Hi,

Anyone running any of the concepts modelers on win xp-64x ?

I always got an error when trying to run any of the demos or full version of ViaCad.

Something like - Microsoft visual c++ runtime error, the application caused runtime to close in as unusual way.

Don't remember the exact wording, i've since reverted to 32bit - just to run
viacad, so if there's some way to get the app working please let me know, thanks.

Reuben

I have no problem with drivers etc.

I'm running a dual xeon 64 bit system so it make sense to run a 64 bit os, any 32bit app or os has be run in "emulation mode", 64 bit handles much larger amounts of data and can support much more memory which is what i need.

I'm not asking for a 64 bit version of Concepts, only that app can be used on a 64bit system, i use various modelers and 3d apps without problem.

I don't think the 64 bit version of XP is slower by any means, faster in fact, can't speak for Vista though, i expect its dependent on system and configuration.

Regards

Reuben

The advantage to a 64-bit architecture is that you can address more than 4GB of memory. A 32-bit CPU (and operating system) cannot address that much memory. So if you need lots of RAM, a 64-bit machine is the way to go. There are also advantages when working with large numbers; on 32-bit machines, some large numbers are broken up and stored in two 32-bit registers, whereas those same numbers would only require one 64-bit register on a 64-bit CPU.

32-bit compatibility mode is accomplished atrociously poorly in Windows XP64. The OS itself isn't even XP, it is derived from Windows Server 2003. Running non-native binaries is a crapshoot on XP64, sometimes it will work, sometimes it won't. If instructions are called that the hardware or OS don't implement the way the program expects, you will get to watch your program crash. Sun figured this problem and worked out 32/64 bit binary compatibility on Solaris ages ago, Microsoft should have learned some lessons from them.

I have one XP64 workstation and it is so troublesome that I'm going to reformat it, dig up an XP32 license and install that instead. The machine only has 2GB of RAM, so there's no loss.

If the 64-bit Windows issues are fixed in CUv5 though before I reinstall the XP64 box with XP32, I will be very happy.

Ok so its working on XP64x, but i'm having a problem with screen redraws, its down to about 5fps in some cases !

Don't know if this is due to running in compatability mode or whether trying different video drivers will do any good, any ideas anyone ?

BTW, just got Concepts 3D too.... :)

Reuben

Slower running on the exact same hardware ?

The card i'm using is a Gainward GeForce 7800GS+, based on the 7900 chip with 512mb onboard ram, the fastest AGP card made apparently.

Reuben

Yes i tried the latest driver and also some older ones, the redraw rate was so bad i gave up and reverted back to XP32 bit.

Even on 32 bit the performance is not much better though, but at least i can have a shaded dynamic view, whereas before i had to set the dynamic view to wireframe... i have to say that even the now-discontinued and very old ElectricImage modeler or EIM (which was ASIC based btw) has a much better screen redraw rate.

What is the problem with concepts, would it run better with "pro" hardware ? Nvidia quadro etc ?

yes, not uncommon, we had this already too with a notebook (Quadro FX Go), seems that current drivers are optimized for recent models only sothat the latest main version of the driver released not very long after the card is sometimes a good choice for avoiding these issues.

I would also install the latest Intel chipset driver for your mainboard which may have an influence on the speed of the AGP slot too:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/


Norbert