Hyperthreading is back in the new i7 Intel processors. Thats right, it thinks it has 8 cores. But since MC is still not a multi-threaded app it doesn't help, however having a PC with an i7 CPU should be faster than most Core 2 Quad's. If you have an overclocked (4Ghz or so) C2Q with 12Mb cache, 1600 FSB and X3 MU1 installed on Vista Ultimate x64 with 4Gb or more RAM, your going as fast as MC will go for now.

X3 MU1 seems to be about 25% faster than any previous version. I'm guessing you'll get about a 4 minute + a few seconds on your new machine and MU1. If you run it in metric it won't compare to most forum members. The inch version is slower. Times for this have dropped so much that we need a larger benchmark file. It's approaching the point that only miliseconds will seperate most PC's.

I want to buy a HRT160 and make a similar trunnion uing the 210 for A and the 160 for B ax. Maybe use aluminum for the fixture. We have used 5 ax mostly for small parts and the current setup weighs over 1000Lbs. and won't fit on our VF-2.

We just did this with a VF-4, HRT310 for A axis, and a HRT210 for B the vertical axis. From what I read on this forum you can get into trouble fast using WCS with multiaxis machines so I don't use it. X axis line is C/L of A axis, Z axis line is C/L of B axis and the part needs to be located in MC at the same location as on machine. So far I've had no problems this way. Backplot in 4 ax is right but in 5 ax what you see in MC is nothing like what the machine actually does so I disable simulate rotary axis.

quote: You don't appreciate all the spam and malware being distributed from botnets running on millions of compomised Microsoft Windows computers around the world today?Lots of botnets recently have been served up by legitimate web sites (not just porn sites) that have been hacked by spammers and most of those run Apache which is an open source Linux OS. Mac's are growing in popularity according to this. http://www.computerworld.com/action/articl...0&source=NLT_PM Over the holidays I'm going to try the Ubantu OS and a program called Crossover that is supposed to run Windows apps. They gave away free sn#'s for Crossover for several days last month so I got one and should be able to run MCX3 with it and see if it's really better. quote: With RAM getting to the size it is, It's almost getting worthwhile to kill the swap file alltogether and just keep everything in RAM.I've heard of people trying that. I have 4Gb RAM here at work and 512MB of pagefile and I still got a warning that Windows was enlarging my pagefile while running verify today. I set it at 1024MB and the error didn't re-occur. Even with RAM maxed out we can't yet get rid of pagefile.

You don't say what OS you have but I have the same problem on my Vista x64 installation but not on my XP 32 bit partition on the same pc. I'm using a MS wireless mouse but I also have a Logictec wireless notebook mouse which I use with Vista that doesn't have this problem.

quote: It's not like Mastercam surfacing toolpath and solid Verify doesn't badly need the extra processing speed.True but the 920 overclocked to the same speed as the 965 is faster because of the method used to overclock. The memory and system busses are ramped up too so it's more than just clock speed. And we still haven't seen any benchmarks from an i7 machine yet. What if the smaller cache size of the i7's makes it not any faster than Core 2 Quad for MCX? About this time next year the smaller (32nm vs.45nm currently) die version of these same chips will be available thus they will have lower heat, lower power use, and stepping optimizations that will make one really worth over $1000. Remember it may be 3-4 years before you take it out of service. Use the $750 savings on a SSD hard drive or a Quadro video card.

Neil, MU1 is 25% faster. My X3 benchmark time is 4:00 and my X3 MU1 is 3:00. The i7 920 CPU is under $300 and will overclock past 4Ghz so go ahead, spend!

Force tool change will do what you describe

When that error box comes up you will see 3 options, OK, Cancel(maybe)and one more. I don't remember the label but the middle option removes the command error from the toolbar file and error is gone after that. I think the command is purge.

The i7 965 is over $1000, the 920 is $260 and from the reviews I've seen can be easily overclocked to speeds faster than the 965. It will be interesting to see what the i7 CPU's will do. Here is a roundup of X58 boards for the i7 CPU's. I would probably use the Asus or Gigabyte board but all boards were able to run the i920 at 4Ghz. http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3471

quote: Bogus, any AdviceSounds like your doing fine. Your kind of limited with a laptop and if your using Vista X64 just get as much RAM in it as you can. This is the type of situation where Vista ready boost might help.

After running the benchmark file with the MU1 update my time went from 4 min. flat to 3 min. flat! Nice job CNC software!

I'm for now the temporary leader. MU1 offers a 25% improvement in toolpath generation speed. I went from 4.0 minutes to 3.0. Several of you should be in the high 2 minute area after installing MU1.

My laptop went from 8:05 to 6:51 with MU1 update. So all benchmark times need to verify if MU1 is used or just throw them all out. Nice speed increase CNC!

Toby, I have never used anything but matched pairs of RAM in my PC's. I've put different size sticks in some PC's because the owner just wanted to surf the internet better, they werent trying to get the most from a particular app or benchmark. So I don't know how much if any gain that little stick gives you but RAM is dirt cheap right now. I saw several pairs of 2Gb sticks on Newegg for under $50. At that price why fool around? Anyway 32 bit Windows can only address 4Gb so if RAM + pagefile > 4Gb your wasting space, if it's less you might be slowing your PC down. Today I saw a 16Gb G. Skill DDR2 RAM kit on Newegg. The Intel P45 chipset like Matt has and I will soon have, is the only one that supports that much RAM. Now 64 bit Vista Ultimate will support that much but a 32bit XP install would be able to have a 12Gb RAM drive, enough for MCX3, Catia, and Solidworks. The mind boggles

quote: Wouldn't this make it a Hardware manufacturers issue more then a "Vista" issue? Thats exactly what it is. They've sold it so no money is coming in from it, why spend money on writing new drivers? quote: Can this be done on every computer including factory built DellsYes but you have to be an administrator. In XP go to My Computer, right click it then chose properties/Advanced tab/performance settings/Advanced tab/Virtual Memory then select the drive where you want it, type in the min. and max. size (use same number in both) in the boxes THEN PUSH THE "SET" BUTTON and restart. Nothing changes if you don't press SET. You can't go wrong if you set size to 4096 minus your installed RAM. 2Gb RAM should have a 2Gb (2048) virtual memory, 1Gb RAM = 3Gb (3072) virtual memory. If you have 4Gb RAM I'd still put 256 or 512 as pagefile. I must say something here, I've seen supposedly smart people not be able to change this setting (or other Windows settings) because they were doing an incredibly dumb thing. This setting is about 3 windows deep. They would change the setting then close the windows with the red X in upper right corner. Using that red X to close anything in Windows means don't apply any changes made in that window or any of it's child windows. Click Apply or OK, they are the same except Apply leaves window open, OK closes it.

No, 4Gb is max on 32 bit so your running the most you can use.

Sounds like you've got something wrong with your RAM. You'll never have those warnings with 4Gb RAM installed and working properly. In fact some use no pagefile with that much RAM. I have mine set at 512Mb and I get no error. Although I did mistakenly type Kb in earlier post. If readyboost existed in XP it couldn't help you since you have maxed out your RAM and it is quite a bit faster than any flash drive.

PC5300 and PC5400 are both 667Mhz and PC6400 is 800Mhz, sorry bout that. Since you have 4Gb RAM now you should reduce your pagefile size. Some say no page file with 4Gb RAM but I'm not one of them. I'd say reduce to 256Kb - 512Kb. I'm not familiar with P5KE BIOS but I expect it's similar to my Rampage. Your motherboard gives you several choices for RAM speed that are faster than 800Mhz. You should have 960Mhz, 1066Mhz, etc. in your BIOS but your memory speed must be set to manual to use them. Many PC800 sticks can reach 1066Mhz or faster. I have run my 8Gb of G.Skill PC8500 (1066Mhz) as fast as 1180Mhz.

Are you sure they are identical? In CPU-Z go to SPD tab and there is a dorp down box for each installed stick. As you cycle through them only the serial number should change. If it turns out that they show as identical then it's the motherboard. It's harder to manage 4 sticks than 2 and some boards will slow the RAM down to easily handle 4. This is another reason 2 sticks of 2GB RAM is faster than 4 sticks of 1GB RAM. I think you'll find that PC6400 and PC5300 are both 667Mhz RAM.

Slower but they function just fine with MC.

If none of the usual suspects have helped it might be time to try the unconventional. Have you tried flowline running parallel to the wave? I see in your code A0. C0. Do you have a 4 or 3 axis post to try? Convert the surface to solid or just for laughs and giggles project a line onto the surface/solid and see if it's arc's/lines or splines/lines. Maybe this might reveal clues to what MC is doing.

quote: Vista wont span 2 displays? That doesn't sound right. Are you sure? Can anyone else confirm that? I have to have 2 displays. That would be a deal killer. There is a utility that fixes this. Copied from Ultramon home page: UltraMon is a utility for multi-monitor systems, designed to increase productivity and unlock the full potential of multiple monitors. *efficiently move windows and maximize windows across the desktop *manage more applications with the Smart Taskbar *control application positioning with UltraMon Shortcuts *multi-monitor support for desktop wallpapers and screen savers *mirror your main monitor to secondary monitors for a presentation Get it here. http://realtimesoft.com/ultramon/

My next MB.