HumbleChief

Thanks Mick, pulled the trigger on the 1TB 980 Pro. Now I get to regret the BF deal I could have gotten lol... I'll update this thread after I install and test.

I think I'll get the 1TB M2 and see what that gets me in performance and will always have additional storage for years with the existing/additional SSD. Looking at the Samsung 980 Pro.

Thanks Mick, cloning the existing to the new would be the strategy. Did you mean move User Library Folders to the SSD new NVMe drive eg. My Documents, etc. Is that a typo or the best strategy with the SSD? Not sure the savings ($175) is worth the effort to manage files between 2 drives. BTW Macrium Reflect is simply the best software I've ever used for cloning etc. in case other users need to clone.

Currently have the setup below in my sig but seeing how getting new stuff is an irresistible force that I cannot seem to overcome I was thinking of getting a M.2 NVMe drive to speed things up. I currently have about 140 Gb free on my current 1 TB SSD drive and thought that a 2 TB M2 drive (which would replace my current SSD drive) would be the way to go . Then I got to thinking that A 1TB M2 drive along with the older SSD drive would give me plenty of space if the files were divided between the 2 drives in an appropriate manner. "Appropriate manner" being the key phrase. My question: is it worth it to spring for the 2TB M2 drive and put everything on that single drive? Or is it reasonable to save a few bucks and get the 1 TB M2 drive and split up files with the older SSD drive in the future when 1 TB is simply not enough storage? And/or with proper file management (i.e. DropBox) will the 1 TB be enough storage for the future? Costs are $350ish for the 2 TB and $175ish for a 1 TB. Looking at Western Digital, Seagate, or Samsung. Any help/suggestions greatly appreciated.

Ah, see it now, thanks again.

Yeah good catch Ed, missed it. I also have an AMD motherboard (X570) with an older SSD and an older video card. As much as I like new stuff my older system seems to be keeping up pretty well.

Thanks so much for the follow up, didn't notice the signature specs and agree the drive is small and slow and an upgrade is probably in order but would a new drive and a new video card satisfy the need for new stuff? Dunno...

That was great Rene but I'll be darned if I understood any part of the video. I did understand the polyline from the floor plan then choose an 'example' for a distributed path, which looked like the 'boards' of the B & B then select a bunch of icons that look unique to your work flow and voila, B & B siding? Not sure what happened while selecting the walls and other parts and pieces but the result looked great. I'll review a few more times and see if I can understand what exactly you did. Thanks

Curious, what "solid state drive" are you seeing and how can you know it's "way below standard?" Not to challenge your knowledge but curious to learn how you can make the diagnosis from the picture posted. Thanks

Let me translate - "I like new stuff." Close? Me too...

Curious Rob, what aspects of your computer do you perceive is giving you trouble/slow downs prompting the need to upgrade?

I've found it smart to buy as much of the latest technology as the budget will allow delaying the need for the next upgrade just that little bit longer. More of everything is almost always better. More storage, more RAM, more VRAM, faster CPU, faster GPU but as with most things there's a point of diminishing returns. Chief doesn't seem to access a lot of RAM during day to day use and 16 GB has always seemed to be plenty. Again faster and bigger with everything is almost always better One thing to consider when purchasing or upgrading the video card especially with Chief's new Real Time Raytracing is, do you Ray Trace? I haven't RT'd in years and my old 1080 seems to handle graphics just fine - for my needs. Will you use other programs intensely with the new rig? What do they like as far as CPU speed? RAM needs? Graphics cards? And if I were upgrading today I would seriously think about waiting until Intel's new 12th Gen Alder Lake chip reaches the market. Looks like it's available now but can we actually buy it? That single decision could put off the next upgrade for a much long time. https://www.techadvisor.com/news/pc-components/intel-alder-lake-12th-gen-cpu-3800589/

...yes, depending greatly on your local area.

I would imagine the markets in "The Midwest (specifically the Indiana area) are as specific and unique as they are in any other part of the country. For example 'specifically the California area'. Specifically which part of California? San Francisco? Los Angeles? San Diego? Or tiny hamlets like Groveland? Or Briceburg? So are you in Indianapolis? Fort Wayne? Kempton? Cutler? The point is there is no singular answer as each market is completely different than another. So the answer to your question is an obvious yes, there's "enough residential design/drafting work in the Midwest for a person to have 40-50+ hours of work per week?" Your local area? Another question entirely and only you can answer that by doing some local research. Best of luck and as always the best place to start is by getting your toes wet first and testing the local market.

A -4" offset on the block/pony wall foundation keeps the ftg from extending upwards. Anything less no effect. Interesting and thank you.

Yeah I'm thinking the same thing and have changed my mind thanks to the posts here. Still don't know why that footing blows past the outside wall up to the roof.

Thanks you guys but not what I WAS looking for but this might be a better way to build the wall? I was thinking that we could flash that exterior ledge and it would be something that could be monitored in the future whereas a flush to the block wall would simply have stucco screed. That seems the better technique, but let's say we wanted the wall to the inside of the block, can it be done without the footing blowing through to the roof? Maybe offset the ftg.?

Can't seem to resolve this footing that wants to blow past the retaining wall to the roof. Any help much appreciated. Plan below. FOUNDATION PLAN 2.plan

It looks more like the computer itself is stalling upon startup and starting X13 only coincided with that main computer startup. Takes 3 -4 minutes to startup when first booted and may or may not try and find the culprit. Bottom line is it does not look like X13 was causing a problem and a wait through that 3 - 4 minutes seems to get everything back to normal speed.

Seems like they need to be spec'd every time with a saved wall type. True?

Thanks David, appreciate the info.

Thanks David, not sure what a "Repair" is. Can you elaborate a bit? Thanks

Thanks you guys. Didn't really do anything of note, just (tried to) open a plan, and another plan as well. Weird that it locked up the entire computer with no access to task manager - nuthin. I'll check those settings Mark but of course I changed nothing but open X13 and a plan to bring about the behavior "Did you place a symbol or break the library by chance?" That was a thought Ryan and will monitor through the day as it seems to be behaving better right now. Maybe just one of those 'computer things'?

I understand these issues are not to be solved with a post in the Q & A forum but was curious if anyone else has experienced this? Yesterday afternoon X13 stopped responding with the little circle thingy just spinning away. Couldn't get to Task Manager couldn't close X13 just sat there for 5 minutes minimum and I ended up doing a hard restart. Upon the restart I opened a plan and the same thing happened, just stalled out. My wife taught that sometimes PC's just need a good night's sleep and they will fix themselves but apparently my PC did not sleep well last night and it took 3 - 4 minutes for Chief to load and has been stalling through working on today's plan. Again I understand this cannot be diagnosed in a forum but anyone else experienced this? Cure? Steps to correct? Thanks in advance.

Great points you guys. Appreciate the feedback and good luck to the OP.