Support for multi core processors
Self explanatory
AdminMax Freeman
(VP , Alibre)
shared this idea
35 comments
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stephane.crochon
commented
As ACIS kernel has now been “thread safe” for 2 or 3 years.
Alibre should be able to parallelize
- loading of components of an assembly / drawing
- refreshing of drawing views
- import of other CAD data
- (...)
In few words, start making Alibre itself "thread safe". -
Matthew Cornelisse commented
at the minimum allow each editor window to run on seperate core.
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Tamas
commented
Here is a tip for everyone. I have Alibre installed on my laptop and the graphics quality was poor. I have a nvidia quadro card besides the built in intel. The nvidia control panel allows you to customize graphics to a software and I "jacked up" everything on the control panel and choose to take control over intel's. The software setting shows that the intel graphics is the active but behind the scenes the quadro runs it. From that point I have improved lines and image quality, not mention speed. The only downfall is that alibre has a poor setup for transparency, I think they call "opacity". In rhino I have a little transparent model and it is a high quality, where as in alibre when you put on opacity the image is useless. Well good luck everyone!
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stephane.crochon
commented
first (baby) step : don't freeze a window while importing/repairing an iges (or other) file ... ACIS is thread safe now ...
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sgertsch
commented
I wish someone from the Alibre software development team would take some time to comment on and educate the posters (voters) on this thread on the realities and practicalities for "Support for multi core processors" relative to what the Alibre product is targeted to be.
Specifically:
1) The relationship of raw CPU core and GPU performance to graphics rendering quality and speed.
2) Parallelism of order dependent processes (algorithms).
3) The degree to which Alibre software development is restricted to leveraging (constrained by) Windows OS services (APIs), DirectX, ACIS kernel, etc.IMHO a better informed user base will have more realistic expectations and would result in this suggestion falling out of the top 10.
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Tamas
commented
Well....good luck for that to happen. I complained before about graphics quality, both 3d and 2d and sounds like there is no future plan yet. I bought a year ago Rhino4 and that solved most problems and there is no annual maintenance and other fees, no bs and the technical support is awesome. You got a plug in for opening native Alibre files. I would say Alibre is a good parametric add on to Rhino.
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Val commented
I definitely agree that CPU + GPU optimizations in general should be a must, especially for optimized performance or I should say utilized professional graphics cards from ati/amd and nvidia.
Also what about sli or crossfire support/optimizations.Personally I like to run cad with high Anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. This is also a reason why I bought a pro video card with about 2gb of video memory.
Anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering improve image quality by a lot, nothing worse then complicated part or assembly with jagged lines… making it difficult to see.
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RocketNut
commented
AMD is coming out with a total different processor. They call it a "APU". it combines multi core processor and a GPU.
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crochon stephane
commented
Intel will release "Knight Corner" 50 in-order x86 cores, 4 threads per core, 512 bit vector units, 2 GB dedicated memory, due to early 2012. This "coprocessor" is a beast. 2Tflops in a box.
http://www.dailytech.com/Intel+Plans+50core+HPC+Chip+Knights+Corner+Will+Use+22nm+process/article18564.htm
http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2011/05/06/visualize-this-intel-opencl-discussion-with-adam-lake/ -
crochon stephane
commented
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Lu XiaoYang
commented
I you want try use Solidworks you can download torrent. Latest version can get is 2011 sp0.0 version. I uses this one. Compare with Alibre very good. I before use Alibre v10, v11, and v12 and it's no good to work complex models, assemblies. Solidworks no problem maybe 10 times better to Alibre.
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RocketNut
commented
Maybe instead of Alibre trying to use multi core processors capicty but maybe they should look in to using multi graphic cards which are by nature are graphic driven processors.Since all CADing requires a lot of graphic power it only makes sense to me. Also by what I am seeing on the internet multi graphic card processing is the up coming thing and will take over multi core machines to the point that you will soon see what we call SUPER COMPUTERS now on your desk.
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Justin
commented
I just read online that solidworks supports multicore processors.
Can Anyone at Alibre set the record straight? Impossible or possible
I have drawn my cnc machine in Alibre and it is soooo slow 10-15 seconds to open any of the sketches on a I-5 processor with 4 gb of ram and a 2 gb video card. Starting to wish I bought solidworks instead. Would be nice to see a post from the Alibre team on this. -
nvanlaar
commented
Alibre isn't the only one holding out on this. Due to the nature of precision modeling/CAD, multi-core processing for most things is extremely difficult if not impossible. The places where it usually can be used are in regen performance, rendering, and most display oriented things.
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Justin
commented
should be at the top of the list
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stephane.crochon
commented
I was recently connected to a PC with Core i7 (4x2 cores) with 3TB HD and 12 (yes TWELVE) GB RAM. This beast was not much expansive than my first 386 PC bought in 1992. Don't be shy on threads, don't be shy on RAM. (I don't mean "let memory leaks" though ... )
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RocketNut
commented
We are thinking about upgrading our desk top PC to workstations. Our research (surfing the web) shows that the trend is the usage of server cpus and multi gpu cards. According to this info this type of set up would be like having a supercomputer on your desk with about the same processing as a 1990 Gray. This setup is what we are leanning toward. With the cpu being a AMD Orion and a Nivada gpu cards.
As side note. Using GPU cards makes a lot of sense, because CADing requires a LOT of graph processing power. Thus a graphic processor is the logical choose. -
crochon stephane
commented
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/core-bulldozer-gulftown-phenom-athlon,11475.html "AMD Says That CPU Core Race Can't Last Forever"
Multicore support is needed and will be needed in future. But the "next thing" is "hybrid" CPU+GPU mixed blood chips. When refactoring, think about DirectCompute of OpenCL. Not easy, but gain is much higher when applyable : x2 to x8 with multicore CPU, x200 or x300 with GPGPU. -
arandall
commented
As a hobbyist Alibre Expert user (now version 2011) I have limited knowledge of the the technical aspects of supporting multi core processors but if the Alibre team decide that it's worth the re-coding effort to keep the product alive I'd be thrilled to see my new i7 980 get kicked out of sleep mode on the more complex assemblies. :-)
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Alex
commented
Yes, it is very important. Number or cores will grow. And, if Alibre cannot utilize CPU power, another program will and ... it will win the market.
