Whats faster fx53, P4 3.6 or two 244's? also does ECC prevent crashes?

[scottpeach]

I currently run 2002 on xp sp2 and an Athlon 3200 on an A7N8x dlx with 1.5g of 2-2-2-5 ram. I am currently using a MatroxP750 vcard, but either will take from my home comp a vanilla nVidia 6800, or just buy a new 6800 ultra. Not that it's that relevant, but the rest of the specs are another 128mb ATI9200 pci vcard (I run 4 monitors) 2 36g raptors in raid 0, and a 16x burner all in a beautiful Antec P160 case.

I generally work with very intense/large 2d drawings architectural and engineering drawings. Usually there are a dozen or so paperspace tabs/sheets with avg 3-4 viewports each, and 10,000 - 30,000 objects in modelspace. Currently regens, tabs swaps, printing, etc. takes too much time ~5-20 secs. When I was used to really slow, this seemed fast. But now, when I am going, for example, from page to page to page making subtle last minute fixes, I am consistently waiting on the computer (and usually I'm in a hurry at this point). So I'm thinking it is time for an upgrade. Hell, I built the meat of this computer 2 years ago.

So the question is, what is better? An Athlon FX-53, an Intel P4 3.6, or a pair of Opterons 244's. Each of these cpu solutions is ~$500.

I am particularly interested in someone who has run AutoCAD with a pair of 244 or better opterons, as that is what I plan to go with right now. I'm really only interested if you have had or know someone who has had direct comparative experience between them.

I also am interested in knowing if anyone has any opinons on whether registered ram helps prevent AutoCAD Crashes. It seems program crashes are here to stay, but I often wonder if it isn't the RAM and if it is, if Error Correction would fix it. This obviously would tie into the system selection decision as the dual opteron uses mobos with registered ram, and the others do not.

Thanks to all!

 

[borgunit]

While not an exact match, we have run AutoCAD on stations with single and dual processors. A dual Xeon 2.6, XGL700 video, and 1Gb RAM and then a single CPU P4 3.0, FX1300 video, and 2GB RAM. I can say that the dual processors only give a slight speed increase and mainly in the area of batch processing and programming. The video cards (while not cutting edge) are the minimum we need to run Unigraphics (they are just fine for AutoCAD though). The RAM at 1GB, I would say should be the minimum for AutoCAD. 2Gb is nice since once in a great while, AutoCAD will have a problem processing a dwg or two. If you run ACAD Mechanical or LDD or ADT, I would definitely get 2Gb RAM. These versions of ACAD are memory hogs. My 2cents

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

 

[borgunit]

Oops, forgot to add that ECC RAM will not make any difference in crashing. ACAD will crash plenty on its own, it can't blame that on bad RAM. You can save ECC for your file server or something more appropriate.

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

 

[cfee]

As far as i'm aware, ACAD has not yet been optimized for multiple processors. I'm not aware however, of enhancements to 2005 that would make this statement no longer accurate, tho. I've encountered RAM seek-time issues for amounts over 2G (probable explanation for ACAD "mystery crashes"). Does ACAD yet make any use of RAM exceeding 1G? As of 2002 the answer is no. By 2004 I'm told that sharing with the O.S. is handled better at 2G, but ACAD itself still doesn't reach above 1G. How about 2005? anyone aware of any pertinent improvements?
Tks-
C. Fee

 

[borgunit]

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/item?siteID=123112&id=2962159&linkID=2475323

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

 

[cfee]

Borhunit-
If you're ever in Houston call me- I'd like to guy you lunch!
Great post! I printed out the link, and plan to use it frequently in conversations on the topic! I frequently attend 1 & 2 day CAD seminars, where these things are debated, often with relatively little certain knowledge on a topic. Usually these conversations take the form of what you can't do with AutoCAD, and how its performance suffers on modern equipment. I love de-bunking such myths, but I try never to comment in areas where my expertise is marginal, hence the questions in MY post. This will be a big help!
Tks-
C. Fee