Finally took the plunge

PC Specialist have been very helpful so far. I spent ages on the phone with them asking all sorts of questions. They were very helpful and answered all my queries. Constant updates on the progress of the order too.

I went for the three year warranty.

Apparently mine is now in Testing/Quality Control.

Fingers crossed it’ll be ok.

In a side note, Webcams seem to cost more than gold at the moment! :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

Mike

So, here is a question, (probably a stupid one :grinning:)…

Can I leave an external Drive plugged into a Windows PC without having to plug it in and remove it everytime I startup and shutdown etc? I’m planning on using one in a similar way to Macs Time Machine, for backups.

Mike

Patt:

  1. AutoDesk publishes lists of graphics card they recommend for their products. As a general rule, Nvidia Quadro cards will do. Gaming cards won’t.

  2. I have built my last three computers. It’s not terribly difficult; but I am retired, so it’s a hobby and not critical to my livelihood. If there is a problem, how does a DIYer discover the source?

Yes, you can leave it plugged in.

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Quadro cards have no benefit whatsoever over Geforce ones in normal CAD/BIM/SketchUp use. They use essentially the same hardware but Quadros cost at least double of what a Geforce of similar specs does. It is almost 20 years since Nvidia made drivers specifically for use with some CAD systems.
Especially, the low-end Quadro cards shouldn’t be touched. They are meant for 2D AutoCad use. As for the high end, it is ridiculous to pay more than what the whole system should cost for a graphics card only. Note too that SketchUp’s graphics rely on your CPU at least as much as on the GPU. As all the geometry must squeeze through a single processor thread, spending on a more than mediocre graphics card will not show in display performance.

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Are you saying that AutoDesk no longer publishes recommendations, or are you recommending that those who use AutoDesk’s products ignore those recommendations?

The latter. I have used their products for almost 35 years and never had problems using graphics cards or driver versions not mentioned in their lists. They obviously do not test all products on the market and only list the ones they have happened to test. And, in reality, other users of their products do not follow the recommendations either. If only the Quadro or AMD Pro owners used Autodesk products, the company would be very small indeed.

And, this is a SketchUp forum - what use are Autodesk recommendations for SketchUp users? SketchUp uses OpenGL which Autodesk doesn’t (it uses DirectX/Direct3D).

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Well, received notification today that all Testing and Quality Control I done, and it’s ready for shipping. Quicker than I thought so should receive the new PC in a couple of days, I think.

Time to start restoring my iMac and deauthorizing the various software on it.

Hopefully in a few days I’ll be singing it’s praises and all be be good :crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers:

Mike

Patt is an architect. One or two architects use AutoDesk software. My nature is to warn folks about potential problems that I am aware of.

Will this be an actual issue for Patt? I don’t know; but he (she?) now knows that it could be and, if using or expecting to use AutoDesk’s software, can investigate before laying down the cash.

So, after hours on the phone with the supplier, and the last day trying to sort a problem, not eaten since yesterday lunch time, the PC is being returned with a problem that can not be rectified.

Back to the trusty (not old), MacBook Pro for the time being.

My experience with PCs is once again tainted.

They will now have it back to fix, rebuild test, (and I stressed that they need to TEST TEST TEST this time), and I will hopefully have another PC back in a month.

Hi

Would not mind knowing the exact specs of your pc so I can copy it.

Back to square one with the pc as it’s going back because it doesn’t work properly.

Mike

What was not working correctly

Basically it wouldn’t wake from Sleeping. Meant I had to keep doing hard resets.

After a very late night trying to sort it and nearly 4 hours on the phone with the company’s guy accessing it remotely this morning, he concluded there is something wrong with it but not sure what.

It has reduced my confidence in the new PC to virtually zero. Luckily I can continue work using my MacBook Pro.

That may be a hard nut to crack. May require all sorts of firmware upgrades etc. I have seen this with computers from big vendors too (Lenovo, HP…). I usually turn off most automatic power management features as it has also been common for CAD/BIM/3D applications not to work after the computer has slept or hibernated.

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I also turn off the power management features, they have never seemed to work correctly for me.

All of the above tried to no effect.

Even with a fresh brand spankingly new install of Windows and absolutely nothing installed, same problem.

It’s currently boxed up waiting for their Courier to collect it 2 days after being delivered. It was brief :grinning::grinning::grinning::grinning:

The slight pain is that I forgot to deactivate Skalp before the tech guy wiped it so I’ll have to ask Guy at Skalp to do it. Or I’ll just buy another license. Although not needed yet as they said I’ll probably get it back in a months time.

In my opinion that’s for them to sort out. When I buy a new car I don’t expect to have to strip the engine down to tweak the Piston Rings or delve into the Engine Management System to set the timing on day 2 of ownership.

It just reminds me why I changed to Apple over 15 years ago.

It has really knocked my confidence in getting this PC as not off to a very promising start.

I do have many criticisms of Apple, but they do work.

I just wish;

  1. Apple would sort their argument out with NVidia and offer NVidia Cards as an option
  2. Lumion would do a version for Mac

If this was the case, I’d stick with Apple.

Mike

I understand your position, disappointed.
Windows is notorious for sleep and wake issues. I have mine set to max power in the power management with all settings for sleep etc disabled and the power management settings in the bios turned off.
My power management plan is one finger to turn the monitor off at night. If I know I will not busing it, I use windows shut down command.

Thank you for that Dave

Maybe I’ll ask them to do that with the settings before they send it back to me then I don’t have to worry about Sleep etc.

Mike

Of course. You bought something and when you receive it it is supposed to work.

With “boxed” products, whether from Apple or anyone else, the normal problem is that after taking it out of the box and plugging it in you must spend the next couple of days updating and tweaking it.