VS. 13 on New iMac with Radeon Pro 5700 XT?

RRABuilders

By RRABuilders,
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RRABuilders

RRABuilders

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Time to upgrade from my 3-year old MacBook Pro.  Going back to a desktop with a bit more graphics power.  Looking at a new iMac with a 3.6 GHZ, 10-core I9 processor with the new Radion Pro 5700 XT graphics card.  This is a $4,000 computer, so I want to set it up correctly from the start.

 

Several months ago I was on some online training and heard that VS 13 was able to dramatically reduce rendering times on a PC with the newest graphics cards, but as Apple had not yet released its newest models with upgraded cards, there was no information on how VS would work compared to the PC version.  The Radeon PRO 5700 XT is state of the art.  Anyone have any experience with this setup?   

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Kbird1

Kbird1

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2 hours ago, RRABuilders said:

This is a $4,000 computer, so I want to set it up correctly from the start.

 

That would buy you a Nice high End PC and give you everything you need, but you'd have to comeback to the "Darkside" :) 

 

It really depends if you "need" the new RTRT Views in X13 (for PCs only) or you are fine with a X12 like experience, and can wait for a year (or two?) till Chief finishes the Metal API for the new Astral Lighting Engine, so macs can use the new Camera Views.

 

There was some new Mac News about upcoming Releases earlier today but not to much on MAC GPUs except to say the M1X maybe as fast as a GTX1650 in the new MacBook Pros.

 

M.

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MarkSirianni

MarkSirianni

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Gentlemen,  I'm a mac die hard.  I utilize a 16" MacBook pro, 2.3GHz 8-core Intel i9, 16 GM 2667 MHz DDR4, w. AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 4 GB graphics card.   I have had a rough time with Chief after updating to X13.  Forget about sending renders to the layout and expecting it to print to PDF at all.  It doesn't matter if the renderings are PB, vector or other.  I've resorted to sending to layout as a JPG as a work around.  It's a terrible drag on efficiency!  Dealing with changes in the design are a serious PITA.  I wish there had been some warning about saving any current projects in X13 because X12 worked flawlessly.  I could give a hoot about real time ray tracing...  Seems that's the big push in X13 so...  I bought another Mac with the M1 chipset (latest greatest and super expensive).  Couldn't wait to install X13 and see if that would have any impact.  Sadly, no.  I spent 3 days messing about trying to gain back the same functions I had enjoyed for years but to no avail.  I sent it back.  Nigel in support was a bit condescending on 2 occasions as I struggled with the whole "upgrade" and suggested a PC would be a far better choice!  Not cool at all.  I'll switch to another application before I go back to windows issues, crashes, constant updates and clunky user interface.  I will choose to operate in X12 for all new projects.  Hopefully the pain of closing out 4 projects I blindly saved into X13 will soon be completed so I can go back to my ignorant bliss waiting for an update that is tried, true and proven on my chosen platform.  Be warned.  Create duplicate plan and layout files of your projects in process before you commit to the X13 update.  I'll be keenly watching anything with the keywords "Mac, rendering" in the forum for any hopeful news.

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kylejmarsh

kylejmarsh

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Mark I'm sorry to hear about it.

 

I personally have had a great experience with X13 on my mac mini - it runs much smoother than x12 not just in camera views but even floor plan views and layout sheets as well. However check my setup below - I'm running an 8GB Radeon RX 580 which was supposed to be pretty good/stable when I got it. It didn't do anything for X12 because it didn't use the GPU at all. But X13 seems to make pretty good utilization of the graphics card I can fire up the monitor and see it's working pretty hard.

 

I have noticed occasional crashes and I'd say maybe every other day or so. Hoping this new update will have some effect.

 

Anyway I do really like the exterior gpu running over thunberbolt (lightning? whatever the new cord is) except when I kick the cord by accident and it crashes. But the Mini + graphics card seemed the best way to do a cheap 'custom' mac without having to get the imac or the really expensive mac pro. Plus I can get other egpus or exterior hard drives and with the new cord it's like having them plugged right into the board on a tower.

 

My 2¢

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Chrisb222

Chrisb222

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On 9/13/2021 at 8:31 PM, Kbird1 said:

That would buy you a Nice high End PC and give you everything you need, but you'd have to comeback to the "Darkside"

 

Darkside is right. Every time the features of X13 tempt me to switch to a PC desktop (I'm no tech novice and run CA remotely on a PC laptop) I read threads here about people having issues with video drivers, storage, and all kinds of PC problems that simply don't happen on Macs. I've watched this since I started using Macs in 1988 and my brother chose the PC route. I don't think it's nearly as bad now but he was constantly having patch, driver, and OS issues while my Macs always just... worked.

 

 

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Chrisb222

Chrisb222

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12 hours ago, kylejmarsh said:

Mark I'm sorry to hear about it.

 

I personally have had a great experience with X13 on my mac mini - it runs much smoother than x12 not just in camera views but even floor plan views and layout sheets as well. However check my setup below - I'm running an 8GB Radeon RX 580 which was supposed to be pretty good/stable when I got it. It didn't do anything for X12 because it didn't use the GPU at all. But X13 seems to make pretty good utilization of the graphics card I can fire up the monitor and see it's working pretty hard.

 

I have noticed occasional crashes and I'd say maybe every other day or so. Hoping this new update will have some effect.

 

Anyway I do really like the exterior gpu running over thunberbolt (lightning? whatever the new cord is) except when I kick the cord by accident and it crashes. But the Mini + graphics card seemed the best way to do a cheap 'custom' mac without having to get the imac or the really expensive mac pro. Plus I can get other egpus or exterior hard drives and with the new cord it's like having them plugged right into the board on a tower.

 

My 2¢

 

Kyle, thanks for this information. I'm always watching for news and feedback re: Mac + X13. My SSA is up to date but I still haven't downloaded X13 yet as I just didn't think it would run on my system. I don't have an egpu but have looked into it in the past, now you have me thinking that will work as I had intended to get an M1 Mini this year, just wasn't sure what to expect.

 

I would sure like to hear more about your experiences, what model of Mini you have, OS version (I assume Big Sur) and similar information from anyone else using X13 on the Mac.

 

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Dermot

Dermot

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We recently released an update (23.2.1.3) that should correct some very serious problems that were occurring on macs. If you are using a mac, you should download and install this update.

 

You can find the instructions for downloading and installing it along with the update notes by using the Help>Download Program Updates tool from within the program.

 

If you are still seeing problems after installing the update, then please contact our technical support team for further assistance:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/

 

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ValleyGuy

ValleyGuy

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I bought a new iMac 27" last Christmas with all the bells and whistles (unless you work solely in a non-window environment, the upgraded screen is well worth the investment). I also love the all in one portability. As for CA X13, one thing for sure is that if I didn't start out on the X12, and started out on X13 instead, well... I probably would be using different software. X13 has renderings that are, as one client put it "... rival my kids colouring book!" No crisp clean lines, textures or shadows as in X12, even the non-adjustable pictures are somewhat blurry (the pictures of library items, or the thumbnail pics when I open objects - even the words 'Interior' and 'Exterior'!).  Crashes are a far too often occurrence. As for the Radeon Pro 5700XT, it does not support ray trace. It handles the regular 3D with ease. The SSD helps the fan to run at a non-existent level with fan noise only at a minimum under heavy 3D usage. The 27" screen has pretty good real estate for screen splitting with the library open as well. Apple's mouse should stay in the box. The glass top mouse isn't user friendly for this kind of program. I bought a thumb roller type from Logitech that has multiple programmable button, I like it a lot.  

 

 The latest CA update hasn't done anything as far as I can tell to improve the graphics. Customer support doesn't give a timeline when this will be fixed. However, they offered suggestions how to "help" with the renderings in the interim. 

 

Bottom line, I love the computer but if you can hold out for a bit to get the new OS, I agree with Steve, I would wait.

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