kitchenlifestyle Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 My 2 year old laptop is painfully slow and having issues with graphics since I upgraded to X6. As a kitchen designer, I tend to load a lot of different materials which exacerbates the problem. Chief Architect crashes when I try to pull an elevation view about 50% of the time. If I try to show a line drawing, it takes about 20 minutes to load. I currently have 8g of memory, and 1 gig of ram dedicated for graphics. However, my graphics card cannot be upgraded as it is imbedded in the mother board. When I spoke to tech support, they said that my set-up should be adequate. I am looking for a solution and am willing to upgrade. I do not want to have a desktop as my work tends to be mobile from office to jobsite. Please offer suggestions for the best laptop to solve the problem. I am also interested in setting up an additional monitor for docking screens, but hesitate in the purchase as the local "experts" don't seem to know what I am talking about. I would appreciate some technical help. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 What type of video card do you have, Intel built in to the motherboard or Nvidia, ATI, or another? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchenlifestyle Posted August 16, 2014 Author Share Posted August 16, 2014 ATI radeon HD 4650 built in to the mother board. I tried to upgrade the driver software and it actually installed a different card? I reinstated this one, but now think that I cannot move forward without upgrading my laptop. I don't want to have the same situation in 2 years, so I want to be careful about this decision. I see you have an alienware. I was considering that as an option. Do you have any issues with it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJSpud Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Tommy Blair recently purchased an new HP laptop. You might find that thread and see what he purchased. I am sure Tommy would be more than happy to answer your questions about his purchase and VC if you gave him a call. https://chieftalk.chiefarchitect.com/index.php?/topic/755-laptop-i-finally-ordered/ Here's a thread specifically on laptops from the chatroom forum: http://www.chieftalk.com/showthread.php?65966-Laptops-and-system-requirements-some-questions&highlight=laptop And another ... the first page has info on new laptops: http://www.chieftalk.com/showthread.php?65644-Replacing-my-Computers&highlight=laptop There have been many threads on the subject if you have time to search the forum. Somewhere I read a real positive review about EVGA nVidia cards but I am sure there are many cards that should work well made by others. I am sure you'll get lots of feedback from others about what is working for them. The problem with purchasing computers is that you'll always find some folks that get a lemmon or one that has some component that is either DOA or has a some dead pixels or whatever. I like to read the reviews and see what folks are saying about the stuff they buy. I have a custom desktop that has worked well for me from Puget Systems. They also do custom laptops: http://www.pugetsystems.com/laptop.php I have been very pleased with PS. They have a good business model and good tech support. They study failure rates of core components and try to pick the best, most reliable products for the builds they do. You might want to read about the testing they do for computers they build. They also have some great articles on various topics on their website (http://www.pugetsystems.com/all_articles.php). Check them out. I don't know where you are located but you probably can find someone in your area that should be able to provide you with a laptop that will meet your spec's and requirements. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard_Morrison Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Are you absolutely sure that your laptop is using the Radeon graphics card for Chief? The reason I ask is that most laptops with a "brand name" video card ALSO have a built-in graphics card that the machine uses by default. I had this same issue with my two year old Lenovo, until I found out that you have to use the graphics software to tell the laptop to use the high-end card rather than the standard one, either on a global or program-by-program basis. When I set the laptop to use the higher end graphics card for Chief, all my problems went away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 I love my Alienware, bought it several years ago and just upgrade parts as I need them. I paid over 3,000 back then but it has been able to keep up at a fast pace with a few alterations. I've added a 1tb ssd drive,(can't live without one now), and an NVidia 780gtx video card and I'm flying. Curt Puget--nice site the system I put together cost $6,000, I better charge more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcaffee Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 What I say to everybody who asks this question, "What's your budget?" Comparable to a good desktop system... http://www.amazon.com/G750JZ-DS71-17-3-inch-Gaming-GeForce-Graphics/dp/B00IAACWH6/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1408208841&sr=8-4&keywords=asus+rog+750 jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJSpud Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Perry: But you live in a land where all the fruits and nutcakes have lots of money. Here almost everyone has a piggy bank and watches Home Time and This Old House. This is DIY country and lots of folks' budgets are 1/2 or 3/4 the cost to build. Every once in awhile, I go and do a custom build on Puget's website and drool a little ... then wake up and go about my business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Perry: But you live in a land where all the fruits and nutcakes have lots of money. Here almost everyone has a piggy bank and watches Home Time and This Old House. This is DIY country and lots of folks' budgets are 1/2 or 3/4 the cost to build. Every once in awhile, I go and do a custom build on Puget's website and drool a little ... then wake up and go about my business. I know, you can draw crappy plans and get lots of money, what a country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkMc Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 I was going to mention what Richard said about which card is in use. I checked the Passmark on your card it's 340; and compared it to the card on my older machine (Quadro 880 passmark 372) . Mine is slightly more but not enough for the kind of performance you are seeing. I just checked a current kitchen on that machine (don't use it much) The plan (50 mb) has a few custom materials and a few largish symbols in it. Slower than what I'm used to but not bad at all.-Opened 6 elevations, 2 cameras and had one camera doline drawing- under a minute. When you go shopping you may want to check benchmarks for video cards and such. I use Passmark http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/index.php Forgot to mention-that machine has Interiors on it- file was created in Premier- But have never noticed a performance difference between the two- just features. One more thing- You're not orbiting in "line drawing" are you? That is much slower- get view in vector then switch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcaffee Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 P. only 6K. Mustn't have gone for the dual Xeon mobile workstation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchenlifestyle Posted August 16, 2014 Author Share Posted August 16, 2014 Wow. Great tips.Richard, I just checked my preferences in CA and it shows the radeon 4650, but I may be missing something.Jon, I was hoping to stay a bit under $2K as I also would like to add another monitor or 2 and upgrade to an orbital mouse (suggestions appreciated there as well). It is difficult to put a price on productivity though.Do any laptop brands have removable/upgradable video cards? At the rate of advances in graphics, I am sure whatever I buy will be short-lived before upgrades are necessary again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchenlifestyle Posted August 16, 2014 Author Share Posted August 16, 2014 Mark, no I am not orbiting in line drawing. It is just painful to even load it. I typically work in standard as it is the fastest for orbiting for me. However, it really stink when using dark finishes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard_Morrison Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Wow. Great tips. Richard, I believe I recall checking into whether my machine was using the right graphics card once before, but can't recall the steps. I just looked under advanced settings, but I may be missing something. It may have "forgotten" when I upgraded to X6. If you had X5 set to use the advanced graphics card on a per-program basis, it won't automatically happen for the upgrade, since this is seen as a "new" program, and has to be explicitly set for the new one. EDIT: Here are some directions: http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19474269.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcaffee Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Here you go... http://www.amazon.com/G750JS-DS71-17-3-inch-Gaming-GeForce-Graphics/dp/B00IEV85OU/ref=pd_cp_pc_0 A sidebar; The ASUS ROG 750 series (NVidia GTX 860 and >) have mini display port v1.2, make sure you get equally capable monitors, else you get stuck using HDMI and VGA (A config I use, and it is less than color match friendly) jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Yes I also like the ASUS's, they make the motherboards on most computers these days, how can you go wrong. They also have interchangeable video card capabilities. Jon Would you like to buy me a dual 8 core Xeons, I know up there in Washington, you guys like Bill Gates live up there. Say hi to cousin Bill for me. I was just born there and for some reason my parents left when I was 1. I like cooler and rainier weather. Should have been adopted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchenlifestyle Posted August 16, 2014 Author Share Posted August 16, 2014 Great tip, Jon. I opened catalyst pro and found that under power, there is no tab for switchable graphics, which leads me to believe it is automatic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcaffee Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 VA not WA Brudda. Notice I'm using 3yo tech, and I won't be upgrading until at least spring of next year. jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRAWZILLA Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 ok, I'm an idiot, need glasses badly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kbird1 Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Try playing with the Graphics options in the Render Tab , turn off shadows in preview, try software edge smoothing = 0 , soft shadows ,horizon lines, enhanced lighting in General , try the aggressive cache flushing , may or may not help the crashes on older cards apparently. can't hurt to try a few options out till you buy new.... M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xterix Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 La PC q tie es esta so radar para lo q te exige chief architect te recommends: 1- respaldar todos tus archives en un external disco 2- formate a tu pc al estado initial de cual do fue comprada, Clark que todos los soft wares q tu instalastes seran borrados por lo cual tendras q reinstalarlos junto a chief x6, pero tu PC funcion area como nun a Con f8 o f11 puedes hacer esto, depende del fabricante de cadaver pc Suerte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xterix Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 La PC q tienes es mas que sufficiently para lo q te exige chief architect te recommends: 1- respaldar todos tus archives en un external disco 2- formate a tu pc al estado initial de cual do fue comprada, Claro que todos los softwares q tu instalastes seran borrados por lo cual tendras q reinstalarlos junto a chief x6, pero tu PC funcionara como nunca Restar PC y Con F8 o F11 apretando puedes hacer esto, depende del fabricante para la tesla En hp y ttoshiba es F11 A hora te recommends una ttoshiba osmio Suerte Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcaffee Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 xterix, a re-format and re-install takes time... lots of time. And then you're left with "like new" old technology. What's the point? Buy a new machine, install your software, create a mountable ISO image of your old drive (incase there's stuff, and there's always stuff), test your old hdd/ISO disk mount on new machine, use CCleaner to wipe your old system, then re-install OS from the OS partition, donate to a worthy charity. Enjoy new tech on new machine. So simple. jon... wishing it were that simple Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xterix Posted August 17, 2014 Share Posted August 17, 2014 No existe software en el mercado q te limpie full tu PC y ponerla como nueva. The point es q la machine q tiene es sufficient para x6 so if she want quiere una new PC Then go buy it Eso es todo Some times, menos = more Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy1 Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Tommy Blair recently purchased an new HP laptop. You might find that thread and see what he purchased. I am sure Tommy would be more than happy to answer your questions about his purchase and VC if you gave him a call. The only problem I have had with my laptop is doing some exterior elevations (vector views) when using the Nvidia card only. No problems with interior elevation or renders of any kind. I'm having the problem with X5 as well as X6. This laptop has Windows 8.1 installed. I'm beginning to believe that it's a Windows 8 problem. I didn't have this problem on the other laptop that had Windows 7. HOWEVER, all my problems go away for the exterior elevations if I let the computer decide which graphics to use. By default it used the video chipset unless you change it to only use the graphics card. I tried all kinds of ways to fix it but this one is the only one that keeps the laptop from freezing doing exterior elevations. I was starting to get a little nervous about completing layouts due to the elevation problem but now I'm fine. I still can't figure this problem out. Some elevations that are fairly detailed go just fine and some that are simple freeze the laptop. It's not because of a symbol or millwork that I'm using. For now, I'm going to let the computer decide the graphics because my problem is solved. This apparently is a vector issue only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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