Graphics Card Issues

Just for kicks, try a different video card and/or monitor to see if it
does anything different. Maybe the video card is going bad. Also check
to see if the sync rate of the card is ok with the monitor.

 

hiya

I've tried different monitors, cables, etc.

Seems like there's unfortunately no easy answer to this one, and I'm
just going to have to go through and debug it myself (argh). I'd like
to be able to hand this off to the shop where I bought my computer -
they're pretty good, but experience tells me that I'll probably need to
do it myself anyway.... looks like I'll be having a fun xmas!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions - if anyone else has a quick fix, I'm
all ears!

 

How bout a 20# sledge hammer. That usually fixes most computer related
issues. ;-) And very little troubleshooting involved.

 

Try running a program called file monitor, this may give a clue of what
files are being affected, which in turn will give you a clue.

I had this type of problem when I have System mechanic installed, the system
monitor part of the program kept on stalling, resulting in the glitches of
the type you mention.

 

After both me and my computer shop completely tore the machine apart,
and the shop replaced EVERYTHING, wiped the drive and reinstalled
everything, they've finally come up with the issue. The graphics card
seems to be a bum card (this is the THIRD one they've replaced in the
system). The drivers seem to lag for some reason. Nvidia just asked
for them to return the card, but after 3 swaps, I'm not convinced that
it will do the trick.

It's a PNY Nvidia Quadro FX 1500 - a good card for the price range (the
next one up is $500 more...)

Has anyone else had these kinds of problems with PNY/Nvidia cards, and
if so, what did you do about them? What has been people's experience
with the Fire GL cards?

 

We don't have the FX 1500 but have had good luck with a range of other
Nvidia cards going back to 1998. Right now we've got a Quadro 750 XGL,
FX1400, and FX3500, as well as an FX Go 1400 on a notebook. We also have an
ATI FireGL V3100 on our FEA machine. We do see graphics issues every now and
then (yesterday my feature tree turned black, a new one, and I restarted SW
to get it back), but we haven't felt like the issues were big enough to get
excited about. The ATI machine doesn't get as much SW usage as the others,
so it is hard to say if we have any more or less problems on it.

It seems to me that every release of SW requires more out of the graphics
cards and has more graphics issues. We seem to see more slowdowns and short
hang-ups with SW07 than with SW06 or SW04.

Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems
"take the garbage out, dear"

 

Jerry, if you think SolidWorks requires a lot of graphics cards, take a
look at what VISTA IS GOING TO NEED!

http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt

Prof. Peter Gutman was like Jack Webb, "Just the facts mam."

Bo

 

& if Vista is not enough, wait till you read this. I'm not even going
to tell you what it is but it comes from Walter Mossberg's column in
the WSJ.

http://online.wsj.com/public/articl...HUIEbqPwBMfDELZMGJjzU_20080104.html?mod=blogs

Good Luck - Bo

 

I have used a variety of nVidia cards and have been well pleased. We also
have 4 machines running here with FireGL cards and they also have run well.

WT

 

I've always been a big fan of Nvidia, but with several past
experiences, I'm not so sure about them anymore. My last card (Quadro
FX750) has an unbalanced fan that makes a heck of a lot of noise until
it runs for a bit, and with the latest experience, I've replaced the
quadroFX 1500 3 times so far....All that Nvidia says is 'it's a bad
card', referring to the particular card in my machine, but I'm gaining
more confidence that it's just an overall bad product offering.

I think I may try the FireGL.....

 

Bo,

Did you actually read this ??? UNBELIEVABLE !!!!

To me it reads like a Vista computer will be nothing more than a VERY
expensive DVD player for playing "premium" content. The constant CPU
overhead, accociated with the verification/encription will make the machine
usless as a computer !!

Also any violation of the hard coded security rules will shut your computer
down. A bad addin card can cause this !!! because of all this, most hardware
will have to be re-engineered in a very expensive way.

In a nutshell, the entertainment industry is dictating the details of
hardware, and software design.

Linux or Mac, here I come. Any one who ports a mainstream CAD package to
either of these platform will make a fortune in the next couple of years.

Mark

 

Mark, I read the whole long VISTA-DRM article and I was not bored, and
I am already using a Mac.

I simply do not understand how Microsoft & Media Companies could think
they could get away with this. Lots of companies would not accept
VISTA's inner workings, or could not in my estimation. Tell me how a
company with vital data which was never allowed on the Internet could
use VISTA? I'm talking about small companies and not Fortune 500 who
get site license treatment.

I really wonder if Ballmer is getting ALL of his consumer feedback from
his mirror when he shaves each morning. I never trusted him before and
this just confirms my worst fears.

MS Office 2007 also throws out the prior menu systems as I've read,
meaning a training curve for everyone who moves to the updated MS
Office products.

This is what happens when a company has 80%+ market share and can just
dictate what goes on, and thinks people are NOT going to have a choice
to do anything else.

XP & SolidWorks 2006 looks like it is going to have a VERY long life
for me.

Bo

 

Mark, you noted:

Mark, what I know is that a lot of the majors in 3D CAD still run on
Unix, hence the 3D CAD software houses are mostly already there. All
the original programmers of SolidWorks came from Unix @ Computervision,
as I recall from a friend who worked there with the SolidWorks Pres. &
team which moved over from Computervision.

My guess is that with a concerted effort, SolidWorks could be available
for UNIX within 12-24 months, because I think it is likely to be
already planned, and possibly even been courted by Steve Jobs. Why
would John McEleney do it? The President of SolidWorks knows the world
turns and OS's come and go, watches his competitors (many on Unix), and
you have to maintain a backup plan. The rise of Linux & surge of
Apple's Unix, plus countries in the world which are deliberately
setting a pace to move away from Microsoft means that SolidWorks MUST
HAVE A SOLUTION for those users, or Lose that Market!

There is no other option. This is not rocket science or ESP. China
anyone? China is now setting its own video DVD standard. What happens
when China dictates a move to Linux-Unix in certain areas, if for no
other reason than to be able to use inexpensive PCs made in China
without all the VISTA DRM CRAP? Do you realize what cost reductions
that would represent for China, to do everything in China with their
own Linux-Unix, motherboards, CPU chips. You know Chinese entrepeneurs
are looking at these options. When will a well funded Chinese startup,
just like SolidWorks was almost 15 years ago, bring out THEIR homegrown
3D CAD in China?

If I were SolidWorks Pres., I would be doing strategic planning games
virtually non-stop, with a lot of different forms of competitive
information analysis & then trying to estimate how SolidWorks could
keep up over time. Studebakers to Stutz Bearcats are ALL GONE. Only a
few brands of automobiles have survived (& some on their last legs) 100
years. Lots of 3D Solids software companies have already folded or
stopped developing their 3D CAD application (Even on the Mac, recall
In-CAD in early 90s?).

Toyota rose from obscurity in virtually 30 years to virtually become
the market volume & quality leader from small to luxury products,
because the 'old guard' let their Guard Down.

Is SolidWorks going to go the way of GM & Ford because it let its guard
down?

Apple kept working on Mac OS's that ran on Intel boxes for years in the
background without telling anyone. They had many years experience
before they released MacIntels. That was the perfect way to do it.

Why run SolidWorks in Mac OSX?

Apple is:

1. Doing rock solid hardware w/warranties that work
2. Darn near bulletproof Unix based OS (thanks to Bill Joy of Sun for
early BSD work) compared to Win XP, and it is no slug, partially
because they limit the hardware it runs with to a manageable number of
options, as opposed to Windows.
3. Consistent Interface issues making easy OS, Application &
Networking that gets out of your way (There are things on WinXP on my
Dell that inexplicably do NOT work including WiFi, and I'm not going to
reinstall the whole damn OS to try to fix it: I have NEVER seen such a
thing on any Mac).
4. Handles Unix appls w/minimal fuss.
5. Running any version of Windows I'ld want to run native or in
virtualization
6. Putting Apple stores on the map, because they deliver: sales,
support, service, training, and subscription support for consultation
and training, along with rock solid email servers and web hosting for
small stuff people want to do (as a subscription service).
7. Put up as few dialog boxes as possible and when they do, they
usually give you rational understandable choices (at least compared to
Win XP with SolidWorks). One or two times in Mac OSX since 2000, I
have seen a black and white error screen when something really bad
crashed the OS, and I consider that insignificant, in that a reboot was
all that was required to get back to work.)
8. Handles security far faster and better than other OSs I use.
9. Lack of Manuals: That is an advantage? Yes! I have not had to
read a Mac manual on the OS or applications since the cursory review I
did on first trying OSX in about 2001. Virtually no manuals read and
studied since that time. To me that is incredible, compared to other
eras.

SolidWorks could do a lot by being on Linux-Unix, but it just depends
on long term committment. Microsoft blows so much smoke about what it
is going to do, that software developers are affected by the 2nd hand
smoke, they get dizzy, and sucked in on Ballmer's next inhalation.

Between Free OSs, and OSs created &/or tuned to local foreign languages
and governments, Microsoft is going to become a minority player within
10-20 years is my guess (pure guess, without market survey info).

Enough - Bo

 

IIRC China several years ago declared for Linux.
"The Chinese government has adopted Linux as its operating system of choice,
..."

Old http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2006-04/05/content_560918.htm
"Domestically developed Godson-2E central processing unit has reached a
performance equivalent to the early series of Intel's Pentium 4 CPUs .."
"Previous tests have shown that the 1-gigahertz Godson-2E CPU is capable of
competing with a 2-gigahertz Pentium 4 CPU."

Looks like it's 64 bit ...

 

Basically, all good technology gets more widespread use with time &
prices drop, but have you seen what Microsoft is going to charge for
the 'All-Up' Windows VISTA? $614 or so.

$400 for premium home or BizUlt @ $600 for the top end VISTA is more
than it takes to buy a complete MacMini for God's sake, and the Mini
comes with the full OS X operating system with nothing dumned down.
Buying a bundled PC is OK, but as I recall a 5 pack Mac OSX license was
LESS THAN $200, and that comes with a number of Apple's well tuned
applications.

I literally think Ballmer take drugs and then listens to himself speak
about how he is seeing into the future, with Redmond blinders on.

With OS's going to open source cores, I can NOT see how Microsoft get's
long term survival

Warren Buffet comment on Microsoft, saying a somewhat similar thing.

Bo

 

strange.....
i've just bought and installed the Nvidia Quadro FX1500 together with an
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe mobo featuring AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+, and they work
perfect with Windows XP Pro x64 and SW2007 x64 SP2.......

 

I am just about to order a Dell Precision 390 - Intel Core2 Duo E6600
with a nVidia Quadro FX3500.
Info if anyone has had a problem with this card would be welcome.

 

Not supporting MS, but you're running off the initial release prices.
They have dropped them since and have them on the respective pages on
their site.

Vista Ultimate $399
Vista Business $299
Vista Home Prem $239
Vista Home Basic $199

I think they got a bit of a clue on the orignal pricing as it was huge.
As you said, you could buy a whole system for the cost of their OS.
Even the new prices are a bit high, but that is for retail listing so
by release to vendors with the OEM the price should be approaching what
XP was. And a far step from their original price quotes.

 

The rise of Linux & surge of

Boy am I ever hoping for that day to come. Not only for the reason of
SW, but for other major softwares as well. Not to mention MS will have
to try and adapt quicker if they want to continue to survive among
competition.

 

One thing which is NOT very apparent with the "Dell type boxes" is
their official OS DVDs.

Users buy it and are told, "You get the restore DVD/s" or "The original
XP Install DVD from Dell", but there are caveats.

Some of those DVDs are created by/for Dell or other manufacturers, and
thus are loaded with all sorts of demos and crapware that is installed
with the OS install, but which are NOT DECLARED as such (at least
easily seen).

I for one want to see original XP DVD in a shrinkwrapped Microsoft
packet, so I know for sure I don't have all the extra stuff I don't
know about.

It is getting harder and harder with Microsoft to avoid what you do not
want to deal with. We have to become really picky consumers to avoid
getting schnooked.

Bo