Need Help!- graphics card recomendations

[crazycnc]

We have Bobcad running on a Pentium 4, 3GHz,1.5 GB RAM,Windows XP Pro SP2, ATI Saphire HD 2600 PRO graphics card with 512 meg memory. I seem to be having performance problems and am wondering if the video card might be the issue. The main problem I'm having is that when I'm selecting entities everything seems to bog down and it'll take a few seconds for the entity to change color as the cursor is hovering over it. What I'm doing now is constantly shutting down and restarting BobCam, and it'll work again for a few minutes but this is getting to be a real pain.
Is there a list of approved graphic cards somewhere? Or maybe someone has a different idea? I tried searching this forum but it seems all the graphics card posts are quite old.

Thanks,
Lorne

[argo cnc]

I have V22 on a Dell laptop. Upon the recommendations of BobCAD tech support,I have updated the drivers for the graphics card, installed 2 gigs of RAM and still have some of the same issues you are describing.

Most of the time the program crashes when I am doing a lot of cut, copy and paste operations. Adding the extra memory helped by increasing the time between getting the message "A resource is not available" and "BobCAD has Encountered a Problem and needs to Shutdown".

I would add that this was happening every 10-15 minutes. The drawings I am working on are basic 2D and not complicated 3D stuff.

While I cannot be certain, I suspect the main issue is the release of memory. I think this is the cause most problems with V22 when making drawings. It probably has something to do with other issues in the program as well.

While the people in tech support have been very helpful on more than one occasion, the fact still remains that there are issues with the program itself.

I have been as patient as anyone regarding the fact that it takes time to correct problems with a program like BobCAD. I have read the forums and always chuckled at the disgruntled people and their comments.

However, after a number of sales calls from BobCAD trying to sell additional software, even I have reached my limit.

BobCAD needs to FIX THE PROGRAM (V22). PERIOD.

The majority of the issues are with the program (V22) itself and NOT the computer that is running it. My computer does not crash while running other programs. I do not get messages that "A Resource is not Available" when running other programs.
I do not believe that the same issues are being reported with earlier versions of BobCAD.

For what it's worth, thats my 2 cents.

[smurph]

Lorne,

Your video card is the issue. Or more correctly, the driver is.

I'm running two ATI HD3870s on the Catalyst 8.6 driver. The original driver that came with the cards had the very same symptom that you are describing. Slow picking. I think the HD2600 uses the same driver so you should try the 8.6 version. Follow the ATI instructions for driver upgrade carefully. It's not just a matter of running the setup program, which is the only the thing I don't like about ATI graphic card ownership.

Once I upgraded to the 8.6 driver, my symptoms went away and now I have blazing picking speed.

I'm a programmer by trade and I can absolutely say that this is not a BobCAD issue that they can fix. The BobCAD programmers write to one API that is supposed to work with all graphics cards via their driver interface. But these "desktop" or "gaming" cards are not sold as "graphics workstation" cards. The card manufactures are in a very competitive market, especially with the gaming cards. They release a new card nearly every thee months. When they release these cards, the gaming portions of the driver get the most attention. After all, it's the gamers who they are pandering to. Slowly, but surely, the driver gets all of the attention that in needs so that even the workstation type graphics are up to par. BobCAD can not control the quality of the driver for the video card. If you want a graphics card that works well for CAD/CAM applications right out of the box, then get something along the lines of a ATI FireGL or the competitor's equivalent. The problem is that they are expensive!

Also, I have several CAD programs that I use. All of them had issues with the earlier driver versions. Not just BobCAD.

An approved "list" would be nice. But it's probably pie in the sky. Simply put, there are too many cards and drivers. One card may not work well with one driver and then start working flawlessly with the next driver release.

Argo,

Use the menu and not the toolbar icons for the time being. This will limit the "A resource is not available" error. This is a .NET generated error. BobCAD's next update will cure this problem altogether as they found a way to work around the .NET issue.

Steve

[crazycnc]

Thanks for the reply Steve. It looks like I'm on an 8.4 driver version. I'm trying to find my card on the ATI site and not finding an exact match. Google comes up with all these 'Driver Detective' type sites that want to automatically update the driver, but my CAM computer is not on-line. Do you have any ideas on how to get the right driver?

Thanks again,
Lorne

[smurph]

I guess that your card is AGP?

ATI has the HD2600 drivers for the PCIe bus type. But if you are running AGP, then you may have to get the drivers from Saphire. http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/support/drivers.php

Just follow the matrix starting with "VGA".

It looks like they are up to version 8.9. You can get the archived 8.6 if the 8.9 doesn't work. Typically, problems that are solved in the earlier versions are still working in the later versions, but I have had to downgrade an ATI driver in the past.

Steve

[tobyaxis]

Nvidia Quadro FX

ATI FireGL

Stay away from Video Game Cards.

[Brandon9271]

hey guys! I'm new here but this may be of interest!

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.a...tno=539&pgno=0