ThinkStation

[#1]

Hello all,

I have an s10 6 megs of ram  a Quadro FX 370 video card and a Quad core CPU Q6600 @2.4Ghz,

I run Vista home premium 64 bit, this is my home workstation. I am an animator and I use 3ds Max, my system at work is a Dell Optiplex 550 with a core 2 duo E6550 @ 2.33Ghz with 4 megs of ram and a Radeon X700 pro video card.

When I am working on my home system with 3dsMax it really struggles; it's sluggish it takes at least a minute to refresh after doing a small 512 x 512 render , my render times are if anything slower or the same

even though I've got a quad core at home and more memory. I've repeatedly scanned for viruses, malware etc.. The system comes up clean eveytime, I've uploaded the latest drivers for videocard - still no go.

My questions are these; With a quad core CPU and more memory shouldn't this system be faster than the one at work? If I want to upgrade my processor where can I take it ? Has any body else had this problem with 3ds Max 2009 64 bit and the s10. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[#2]

welcome to the forum!

while rendering, is your entire system sluggish or just 3dsmax?   i ask because i have a feeling you're being limited by the FX 370 and not your processor and memory.   in fact, there's really no reason why you'd be limited by either of these.   it's most likely the GPU.

if you can borrow the radeon X700 from work overnight and try it on your home system, this will tell you whether or not you need a better GPU.

fwfw, i have an FX 370 collecting dust up in the attic.   it was sluggish in photoshop working with 2D images and solidworks 2008 working in 3D.

[#3]

Hello Erik,

When rendering it seems to be just 3d studio Max that is sluggish, I began thinking about this problem and when I would render some things which Maya I'd get a " Fatal error " message and the program would shut down!

What video card would you suggest starting from a step up from the 370?  On a completely different topic how do you get the middle button mouse to work in Maya? I've set the middle button with the scroll wheel to function as the middle button, but to no avail.

Thanks 

[#4]

if your system is still slow when using your card from work then let's explore some other options.

- what OS are you using on each system?

- are you using a pre-load or clean installation of the OS on your S10?

- what hard drive(s) and types are you using on each system?

- what other system-level applications are you running on each system?

  (this would include backup software, antivirus/malware software, thinkvantage applications, etc.)

regarding a step up from the FX 370, the answer would really depend on your budget.   the lowest cards i personally recommend for heavy 3D work (especially in maya) would be the FX 1800, FX 3700, or FX 3800.   if you really need more rendering power then the FX 4800 or FX 5800 would be a step up from those.   the best value right now is the FX 1800 though with the FX 3800 coming in a close second if you can afford it.

regarding the 3rd button in maya, what mouse do you have?

on a side note, i removed your new thread to keep from splintering the discussion.   the question you asked in it was basically the same as what's in this one.

[#5]

Hello Erik,

Home system( s10 ) ;

OS: Vista home premium Bit sp2, clean install

Hard Drive: SBB 250 GB 7200 rpm SATA

Apps: 3DS Max 2009 Bit , Maya 2009 64 bit, Adobe Photoshop ,Illustrator, After Effects, SoundBooth,Premiere,Dreamscape,V-ray,Roxio Easy CD-DVD,Vue Xtreme7.5,Norton Internet Security , Spybot Search and Destroy, Thinkvantadge Client Security, Thinkvantage updater. Zuma, Chuzzle, Punch Home Design Suite, Mega Uploader, VLC Media Player, Terragen2

Mouse: Scrollpoint optical mouse

Work system: OS: Vista Business 64 bit sp2, clean install 

Hard Drive:Western Digital 800JD - 75MSA3 ATA. Apps: The same except for :Maya 2009, VueXtreme7.5,Thinkvantadge Software, Punch Home Design Suite and Mega Uploader.

[#6]

nothing on your list jumps out as conflicting with 3dsmax.   the best way to test it being a processor/hardware issue would be to get a hold of a blank hard drive and install just the OS and 3dsmax.

make sure you're running the latest driver for the FX 370.   it can be downloaded here.

if i think of anything else, i'll let you know.

[#7]

Hello Erik, Have to save for a hard drive, but in the meantime I've cleaned up my existing harddrive,upgraded some hardware drivers, used ccleaner, defragged the system and performance has gotten a little better. Was not able to upgrade drive on mouse no matter what I've tried. Thanks, skyhy2  

[#8]

---

skyhy2 wrote:

Zuma, Chuzzle

---

Zuma's Revenge?  No PvZ?

[#9]

Hello Janet,

Perhaps this is Zuma's revenge!.... What's PzV ?  Anyway, I'm running a Thinkstation s10 6423, 6gb ram, Intel Quad Q6600 2.44Ghz. CPU, Vista home premium 64bit OS, Nvidia Quadro Fx 370 video card. I've spoken with Erik on this problem and he gave me some good advice ( By the way, Thanks Erik !) it's looking like it's more and more like a video card issue. So I'd like to upgrade to a Quadro FX 1800 but in talking to the tech support guy at Lenovo he told me that the s10 doesn't support the FX1800, Should I give it a try anyway?

Thanks,

Skyhy2     

[#10]

the FX 1800 should work just fine in an S10.   graphics cards only rely on specific socket requirements, not on the specific hardware surrounding them (except for power supplies, of course).   if it helps, i've had an FX 4800 in my D10 for nearly a year even though the D10 was never certified to be used with one.

(btw, i have no idea what chuzzle, zuma, or PzV are.   i'm headed to google after this post. )