New Mac Desktop speed results.

[Rick Thompson]

I ran a few test on the old Mac Dual/2.0 G5 w/ 4 gig ram and a ATI Radeon X800XT video card. That will be the first score. The new computer, Intel 2.8 Quad w/ 4 gig ram.. standard set up ... will be the second score.

Open file from scratch (AC not running) - (5.3 MB pln) 1:15 min to .13 sec (was 8 sec next time from scratch)

Update drawings (w/externally linked files) - 30 sec to 16 sec

Reopen file with AC running - 11 sec to 5 sec

Internal engine rendering (shadows, transparent and hatching on) - 15 sec to 7 sec (or so)

Generating Material list (8 list export) - 1:20 to 30 sec

Sketch rendering - 1:40 to 19 sec


I was counting on a 1/3 increase, but not this

The system is much snapper.

[Chazz]

Thanks Rick. I read your results with great interest. the results are impressive. I have the same G5 setup as you and I hope to make the leap to a MacPro desktop soon (I typically use my MBP with a second monitor for production). I just need an employer first --I have found that the key to buying computers pain-free is to get other people to pay for them.

Thanks again.

[Erich]

"I have found that the key to buying computers pain-free is to get other people to pay for them."

That's what clients are for!

[Gorazd]

I got a hold on one beast of computer and try to compare it to my Macbook Pro. It had two 3GHz Xeon CPU (eight cores all together) and ATI 2xxx HD with 1 Gb video RAM, win XP, compared to my Core2 Duo 2.2 Ghz Macbook Pro 15" with leopard. I didn't have much time for testing but here are some of the mesurements:

Start ArchiCAD with new blank project: 30sec to 45sec
Open NHS example project (pla 30,1 Mb) 13sec to 20sec
Update all drawings 40sec to 65 sec
Rebuild one section 2sec to 4 sec
Open 3D view 9sec to 15sec
Create new elevation: 11sec to 18 sec
Update entire layout book: 34sec to 49sec
Create door schedule: 8sec to 13 sec

I didnt have time to measure rendering speed in ArchiCAD (I will do that next week) but I did a simple render in Artlantis Studio. Rendering was 1024x768 with all options set to max (radiosity, antialiasing,...). On Macbook Pro it took 79sec compared to 27sec on this PC.

Overall I must say at first I was not too impresed. When working with this example it didnt seem so fast until I started to measure time needed for certain tasks. Improvement is arround 35% which in everydays work can be pretty big. But again, I compared it to a notebook, with much slower CPU, graphisc, disc. And it is dissapointing to watch, that seven cores are just sitting there except in rendering in Artlantis, where all eight went up to 80%.

I hope this numbers can help someone with buying new computer. I will try to do some other test next week, but I think, that for working in ArchiCAD alone, I wouldn't pay that kind of money for this machine. If you do a lot of renderings, then...

[Erika Epstein]

Can someone refresh my memory how to get the computer time for render times on both mac and pc?
It's a good thing I wear a watch with a second hand, but I know there is a way to get the computer to give this information and more accurately.

[Karl Ottenstein]

So long since I've rendered inside AC ... but the info is displayed in the Report window, if I remember correctly.

Karl

[David Maudlin]

Erika:

Try Work Environment > User Preference Schemes > Imaging and Calculation > 3D and Calculation Process Check Controls: Write Report before rendering, then Session Report after rendering (mine is under the Window menu item).

David

[Erika Epstein]

Thanks David, that's just what I was looking for.