quote: The trick is that shading must be turned off in order to set "Enable OpenGL" I noticed that it was unchecked in the metric config, but when I did it in the english config, then went back, it was still grayed out... Do I need to save the config, then re-open it and then it will be selectable?

I appreciate the replies. I'm at the shop now, and noticing that the "Enable OpenGL" option is GRAYED OUT!!! If I switch over to the Mill 9 Metric however, it is selectable... I'm assuming this is because there's another option somewhere that's different, but no clue where. Any Ideas???

Also, what's the max amount of RAM MC will use and do I want to allocate it more toward toolpath or database? I'm assuming toolpath but would love to hear any config tips you guys may have.

quote: I'd run an Quadro FX-1800 video card (3800 if the budget How big is the benefit of moving to the 1800? Also, I just realized I can score a 930 for $200 down at microcenter so I guess it's not terribly cost effective to go the i5 route. Both will easily OC to 4GHz+ so I'll probably just go that route. I'd love to be able to save the owner some $$$, but time is $ in their racket so I guess I'll just set them up with an i7 and 6GB to start. Not sure if I'll hit a wall OC'ing going to 12GB. As far as the drives go, I probably won't go with the 300GB velociraptor as it benches lower than a standard barracuda. The new raptor however, may be worth the investment. Have to see what the owner wants to do. Going out again tomorrow morning as his machine is flipping out as there is somehow to program file folders in the root and he can't rename the original. No clue how that happened, but these guys continually have really strange issues...

quote: Other software, goofy MC configs or a corrupted OS are the usual suspects when things start going awry. By "other software", are you referring to Antivirus or what types of software may be causing problems?

quote: Other then that, I say there is another bottleneck. possibly V9 doesn't have open GL enabled in config from previous video? Where in the config would I go to check that??? I went through the Screen->config options thoroughly and didn't find the option.

quote: It might have something to do with adding a video card to a computer with an onboard video proceesor. Something in the BIOS is not set right and the machine doen't know what to do. The "IT professional" who sold them a "CAD-CAM machine" with an on board video card ought to get sued. I wouldn't waste my time on this box. It will never perform. You don't say what the OS is... if they are detirmenined to stay at V9 it should be running XP Pro.. If its got Vista or Win7 on it, you will be out there on a daily basis. No version of Mastercam supports multicores yet.. X4 can support multithreading while regenning some of the newer toolpaths.. If you want 1 good reason to upgrade, check out the Benchmark thread. We all run the same sample file to test our comupter's crunch times The thread was started in early X days Average times were 12-15 minutes Hot machines were sub 10 minutes.. Slow machines were over 20 minutes In the latest release, X4 MU3, $500 laptops are crunching this same file in under 2 minutes.. I had a high speed waterline toolpath I did in X3 (12-14 minutes) go to under 3 minutes in X4 on the same computer/OS.. CNC Software has put a lot of work into getting crunch times down.. and it shows Now THIS is the type of reply I was looking for!!! I will be forwarding this thread to the owner of the company and I think it will make him re-assess purchasing X4. He said he was considering holding off on X4, but considering the horrid hardware config for a CAM machine, this may go in the new office that's being built, or replace one of the P4 based boxes they have. Does anyone know if MC plans on adding the ability to utilize a multi-core processor in the near future? Wondering if an i7 would be overkill and I should look at building them an i5 based machine and overclocking to 4Ghz+ for the best performance and bang for the buck. I've been building high-end rendering and capture boxes for about 10 years but it was mainly in the CAD, production and post prod. realms. Next big question, I read a thread on optimizing MC and it went way off track regarding graphics quality... Not my concern. Mine is whether or not the software will eventually make use of CUDA, C, or any GPU computing based language. If so, will a standard Quadro be able to make use of it, or will I need to add a TESLA card to make it worthwhile?

Will X3 utilize all four cores on his processor, and the threading optimization on the video card, or is X4 the only version that will make use of the optimized threading and multiple cores?

I created a new profile to point to Mill9.exe and configured it from there... Nonetheless, after I left yesterday, the programmer decided to uninstall and reinstall the driver and since then, it's in a boot loop... Going to end up having to go back out there, but hoping that the boot loop is in some way associated to his UPS as he heard beeps coming from below his desk and his workstation is on top of his desk.

So, my client has versions 9.1, as well as X3 and the lead programmer with the FX 580 doesn't seem to care for X3... Nonetheless, he seems to be having some glitchy issues since installing the new card and he feels the performance has taken a bit of a hit. I did it from a comparable setup to what he had prior the GC upgrade, and the difference is night and day. Either way, I'm wondering what kind of performance increase he can expect to see from utilizing X3 over 9.1. TIA.

I set the boot device to PEG, but I'll need to verify that the onboard is actually disabled if that's an option. I went into the configuration, Screen, attributes and changed the memory allocation... WAS set to 105MB. Either way, for the drawings this company's doing, a new machine, beefier card and newer version seems in order. I pulled what the artist rated a 7 out of 10 regarding intricacy and boy did it tax the card. Any suggestions on optimizing the program and the driver are greatly appreciated.

Quick question. Is anyone here using the FX 580 with MasterCAM 9 Mill? If so, and you're getting great results, can you please tell me what driver version you're using and what you have the 3D settings config'd for in the Nvidia control panel, or post a screenshot please?

I have a client using MCAM 9 Mill whose old IT guy sold them typical biz workstations for CAM use... I told them they would see a vast improvemnt by moving from the onboard graphics, to a Quadro FX 580 and now when he goes through the drawing stages, he swears it's lifetimes slower than without a card whatsoever. I have AA at 8 and anisotropic filtering on but I just can't believe that it would be so much slower than with onboard video. He's only got a Q8200, 2GB of ram and running XP pro. My question is this: For him to make use of the graphical improvements at a higher speed, does he need to upgrade to X3 or X4? (Noticed that X4 is threading optimized) or does it boil down to the card not having enough juice to rip through the drawings and he needs an FX 1800? TIA