions, and improvements in AC19, it seems that having lots of cores in the main CPU is more important for productivity. Or have I misunderstood the posts?

[Matt Balaam]

KeesW wrote:
If one does good quality architectural work comprising the usual plans, elevations, sections and some 3D to illustrate proposals without making presentation one's life's work, is it worth paying the extra for high end graphic cards?

It seems to be a common misconception with many ArchiCAD users that a high end graphics card will make a huge difference to the overall performance of ArchiCAD.

From all of the testing our company has done (and there has been a fair bit) the graphics card doesn't make a lot of difference. In my opinion, assuming you aren't doing regular rendering, you are better off saving some money on the graphics card and getting an SSD, followed by a better processor. RAM is also cheap so there's no reason not to have plenty.

We've also found that it's not always the type of graphics card you have but the exact driver version that can make quite a substantial difference. Some driver versions work with ArchiCAD a lot better than others.

[KeesW]

Thanks Matt. Your hardware is pretty high end - Dell workstation perhaps?

[Matt Balaam]

HP Z230 workstation actually. It also runs off an SSD so it's super fast!

[Anonymous]

Is there a release date yet?

Thanks,
Uli

[Anonymous]

atelier522 wrote:
Is there a release date yet?

Thanks,
Uli

"GRAPHISOFT ARCHICAD® 19 will start shipping in June, 2015"

http://www.nemetschek.com/en/presse/press-releases/detail/archicad-19-faster-than-ever/