HumbleChief

Interesting Perry - that's what I did and it framed OK. Thanks!!

Wow you guys are great - thanks so much. Still feel stupid but I'll get over it. Is there anyone else who thought that maybe the ceiling 'structure' dbx might have had an effect on the ceiling structure?

I know this is pretty old and all the pros know the answers but I ran into something I thought was simple but wasn't - for me. Question - how do YOU drop the ceiling in a single room. Thanks

Thanks for keeping this topic alive Richard as I still have so much to learn about how Chief works especially re: the structure dbx. Didn't really know that changing the ceiling height of a lower floor room would drive parts of the upper floor down. Long, boring, video with some of the confusion I still have with the structure dbx.

I've read in a couple places that the changes to Kaby Lake are minimal for desktop computers and will mainly benefit video playback and lap top battery life. That's no reason not to get one but they are not designed to be the next large step in desk top computer power. http://www.pcgamer.com/intels-kaby-lake-everything-you-need-to-know/

That's actually very valuable information - thanks for taking the time to post. My machine can get bogged down and sometimes I think a faster graphics card will help but it's a $1200 (card and monitors approx.) gamble I'm not willing to take at this time.

Current Specs? Future build?

It's a function of the plan not the Layout.

True. I was able to OC my Xeons otherwise they were too slow for the investment. For RayTracing more cores the better according to Chief. For every day use? Dunno.

Stock 3.0 5960x runs at 15,970. Overclocked runs at 20,810 - about 26% faster. Could one expect the 6950x to gain the same 26% and come in at around 25,000 on the passmark equaling the fastest Xeon out there? Just sayin' it could be smokin' fast. I've attached a pdf of a quick NewEgg cost for such a system - not for the faint of heart - but if you need some go power it's not that terribly expensive. As I mentioned, for me, I'd have to add $500 - $600 in new monitors to equal my current set up so it's pretty much a non-starter for my budget at this time but for a larger company with a larger budget that's about as fast as your going to get in a single processor desktop these days. 6950x computer.pdf

Yes, no doubt your choice was a good one and most impressive passmark score but we're talking outright performance right? Overclock the 6950x to 4.0 or 4.2 and is that performance (admittedly unknown) worth the $650? For me it would future proof Chief for a bit, but at what total cost? Dunno - yet.

This bad boy looks pretty impressive. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117643 19,995 on passmark running stock 3.0 clock. That is getting interesting.

Thanks Ken, have built many myself but am looking for a genuine performance gain before I drop another $2500++ on a computer. Your system looks promising. Curious if you are up to speed on the latest and greatest in new CPU's? Is your 5960x still the top dog, without completely breaking the bank? Or are there newer chips that outperform it? I read recently that the newer chips were not that impressive for the cost. Thanks in advance.

Found the link thanks. Did you build yourself?

Would love to see those passmark results. Seems to be missing a link?

Good advice...

It's so hard to say how much computer muscle you need until you don't have enough. Dual Xeons is about as much CPU horsepower as you can get in a desktop computer but it depends greatly on which Xeons you install. As Perry mentioned my system has dual Xeons but they are on the low end of Xeon power and are quite power efficient which is one reason for choosing them. I installed them on a motherboard that allowed for over clocking which wakes them up pretty good and they still perform, as a pair, as fast as, to just a little slower than the fastest i7's available today. They are about 4 years old and it's a huge system with dual everything and an older 780 video card. I hesitate to upgrade the video card because I am running 3 monitors and 2 of them would have to replaced to run the HDMI/Display Port/DVI-D connections on modern video cards. Given those specs in my signature I experience quite a few slow downs just like you are describing when my single home designs get large. I don't think it's a video card problem as my 3D views are pretty quick so any speed improvements must be CPU based. Is there a computer power cure for Chief when you are designing 50 - 100 unit apartments? Can you throw enough CPU/GPU power at Chief to get it to perform with models that large? Unfortunately Chief gets slow as the models get large and complex and the only way to find out is invest in a fast, powerful, dual Xeon system and see what happens. Best case it works and you can complete those large models. Worst case you will be out $3000 - $5000 and have a screaming system for your every day single family homes and will have to begin learning otherCAD to get those 50 - 100 unit designs complete.

Just got a reply from the Win Line folks and the drivers for my HP110plus are $199. Not even close to worth the money, to me, as printing to PDF works fine but would like to have the capability to print directly from the 110 but not for $200..

Forgot about that...

It might even be easier peasier if more than a select few knew what MMRLS stood for and the potential it contains, then perhaps more people would make a suggestion in the suggestion forum and the much vaunted MMRLS would become a reality. I am personally not exactly sure what the acronym stands for but the essence (please correct me) is currently there is a single reference floor one can use and it must be used as defined and only as defined, i.e. first floor references second floor, or first floor references third floor etc. What MMRLS would do is allow for Multiple reference layers (that's what one of those capital 'M's stands for) so a floor could reference many floors at once, or show any datum on all floors for example. A no brainer and a feature that is long, long over due. Still trying to figure out the acronym...

Yes 17 is more accurate - 17 in planning; 17 in structural engineering; 17 in electrical; 17 in LDR engineering; 17 in Zoning; 17 in mechanical; and 17 who just want to mess with you

VERY interesting. My old HP110plus has no Win 10 drivers but will print to PDF just fine. Might be worth the investment to get Win 10 printing back for the 110plus.

And one more cynical, and perhaps blasphemous to many here, look at the whole ConDoc process - I don't even try and submit a complete set anymore. I get 95% of the bones there but in my (and Scott's) neck of the woods there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY you can know what the selected plan checker will want to see in any of the disciplines. So I submit and just add changes according to the current correction list in each discipline, of which the requirements are just a little different every time, then resubmit. There's no way there's not going to be some corrections (despite Lew's incredible skill and first time submittal success rate) so I don't waste my time trying to get everything just perfect because the target is always moving here in San Diego. Like I said pretty cynical, but I'm done beating my head against the wall trying to please 25 people who are constantly changing their minds and requirements. This story relates to the OP in that you may not need to have a perfect set of plans with everything in the right order and all the perfect notations and sections and details etc. Especially if you are first starting out just submit your best shot and take whatever heat gets thrown your way and submit a corrected set. You'l learn pretty quickly what your jurisdiction will want to see.

+1 Another note to the OP. Not every jurisdiction requires the same detail or layout of construction docs. There is a user here who does at least 10 times more plans than I could ever hope to finish here in CA but the city/county where he lives requires very little in the way of complete documentation. Joey has presented a stellar example of a complete plan set - for his jurisdiction - which would probably suffice for almost anywhere but knowing exactly what your city needs can be just as valuable.

+1