How to let Autocad use more RAM?

[pvd]

Hi all,

 

My computer has 8 GB of RAM. However my autocad is not faster than a computer with 2 GB of RAM. I have Windows 7. Is there a way I can allocate more RAM to Autocad to make it run faster?

 

Thank you

[khama]

Are you running 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7? If 32-bit version you will be limited to the ram it can use. If you have 64-bit, then I am stumped. It should use all of your ram.

[ReMark]

AutoCAD will only use what it needs; you can't force it to use more or less RAM.

 

Do you have hardware acceleration enabled or disabled?

 

Are you working with 2D, 3D or a combination of drawings? What is a typical file size?

 

Additionally you can optimize various aspects of your computers performance though which is an entirely different subject.

 

Have you benchmarked your computer?

[pvd]

I'm using 64-bit. When I look in my Task Manager it says Acad is only using 657.128 K. Especially when i'm having a layout with lots of viewports, zooming for example doesn't go fluid at all! (or is this a graphical card-issue? I have ATI FirePro V4800 (FireGL))

 

Apart from Autocad I also use Inventor for the 3D part.

 

My hardware acceleration was turned off. I turned it on now. File size is about 5 Mb. I have no idea about benchmarks so I suppose I have to answer no to that question Remark ().

[ReMark]

There is software available to benchmark a computer. Once you have the results you can compare them to similar configurations. You could also benchmark your two computers and see what the difference is between them. This may help you troubleshoot the problem. Do you have the full specs for each computer?

 

You failed to answer some of my other questions. Without complete answers to questions we put to you we can only make guesses. At this rate it would take an inordinate amount of time to pinpoint the problem.

 

A Dell T3500? I'll have to check but I think one of our engineers has the same model (I'm sure the configuration is somewhat different). I'll have to ask him how he rates his computer's performance.

 

Have you tried disabling the InfoCenter?

 

Do you have a bloated scalelist?

 

Do you use layer filters?

 

Are you making use of xrefs?

[pvd]

thanks Remark, I'll respond later. As I'm not an expert on all this I will have to look for some things. i'll first try to do the benchmark thing....

 

In autocad i only work 2D, I work with several files at the time and we use quite some x-refs.

 

I have disabled the Infocenter. (I once did it with a program I found on this site)

I keep my scalelist as clean as possible, think I'm usually not having more than 6 in my list. And I only have a few layerfilters too. I do have a lot of layers though as I'm not in control of that....

 

But then still....I would think this is all piece of cake for 8 Gb of RAM?? I was hoping for some setting where i can tell Autocad to use at least 6 of them...I have to say, I'm a dreamer from time to time....

[ReMark]

You're looking for a "miracle' button and I'm afraid I am the bearer of bad news. There isn't one. But don't give up hope. There are a couple of lists floating about this site that address slow performance of AutoCAD and things one can do to speed things up. A search should turn up one or both lists. Also check out the Similar Threads listed below.

[ReMark]

Suggestions for speeding up AutoCAD and Windows 7. Disclaimer: I am not the author of either of these documents nor have I tested each suggestion. Your mileage may vary.

 

Speed AutoCAD up.doc

 

Speed up Windows 7.doc

[BIGAL]

I just had a play with a proposed 64bit box for us and loaded a 42Mb dwg whilst its hard to see speed some things were obvious we had a lot of images and around 20+ layouts, swapping layouts on 32bit was have a coffee in between, 64bit 1-2 seconds and panning zooming became real time no lag. Obvious improvemnts. I did not check memeory use but when I looked it was maybe 2-3 gb for a normal dwg. Overall 64 bit was way better.

 

Check your garphics card this can be a killer of performance.

[oddbob]

Do you have autoCAD 64bit as well as Windows 64bit?

[ReMark]

The OP is using Win7 64-bit. He does not state what AutoCAD LT is.

[LMTORRES]

 

Hello, I also have questions about it. Please how can I increase the use of RAM in autocad 2019? For example, with a topographic plan, is it possible that the autocad, use more RAM as cache, to improve performance when processing lines that have between 50,000 and 100,000 points in between?

[Handiman]

There is a setting that allows you to control the amount of your ram use.

But you will need to read up on it and make the correct setting.

Look up - Page File

There are many things that effect the way the cpu and motherboard and memory work, there isn't a switch to flip to make it perfect.

Good Luck

[ReMark]

Read this....

 

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/increase-page-file-size-virtual-memory-windows

 

What are the specs of your computer?  Specifically, how much physical RAM is installed?

Edited January 16, 2020 by ReMark

[HREZO-WP]

I have been wondering about this for a while. We had a computer built for the heaviest projects we do, which is now my workstation. I spec'd out the needs and then we bumped up just to future proof a bit. When I was looking and AutoCAD/Civil3D I kept seeing how RAM-hungry it is so I said we needed a good deal of it. Fast forward a few projects and I notice that Civil3D uses basically none of the available RAM. This was confirmed today when I used the Hide command on accident and it told me there was not enough free RAM to do it... I have 64 gigs and it was running at 10 gigs of usage. This was the typical scenario, I had a decent sized file and it would still run like mud even though I have a monster computer. Any help getting this computer up to full speed would be appreciated. I have tried looking through my settings and haven't found anything productive there. 

 

Hardware acceleration is turned on

Mostly 2D drawings, using Xrefs as much as is practical

File size 1Mb in this instance

AutoDesk Civil3D 2020 64-bit

Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

64 GB RAM @ 2666MHz

Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9900K CPU @ 3.60GHz

NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000

2TB SSD

[Cad64]

Autocad doesn't need 64 GB RAM. Especially if you're just doing 2D work. I run it all day every day on 16 GB RAM with no problems. I'm even working remotely, off a clients server, and still I see only minimal slowdown due to server lag. Autocad runs fine on files stored locally.

 

I don't know about Civil 3D. Someone else would need to weigh in on that, but this is the first I'm hearing of either program being "RAM-hungry". In fact, the Autodesk website recommends 16GB RAM for both programs. I think this may have more to do with your drawings than the programs. Are you creating the drawings or are you working with files provided by an outside company? Are you purging and auditing your drawings on a regular basis to keep them clean and uncluttered? I get files from outside providers all the time which are bloated with tons of useless garbage. After I purge and audit and clean out all the junk, the file size typically drops from 6mb to 300kb.

 

Also, you said your file size is 1mb, but how many xrefs are attached and what are their file sizes? The xrefs could be causing the problems. Try cleaning all your files and see if performance improves.

[SLW210]

Are the files on a network or local?

 

Anything else running?

[Dana W]

Something else is going on, like google.  Once I opened up Task Manager and found no less than six individual iterations of google running.  

 

My current home computer has an Intel 9th gen, OEM overclocking and 16 gig RAM, also using a NVidia Geforce RTX 2060, with only 6 gig and I can't even see the screen blink when changing from layout to layout.

 

Who mentioned Pagefile?  That is VIRTUAL memory, in other words on the hard drive, not in RAM.  
Remember VIRTUAL does not mean actual, it means having the characteristics of, but not actually being that thing.  The pagefile is just a system file on the hard disk.

[BIGAL]

Had a linetype of dots killed speed, used a shx, but was drawing dots at a tiny spacing, so like purge look for anything strange or custom.

[SLW210]

Somewhere on CADTutor there is a post about a civil line and taking a long time. Even xreffed, some things really slow down things. Hard to analyze without more from HREZO-WP.