video cards

Could use some simple info on video cards. I hear a lot of talk about the adequacy of video cards and have no idea what that means. I've owned two computers and have drawn successfully but, would like to know what happens when a video card is greatly or slightly inadequate. Maybe mine is, and I've simply come to accept it's deficiencies, since I've never seen an excellent card in action. Examples, please but, in plain terms.

My computer usage is 70% CAD and 30% online research / email. I do professional architectural work in Autocad 2006 LT and am learning Revit, Sketchup and Solidworks. My computer knowledge is 3 on a scale of 10.

I have a one year old refurbished HP xw 4400 workstation with the following:

ATI FireGL V3350 [Display adapter]

KDS ion VS-21e [Monitor] (19.7"vis, s/n 1292043691, December 1999) set to 1024x768

2.13 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo

160.02 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity

Slot 'XMM1' has 2048 MB

Slot 'XMM2' has 512 MB

Slot 'XMM3' has 2048 MB

Slot 'XMM4' has 512 MB

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3

The only "problem" I'm aware of is occasional frozen screen crashes, when online but, I rarely crash while drawing.

Tim

If a video card is underpowered then it is most likely to show up when working with very large drawings and/or with 3D objects.

How much vidRAM on your card?

Are those RAM capacities correct? 5 is an odd number. What is the max for your system board? What mobo are you using?

ReMark,

What will it look like when it is underpowered? I'm saying I don't know.

As for your other questions, I'm not educated enough to find those answers for you. Don't know what mobo is (is it mother board?) or where to find the system board max, or where to find vidRam on card. Happy to look, if you tell me where.

As for the 5 gigs RAM and system board , here's what my Belarc assessment says:

3328 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'XMM1' has 2048 MB (serial number 0AF020E0)

Slot 'XMM2' has 512 MB (serial number 74B711E1)

Slot 'XMM3' has 2048 MB (serial number 0BF020E0)

Slot 'XMM4' has 512 MB (serial number 73B711E1)

Board: Hewlett-Packard 0A68h

Serial Number: USH80700P5

Bus Clock: 1066 megahertz

BIOS: Hewlett-Packard 786D7 v02.03 04/04/2006

Let me know what I can find. Maybe the place to start is, "do I need a better graphics card?". Give me a clue what I will see if my card is underpowered.

Thanks,

Tim

If your video card is not up to the job you may find yourself, for example, having trouble moving, rotating, copying large blocks of objects. The computer may seem to pause, or the response become sluggish. Working with 3D objects you might see, in 3D hidden or realistic views, portions of your drawing actually missing as the card cannot process all the information. Response times for moving objects may be hampered.

Mobo is motherboard.

The max amount of system RAM is usually listed in your motherboard specs. If you have no manual for the board or the system as a whole you need the make/model number/manufacturer info. With this you should be able to go online and get the pertinent specs.

A search of the Internet, specifically the graphics card manufacturer's website, will provide you with the specs. VidRAM might be, for example, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and beyond for high end cards.

Do you have a HP xw4400 Workstation? If so, here are the specs:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06a/12454-12454-296719-307907-296721-3211220.html

It says the system board max memory is 8GB. Not MB. GB (as in Gigabyte)! There is a big difference.

Maybe you are running 5GB? I didn't think XP Pro recognized more than 4GB and that is with the 3GB/switch setting being set in the Boot.ini file. Did somebody tweak this machine?

The ATI FireGL 3350 is a 256MB entry level graphics card suitable for CAD work. Here is some info:

http://ati.amd.com/Products/fireglv3350/index.html

My home system uses an old AGP card with 128MB vidRAM. My work system (newer) uses a PCIe 768MB graphics card. There is a very noticeable difference between the two when working with complex 3D drawings. Some drawings I have to freeze every layer but the one I am working on (this is the home computer) and I do not dare to view anything in Realistic visual style without knowing it's going to take awhile to do so. I've almost taken up smoking to have something to do while I wait for things to happen!

The ATI FireGL 3350 is a 256MB entry level graphics card suitable for CAD work. Here is some info:

 

http://ati.amd.com/Products/fireglv3350/index.html

 

My home system uses an old AGP card with 128MB vidRAM. My work system (newer) uses a PCIe 768MB graphics card. There is a very noticeable difference between the two when working with complex 3D drawings. Some drawings I have to freeze every layer but the one I am working on (this is the home computer) and I do not dare to view anything in Realistic visual style without knowing it's going to take awhile to do so. I've almost taken up smoking to have something to do while I wait for things to happen!

Thank you for the info, ReMark. I haven't noticed any of the symptoms you describe on my machine but, I'm very early into 3D. I don't think anything I've done would tax a card (two story house interior/exterior on Sketchup). Nothing like a complicated, rendered assembly drawn on Solidworks.

Maybe your question about the actual RAM is answered by the fact, when I look at the Belarc survey for my unit, it says I only have 3328 MB of installed memory (see above). I always thought I had 5 GB.

My previous comp. was underpowered in the sense you describe and during the long pauses my vice of choice was/is coffee. That reminds me.

Tim

Older computers usually had memory in the MB range. Newer computers running Windows XP I think would normally have 1 or 2GB.

Do this. Click on Start, Control Panel and find System. Right click on it and select Open. When the System Properties window comes up you should be on the General tab. With me so far? Good. At the very bottom, under the heading "Computer" tell me exactly what the two lines read. I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Personally I have to agree with you. Nothing you are currently doing would or should put a strain on your system as configured. Just because a card is called "entry level" doesn't mean it is necessarily a "dog".

Older computers usually had memory in the MB range. Newer computers running Windows XP I think would normally have 1 or 2GB.

 

Do this. Click on Start, Control Panel and find System. Right click on it and select Open. When the System Properties window comes up you should be on the General tab. With me so far? Good. At the very bottom, under the heading "Computer" tell me exactly what the two lines read. I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

 

Personally I have to agree with you. Nothing you are currently doing would or should put a strain on your system as configured. Just because a card is called "entry level" doesn't mean it is necessarily a "dog".

ReMark,

On the General tab it says:

Hewlett Packard

HP xw4400 Workstation

Intel® Core™2 CPU

6420 @ 2.13GHz

2.13 GHz, 3.25 GB of RAM

Physical Address Extension

Tim

Thank you for the info Tim. I kind of thought you had 3+GB of RAM not 3MB. Makes more sense now.

Do you feel better now? All your questions answered or did we miss something?

Thank you for the info Tim. I kind of thought you had 3+GB of RAM not 3MB. Makes more sense now.

 

Do you feel better now? All your questions answered or did we miss something?

I think I missed something, oh glistening one. Where did I say 3 MB of RAM? My first post says 5 gigs but, I may have stumbled later.

You have been most generous with your wisdom. Some day I'll be able to talk that techno trash and understand you guys. I'm learning.

Tim

If you want to learn, don't take a computer operating class, take a computer history course. Basically look back through the development of the main systems, take one item (i.e. a hard drive) and do a search on it (i.e. google Hard+Drive+History), also Wikipedia can be your friend here.

Once you understand how these parts developed, and how they work, you'll begin to understand why they might stop working. Similarly, you will gain insight into how relevant different facets of your PC are to the work you typically do, enabling yourself to customize your computer to your needs. That is why when I sold computers, most of the conversation consisted of me asking about them, not their computer.

I've read the books (PC Repair), and the magazines (PC World and Smart Computing), took a 2-day course (PC repair and maintenance), built a couple of computers, and rebuilt (upgraded) a few more. All in all it was a worthwhile experience. I try to keep current but things change so rapidly I sometimes fall behind on the latest technology out there and the pros and cons of each. Had I gotten into computers just a tad earlier I could very well have been one of those computer geeks sequestered in their basement surrounded by an array of equipment, in the dark, with left-over moldy pizza and half-emptied cans of Coke and assorted candy bar wrappers scattered about staring into the abyss of a monster monitor, game pad in hand, half crazed with hunting down some bad asp(sic) aliens in a dungeon somewhere in the outer world colonies. Come to think of it, I just described my current situation. LOL

If you want to learn, don't take a computer operating class, take a computer history course. Basically look back through the development of the main systems, take one item (i.e. a hard drive) and do a search on it (i.e. google Hard+Drive+History), also Wikipedia can be your friend here.

 

Once you understand how these parts developed, and how they work, you'll begin to understand why they might stop working. Similarly, you will gain insight into how relevant different facets of your PC are to the work you typically do, enabling yourself to customize your computer to your needs. That is why when I sold computers, most of the conversation consisted of me asking about them, not their computer.

Maxwell/Edison,

You bring up one of my favorite criticisms of the comp. world. On someone's suggestion earlier in the week, I visited Wiki to read up on Open GL, another term unknown to me. Unfortunately Wiki explains that unfamiliar term using other unfamiliar terms (the terms aren't ever intuitive). Comp. world seems very verbally incestuous.

Another term I have for it is the "teacher disease", because so many teachers lose touch with the fact the people in their classes are in their classes, because they don't know the material.

In the mean time I'm plugging along, doing my best to keep up and asking questions.

Thanks for the good words,

Tim

I've read the books (PC Repair), and the magazines (PC World and Smart Computing), took a 2-day course (PC repair and maintenance), built a couple of computers, and rebuilt (upgraded) a few more. All in all it was a worthwhile experience. I try to keep current but things change so rapidly I sometimes fall behind on the latest technology out there and the pros and cons of each. Had I gotten into computers just a tad earlier I could very well have been one of those computer geeks sequestered in their basement surrounded by an array of equipment, in the dark, with left-over moldy pizza and half-emptied cans of Coke and assorted candy bar wrappers scattered about staring into the abyss of a monster monitor, game pad in hand, half crazed with hunting down some bad asp(sic) aliens in a dungeon somewhere in the outer world colonies. Come to think of it, I just described my current situation. LOL

Did you say pizza! What do they charge for exta mold?.