Certified Graphics Card Update

Obviously the whole criteria for the Graphics cards for Revit have altered from 2010 to 2011.

During some testing of Revit 2011 on a low specification spare 3 – 4 year old office laptop with years a NVIDIA GeForce 6600 graphics card. I had to turn off hardware acceleration just to stop Revit crashing after constructing a simple four column ring beam structure. I then had some very interesting graphical problems.

Now I know this is the office clunker, but this experience has made me somewhat nervous and apprehensive about rolling out Revit 2011 onto PC’s with Video Cards that are not on the list.

In my post on Tuesday 30th March Revit 2011 Introduces Certified Graphics Hardware List and Utility

I reported that “There is also going to be a new utility that you will be able to download and run on your computers to make sure you have a certified graphics card and driver.” and that “Once the list and the utility are uploaded, and I find it, I will post a link on the blog.”

On the 17th April I reported that Revit Certified Graphics Hardware List now on Autodesk web site

And again told you that I would let you know when the utility arrives. I have been chasing it because I wanted to check out those machines not listed. In my imagination I had created this utility that you would automate or semi automate the testing process to interact with the end user, using known testing techniques built into a utility that would assist the user to test the video card and send the information back to Autodesk to enable them to create and update the list of approved cards and drivers.

A representative from Autodesk asked me where I had obtained the information about the utility the answer was between 1:25 – 1:50 minutes into the video, Troubleshooting What’s New in Revit 2011 by Harlan Brumm Global Technical Lead for Revit between and I quote

“On Autodesk.com when the product ships a list of certified graphics hardware for Revit products will be available. There will also be a new utility you will be able to download and run on your machine to make sure your running a certified graphics card and driver”

At this point I’m worried am I having another senior moment,  (Post Update 2nd May 2010 the video has been edited  and the statement removed from the video and re-uploaded to YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4ol0lXnZ0U)

The next exchange of emails a term of that quote being a “Bit Inaccurate” was made.

Now in the world I occupy there are two options

Either

1 There is going to be a utility or
2 There is NOT going to be a utility

I’m British, Male and an Engineer….. I like a YES or NO answer to a YES or NO question.

And when anyone uses the term a “BIT” I always reply you can’t be a BIT Pregnant you either are or you are not.

I don’t do and have never done and will never do politics, or political jousting. A spade is a spade (you would think that I originated from Yorkshire that's Gumby country!)

Then we parlay about if there is or isn’t there going to be a Utility in the future, and what was I expecting of said utility etc etc.

Finally, its transpired there is kind of something in the pipeline, however It’s the same as what’s built into Revit which just looks at the same list that’s on web site, but it should have the added capability of being able to be driven from a script that could send the utility out to scan several machines on a network and aggregate the results.

I'm told the user case for this utiltiy would be for a system admin that wants to evaluate all machines in-house prior to installing Revit, so they can have a better understanding of their ‘graphics readiness’ for Revit.

Now that is exactly why I have been chasing such a utility. With three offices we have a number of network copies that we share around because we don’t all need Revit at the same time. Without this utility It has taken some time and effort to obtain the data, but about half of our computers are using video cards that are not on that list.

Now depending how quickly this thing actually makes out of the Factory, if it ever does, will depend how useful it actually is for anyone. For me and I suspect many others, I’ve don’t it the hard way.

Regarding getting your card on the list for testing, I would not hold you breathe. When answering the question about getting your card tested the answer was and I quote then I can't make a mistake in interpritation

“We added that to our list of requested cards to be tested and will occasionally be acquiring and testing new cards based on customer demand. Currently, we do not have immediate plans to test your specific gaming card.”

Occasionally = Ummmmmm, once a month, bi-monthly, six monthly, yearly , if enough fuss is made?

Such a nice vague descriptive word don’t you think!.

So if you want your card added to the list, I suggest that you post a request via the Report a problem with your Graphics Hardware stating that your card is not on the list and you would like it added to the list for checking. Then if they get enough requests for a certain card they might just might test it.

I have also been pointed to a new FAQ page on the Autodesk support areas regarding Graphics cards, so obviously there are a lot of us out there that are a bit twitchy about the stability of the software on our 2010 compliant hardware.

At least they have posted this page on the Architecture, Structure and MEP support pages, this is a great improvement, and until recently it would have only been posted to the Revit Architecture area. So perhaps old dogs can learn new tricks!.

Revit Structure Services & Support Graphics Hardware FAQ
Report a Problem with Graphics Hardware for 2011 Revit Products


Revit Architecture Services & Support Graphics Hardware FAQ
Report a Problem with Graphics Hardware for 2011 Revit Products


Revit MEP Services and Support Graphics Hardware FAQ
Report a Problem with Graphics Hardware for 2011 Revit Products
.

Revit Certified Graphics Hardware List now on Autodesk web site

-

In my post of the 30th March about Revit 2011 Introduces Certified Graphics Hardware List and Utility I reported that many of the new features within Revit 2011 will rely on the compatibility of your graphics card. And that when the product ships, there will be a list of certified graphic cards uploaded on the Autodesk web site somewhere, and that I would let you know when it arrives:-

It’s here Graphics Hardware List or use the url  http://www.autodesk.com/us/revit/revit_graphics_hardware_-_graphics_hardware_list_final.html

Use this list to check to see if your graphics hardware supports hardware acceleration in Autodesk Revit 2011-based products.

The Graphics Hardware List provides you with the status of supported and non-supported graphics hardware for 2011 products based on the Autodesk® Revit® platform.

Finding information for your hardware is easy; (so the Web site says) just find your card and driver version in the list below.

OK so I have a NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT and WinXP which is not on the list.

The driver I had was 6.14.11.8585 I got the error message so I’ve updated the driver to the latest which is 6.14.11.9621

This list is about as useful to me as a push bike is to a goldfish because my graphics card and driver is not listed!.

But don't forget what the web site said "Finding information for your hardware is easy; just find your card and driver version in the list below. "Having downloaded the latest driver I try Revit again and it warns me

Because I assume my card is not on the list, my questions to Autodesk are now:-

1. How do I get my video card and driver tested and thus become Known?

2. Is there going to be a testing utility as mentioned in one of the troubleshooting videos?

3. If there is when can I get hold of it to test not only my PC here at home but also my pc at work which also reported the same error message.


Report a Problem


The Autodesk web page says to "Report any problems with graphics hardware when using Autodesk Revit 2011-based products."

So I’ve posted the questions above and will let you know the answers in due course.
.

Revit 2011 Introduces Certified Graphics Hardware List and Utility

---

Revit 2011 Introduces Certified Graphics Hardware List Autodesk products like Inventor have had this for a while. Many of the new features within Revit 2011 will rely on the compatibility of your graphics card.

When the product ships, there will be a list of certified graphic cards uploaded on the Autodesk web site somewhere. If Autodesk work to form, this will be available in the Architectural area before the Structural Area of their web. There is also going to be a new utility that you will be able to download and run on your computers to make sure you have a certified graphics card and driver.

Once the list and the utility are uploaded, and I find it, I will post a link on the blog.

If your graphics card is not supported you may (I suspect will) have to turn off Hardware Acceleration as a result, if you do then:-

• Realistic Views will not show realistic materials (textures)
• Ambient Occlusion the new 3D effect to create soft shadows effects will not appear even when enabled
• Very slow performance of drawing Mechanical views due to hidden line generation.
• Some artefacts will display on the screen that are not intended when displaying an underlay
• Slower average performance of project

The not too old “acer” laptop that I used to Beta testing crashed bombing out of the program when I tried to zoom in or out on a view of a very simple four column single storey structure, until I turned off hardware acceleration, and even when I had turned it off lets say I experienced some strange and problematic visual problems with 3D views, which were attributed to my non certified graphics card with its latest driver.

The system requirements have really increased and having bought what was a mid to top end PC last year for home, it now appears that this will be a low end pc this year. Whilst you expect that a program like Revit will need a good specification machine Individuals and companies tend to replace computers on a three – five year cycle and I feel that Autodesk have kind of lost sight of that fact.

Autodesk seem to have added too much and too many fancy rendering bells and whistles to please the Architects without sorting out the basic like a text editor that can support subscript and superscript and fixing very basic drafting problems that have been reported and on the wish list for some time. You can’t please all of the people all of the time!

So basically it is essential that you check your graphics card before upgrading from 2010 to 2011.

On a 32 bit machine the switch for hardware acceleration is turned off by default.

Certain graphics cards and the 3GB switch can cause conflicts (it just gets better and better!) So you will need to turn these on in the options dialogue box if you want them enabled, but you will get a nice warning message that a crash could occur as a result.

Bottom line is this is a great update to Revit but it may come at a cost to your hardware budget in a time when many companies are not looking to invest in new hardware probably having an excess of PC’s due to the lay offs that nearly every company has had in the last 12-18 months.

This may result in a delay in rolling out 2011 at some companies, I know of one very large company that pays the subscription, has the software in the cupboard and is still running 2009 because of the cost of training on the new Ribbon in 2010.

As a CAD Manager, with AutoCAD it use to be the even versions that seemed to be more stable and got implemented, with Revit it looks like it’s the odd versions. So what are you going to do if you have the suite which gives you both products?

Answers on a postcard or perhaps make a comment below:-
--