Tobias Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 I'm considering buying a new macpro and retiring my 6+ year old G4, and trying to weigh my options. I'm currently using VW2008 Architect w/ Renderworks. Does VW or RW take advantage of multiple cores (multithreading)? Would there be an advantage to the GeForce 8800 GT (512mb) vid card over a ATI Radeon HT 2600 XT(256mb) card? I could get the 4 core, base graphic card, or spend more and get an 8-core with an upgraded card, but don't see the point if I'm not going to use the extra oomph...? Quote Link to comment
Ray Libby Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 VectorWorks is not optimized for multiple processors, but depending on how many other applications you keep open at the same time it can make a difference. Renderworks is optimized for multiple processors so if you do a lot of rendering it can have a big impact on speed. OpenGL is the only part of VW that uses the video card, so if you do a lot of OpenGL rendering maybe the better video card would be worth the investment. It's really hard to tell as computer components advance so fast who can keep up... The old adage of buy as much as you can afford still holds true. Good luck! Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Let's take this backwards. You have a 6+ year old machine, that tells me you are frugal and don't upgrade very often. Therefore, my suggestion would be go to for the fastest machine you can. Even if what you want to use does not use 8 cores today, in 6 years it will probably we wanting 64 cores. The video card really only makes a difference for OpenGL rendering. Unless you are planning to do OpenGL walkthroughs on multiple 30 inch monitors, then any of the mid range ($100-300) cards are probably fine. You don't need a super high end card to do VectorWorks. RenderWorks is currently multithreaded. You can watch the multiple sections of the screen update as the render takes place. VectorWorks is not MultiThreaded in V2008. But some routines may be in the future. HTH Pat Quote Link to comment
Tobias Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Thanks for the info. I guess buying the best system I can stomach is good advice. If I do that it may pay off by being a more viable machine for a longer stretch. Would manipulating a model rendered in Open GL or wireframe would be smother/faster with a better graphics card? Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Rendered in OpenGL will definitely be better with a better card. At least within reason. I don't know if wireframe would be improved by the graphics card or not. Pat Quote Link to comment
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