Big DWGs slowing down CAD

[thunderchunkydan]

I allocated 1.5GB min to 3.0GB max to virtual memory and have a decently fast computer (or so I thought). BUT when I open this 64 MB drawing in CAD with about 25 tabs, everything gets really slow. What is 1GB of RAM good for if I can't ust it for large drawings? How can I fix this problem?

Pentium 4 CPU 2.80GHz & 1GB RAM
Running WinXP Pro SP2
74 GB Harddrive half of which is free space
ACAD 2005

 

[borgunit]

A 64 mb drawing is pretty big. Did you have some other setup before, that did better than your present computer?

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." — Will Rogers

 

[thunderchunkydan]

No, we are using drawings that others have started and adding to them. In other words, I wouldn't make a drawing this big, but since it was handed to us, we're stuck with it.

I just don't understand why that slows things down so much when I have a gig of RAM. . . I really need to ask a computer tech guy this question don't I?

 

[CMfgE1]

Sounds like the drawing has a lot of extra baggage. Especially if there are more than a few hands into it. There could be extra layers and such that arent necessary. Try searching through the drawing to see if you can cut it back some. If not I would split the drawing into some sort of logical format.



Good Luck

Quote: "Its not what you know, its who you know" - anybody trying to find a decent job

 

[hendie]

you could try spltting the drawing down ~ maybe a couple of x-ref's ?
or you could try using partial open to open just what you need to work on and see if that makes any difference


http:/

http://www.resourcecad.com

~ for your CAD solutions

 

[borgunit]

Look for "Deleting Layer Filters" and "Deleting empty text strings". These two issues help bring down file size.

"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." — Will Rogers

 

[lpseifert]

Try Options --> System --> Layout Regen Options and making sure "Cache model tab and all layouts" is unchecked.

Acad 2002

 

[paddymac]

64Meg is huge for an Autocad drawing. Even extremely detailed 3D drawings shouldn't be that big (at least 99% of teh time, there's always exceptions)

Purge the hell out of it and delete any stray non referenced objects in the drawing (like blank attributes that have been disasociated with exploded blocks)
Turn on all the layers you need then do this to erase all unreferenced objects. - Erase - All - Deselect all objects on screen (Shift+drag window around all objects).
Also delete all your layer filters except the ones you need.

This should bring the file size down a good bit.

Also the biggest bottleneck in your PC might actually be your graphics card, You need a really good one to handle a 64MB drawing.

What kind of drawing is it & what kind of graphics card have you?, just out of interest.

 

[thunderchunkydan]

Thanks for the tips guys. . . I'll try some out.

Paddymac: The file is a civil drawing with a number of different layouts. These things can get big pretty quickly. The project is to design a reservoir, pump stations, and other water diversion structures etc for a square mile plot of land. We probably have a gigabyte worth of drawings on all of it. One of the drawings got up to over 100MB at one point. . .

Graphics card: generic Intel 82865G Graphics Controller. Max of 64MB of graphics memory.

 

[paddymac]

Thunderchunkydan. I'd suggest upgrading your graphics. Integrated graphics controllers aren't designed for handling drawings of your size. even getting a cheap 128MB graphics card (like a 9800pro or 6200) would make a hugh difference. If you're working on drawings that size on a regular basis, I'd suggest getting a proper AutoCAD tuned card like a Fire GL from ATI or nVidias Quadro Cards.
It shouldn't be to hard to justify the cost to your boss. You might be able to get your IT supplier to loan you a card for trial purposes for a few days to see the difference.