how many cpu cores in 2D mode does ca use?

[bernie]

Does chief architect x10/x11 use more than 1 core of a 4 or 8 core processor in 2D drawings (e.g. plan view, drawing walls, lines, windows)?

If not, in the near future, is it proposed that it will?

 

thanks,

Bernie

 

[TheKitchenAbode]

CA does take advantage of multiple cores and hyper threading. Best to get as many as you can afford. Even if CA is not taking full advantage those extra cores will help when running other programs when multi-tasking.

[lbuttery]

CA has stated "the more core the merrier"

 

Lew

[Chopsaw]

5 hours ago, TheKitchenAbode said:

CA does take advantage of multiple cores and hyper threading.

 

Has that changed recently Graham ?  My experience with all aspects of Chief with the exception of raytracing has been similar to what Kevin posted just recently.

 

 

I thought that more cores were only suggested if they were not at the expense of processor clock speed.

 

If you push hard enough to put Chief into a state of "not responding" task manager will indicate that only one core is maxed out.

 

Oh hey I just noticed this is in Sales Related Questions so maybe we will get an "Official" answer.

[TheKitchenAbode]

12 hours ago, Chopsaw said:

 

Has that changed recently Graham ?  My experience with all aspects of Chief with the exception of raytracing has been similar to what Kevin posted just recently.

 

 

I thought that more cores were only suggested if they were not at the expense of processor clock speed.

 

If you push hard enough to put Chief into a state of "not responding" task manager will indicate that only one core is maxed out.

 

Oh hey I just noticed this is in Sales Related Questions so maybe we will get an "Official" answer.

 I'm highly confident in my statement. Not all functions in CA are fully optimized but many are. Concerning CPU usage versus GPU, the CPU is always involved in graphics operations so you will always see CPU activity. Keep in mind that mouse commands must be processed by the CPU first, the CPU then has to prepare and send the appropriate commands to the GPU for processing.

 

Not all operations in CA are fully optimized, many are still single threaded. I suspect that as CA moves towards optimization that they first focus on those operations that would most benefit from it and deal with the lesser later on.

[bernie]

My enquiry to chief architect is do they have plans to rewrite the code in the near future (ver x11, ver x12) to use more than 1 cpu core in 2D cad mode?

(my understanding is currently there is only 1 cad program that uses multiple cores in 2D cad mode - archicad, since the code was rewritten, and this is very appealing)

[Dermot]

Since no one from sales has commented, I will give you some of my technical perspective.

 

Chief Architect will take advantage of multiple cores for a wide variety of our internal algorithms which is why a multi-core processor is one of our minimum system requirements.  As a general rule, the more cores you have the better the program will perform.  Processor speed is still an important consideration though and you will not get the same performance using a processor with twice as many cores if it has half the processor speed.

 

Ray tracing and some of the advanced rendering techniques are some of the more important places that we take full advantage or your multiple cores.  Building the 3D model, which happens any time you create or make any changes in any of our camera views, can also use as many cores as you have available.  Many people make the mistake of assuming an elevation view is a 2D CAD view (which might be true in some other programs) but in Chief it is really a camera view and is derived from the same 3D model that every other camera view uses.

 

Displaying a typical plan view may not use all of your cores (although this also depends on what else is going on during the drawing process).  Drawing operations need to happen in a well defined order so it's not something that can easily be split up over all of the different cores and get any kind of performance improvement.  Also, for most users in most situations, displaying plan views is not where you will see any slow downs.  Most of the time the program will be waiting for you to do something rather then you waiting for it to finish drawing.

 

I would worry less about how many cores the program is using and more about whether or not the program is performing to your satisfaction.  If you find a situation where the program does not perform to your expectations, you should report this problem to our technical support team.  You should send them the plan that demonstrates the problem along with a clear and detailed description of exactly what you are doing when you see the problem.  If we can determine when and where these slow downs happen, we can often make significant performance improvements that have nothing to with the number of cores you have.

[Rich_Winsor]

Thanks Dermot. This should be an "official" enough answer for the Chopster.

 

 

[Chopsaw]

19 hours ago, Rich_Winsor said:

Thanks Dermot. This should be an "official" enough answer for the Chopster.

 

Yes thank you Dermot for providing that comprehensive answer.  I was really just trying to help bernie out with his old computer. 

 

However Dermot's answer should help all the rest of us know what to put on our Christmas wish list to run X11 with.