P.R.S. Sivakumar . Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Hello everybody I have just cross-upgraded my AutoCAD 2013 to Autodesk Building Design Suite Premium. I upgraded as I got a very special offer at a very low price. My interests in this suite is mainly focused on 3ds Max Design 2013 & Revit 2013, aside from the primary AutoCAD 2013. The product is on the way. What I want to know is whether my computer will handle these 3ds Max Design 2013 & Revit 2013. I do not have heavy use for these. As for 3ds Max I shall be doig occassional renderings with model done in autoCAD. As for Revit I want learn this slowly at my own pace - (India has not yet caught up fully in BIM - which is a pity). When India really catches up BIM I should be ready to adopt it with Revit. My computer is an Intel Core i3 3.3 GHZ with 3 GB RAM and an Nvidia low-end GeForce Graphics card. The OS is Windows XP Professional XP SP3 - 32 bit. AutoCAD 2013 runs quite well and also handles my 3d Modeling well. Is this computer alright for the Building Design suite for light use? Or is it going to limp even for small file sizes (or say small buildings) For learning Revit, is it sufficient? (I know it has the minimum recommended requirements by Autodesk, but I would like to know the actual reality). Thanks in advance PRSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Matthews Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 In reality, it should be fine for learning Revit and working on small 3D Max scenes. You will run into bottlenecks when working on larger scenes in 3D Max and any project model in Revit. Are you running 64bit or 32bit OS? If you are running 64bit, then pick up 8GB of RAM since it is cheap. If you are running 32bit, then you will need to upgrade to 64bit OS and add RAM. So what would be a $100 upgrade would turn into a $200+ upgrade. I need to see which video card you are running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 As well described by Jason, your computer will run the suite. I have worked with Revit 2011/2012 even on C2D and 1st gen i7 laptops, and its "ok" for small stuff. That said, even much faster systems than your's will have issues with detailed, fully fledged BIM models and Revit. I am regularly working on large scale projects (university and healthcare buildings, usually multiple 1000s sq. meters) and Revit often chokes our Xeon/Quadro workstations to near death. Totally agree with Jason that you don't need to worry about extra RAM unless you plan on switching to 64bit OS. Your PC came with 3GBs - weird number you would think - as a 32bit Win OS won't be able to utilize even 4GBs. You need a 64bit Win OS to do that. DDR3 (I assume your i3 is using DDR3?) is dirt cheap. If you can afford the OS, you can def afford the RAM. Be careful tho, if you opt for a Win 7 64 Home edition, don't even consider getting more than 16GBs of ram - it is capped at 16GB to push you into Pro or Ultimate versions if you want more than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.R.S. Sivakumar . Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 Thanks Jason and Dimitris for you replies. It is heartening to know that the package will run on my computer for small projects and for REVIT learning. My RAM is DDR3 2 x 2 GB. But XP will recognize only 3 GB - hence I had said that. As for OS I actually bought Windows 7 Professional whit the type of license that allows me to downgrade to XP. At any time I can switch over to Windows 7 Professional 64 bit at no cost. I have been given activation codes for Windows 7 professional 32 & 64 bit. Okay. If I switched over to Win 7 Pro 64 bit, how much RAM would you recommend? My graphics card is Nvidia GeForce ASUS GT 440 with 1 GB GDDR5 RAM. Not a great performer for CAD but enough for my SketchUP models. I do not know if it is any good at all for REVIT & 3ds Max Design. Again I am asking for small projects only and for learning REVIT. Sorry for the belated reply. I was in a remote place for a few days where I could not access internet. Waiting for reply With best regards PRSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 (edited) For learning, even the 4GB could work...in my workflow Revit is one of the very few programs that do get more than 8GB actual RAM usage but I work on above average in size buildings. If you will start producing really complex drawings, it is down to your budget and base system. DDR3 RAM is cheap by comparison, at least in Europe / US, where 2x 8GB DDR3 1333 (which is fine speedwise), can be found for $60-65 nowadays. Keep in mind that your motherboard/CPU combo might be capped to 8GB - rare, but could be. Just make sure you figure out that you can use 16 before buying. Another option - given you have 4x dimm slots and you can do more than 8GB, is to get 2x4GB sticks or even 2x8GB while keeping your current 2x2, for a total of 12GB or 20GB respectively. Keep in mind that for more than 16GB you need to opt for a Pro/Ultimate version of windows, but I doubt it will be necessary. 12GB or 16GB should be more than enough. The GPU should hold up fine for some time. I know ppl that have been working those programs on laptops with similar or worse performing GPUs for quite some time. It is not "enjoyable", but after a while nothing is - we always ask for more. Edited October 2, 2012 by dtolios Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.R.S. Sivakumar . Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 Thank you very much. Your info is very useful to me. With best regards PRSS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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