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Dual Processing capabilities for the mac


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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

quote:

Originally posted by aminoNYC:

Does Vectorworks and Renderworks utilize the dual processors for the macintosh - similar to how Adobe's Photoshop and After Effects do?

Check the various other dual processor topics in this forum. The short answer is no, although it's possible Apple may take advantage of dual processors in their OpenGL library which could speed up some rendering.

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Andrew Bell

andrewb@nemetschek.net

I am not an official spokesperson for NNA

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  • 1 month later...

Hi,

It is a shame that Apple build Dual processor Macs but that programs like Vectorworks do not use it. On my work we have a Dual processor Siemens Celsius workstation (2 x Pentium III /1Ghz). In a recent test among workstations, it was the fastest. And when I compare it to the Macs my collegues use (G4 dual processor 450 - G4 single processor 733), the Celsius is more than twice as fast (sorry Apple despite your speed figures which are based on processor speeds, real life computing shows very different results).

What use is the kind of dual processor Macs when most programs only use one processor? Programs as VectorWorks should use both processors to speed things up.

Despite Apple claims that the Macintosh is a graphic machine, for programs as VectorWorks you can best use PC workstations. They are much faster, far more reliable (the Celsius workstation never crashes, while the Macs do at least 3 times a day) and they fall into the same price category high end Macs do and at last, there are a lot more people who can help you if you have problems.

To end this letter, I work on both PC and Macintosh. And I like both computer systems very much. It was not my intention to discuss here which system is best. But in my opinion, every program should take advantage of the dual processors on the operating system level. It is very pitty that Apple relies on software developers to make use of the second processor. In that way development costs are raised for the developers while it keeps Apples costs and efforts down.

So the question we have to ask ourselves is the following : Do we like to accept the higher development cost for a dual processor version of VectorWorks? Because Vectorworks is a great program (in my personal opinion) my definite answer is YES!!! So I hope to see in the future a dual processor version of VectorWorks. In the meantime, keep up with the good work and use your creativity to make your work standout of the crowd.

Have very much VectorWorks fun!

Friendly greetings,

StarGate

(Vectorworks freak since 1994).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello,

Indeed Mac OS X has dual processor capabilities, only one hitch; to make use of the second processor, programs has to be rewritten. If not, they only use one processor. However Mac OS X will use those two processor so your operating systems taks are faster.

Let us hope that Nemetschek will develop a multi processor VectorWorks.

Friendly greetings,

StarGate

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

quote:

Originally posted by StarGate:It is very pitty that Apple relies on software developers to make use of the second processor.

There is no alternative. Programs are sequences of instructions, where certain instructions must be performed before others for correct results. Progress in analyzing code to identify and restructure parallelizeable sections would probably earn you a Ph.D. at a major university.

quote:

So the question we have to ask ourselves is the following : Do we like to accept the higher development cost for a dual processor version of VectorWorks?

I suspect if you called Rich or Sean with $500,000 cash in hand and told them you wanted multiprocessor support, they'd express interest in your proposal...

------------------

Andrew Bell

andrewb@nemetschek.net

I am not an official spokesperson for NNA

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  • 3 weeks later...

Multiprocessing with VectorWorks has been discussed in the Architosh interview with Sean. See this site for a reference link as well.

Apple's biggest problem is getting faster single processor machines. While certainly MP Macs are clearly the way to go with OS X and beyond, for some developers it might not make much sense to thread their apps just for this smaller market of OS X users.

It looks like 2002 and 2003 may be the catching up years for PowerPC. The G5 appears to be sampling successfully at 1.6GHz. And on the Wintel side Intel and AMD are now beginning MegaHertz Myth Talk too.

It doesn't make much sense for Intel to push Pentiums to 3GHz when they are trying to sell much more expensive 64-bit Itaniums at just under 1 GHz. Even the informed IT manager will get currious about the advantages of Itanium in workstations if Pentiums outpace them MHz -wise so much.

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