I got a 1.4 GHz AMD, 256 DDR, 32 MB Diamond Stealth S540 AGP Video card all on an Asus board...for those of us out there with computers plotting our murders while we're designing and rendering, what is the down and dirty on what to upgrade to get better Bryce performance. Is it more memory? Is it a better video card? I've heard so many different things, I couldn't narrow it down. Right now more memory is more in my budget, with a new video card coming possibly in September with Half-Life 2 comes out. I'm looking for better performance and just not getting it. I have an image going right now that I want to detail really really good, but my computer says otherwise. Right now I'm using my Win2003 box just because it's managing the memory better. Any ideas? MD (PS...would me upping my page file from 384 MB do me any good?)

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More Memory will allow for larger file manuevering, for example higher res materials, less bogging down when you have alot going in one scene. Stronger(more Mem)Video card will help the memory. There are also tricks like Saving the file more frequently. Better Processor will decrease render time. Reads and processes information faster. You lost me on the PS, do you mean allocating system resources?

Page filing for when Bryce needs to access the hard drive as memory when the RAM's been swallowed. MD

Ahh, Virtual space, I use to keep it at 2/3 of my available space. Now I use XP and each time I start Bryce I give it priority, and I let the sys handle the Virtual file. having 120 gig HD helps.

A sun workstation or renderfarm;) Just Kidding! Processor is probably first. It affects how fast you calculate rays to render. Don't know how far you can push your board without the exact specs. AMD 2.5s are $89 now. Its a square function so doubling the processor speed will make your system 4 times as fast. Memory is next. More memory means more objects, bigger textures, more details. Any time you are using page memory instead of ram your time is going to go up. That's because your limited by the bus speed plus your hard drive has less priority to talk over the bus than your processor. Your asus board is handling a 1.4pentium so your bus speed is probably 133 I don't think there are faster boards or memory out yet. You have two slots total so you can probably put another 256 in. They're running about $30 right now. Your video card is probably the least of your worries. It's pretty good already. Unless you are constantly shifting perspectives it probably has no trouble keeping up.

Basically Bryce breaks down like this. Faster processor = faster render times, More Ram = ability to create and manipulate larger scene files, Stronger video card = better open GL performance, and redraw time. Better animation preview. I run 3 hard drives, 1 for programs installed, I always keep 20GB of free space on it, and have my virtual memory set at 2 gb. #2 HD is for all my file storage, #3 HD is for video editing only.

Render times I don't have a problem with. It's the RAM issue according to Stephen Ray...video card I'm not really concerned with either...so it sounds like RAM will fix my problem. My last scene file (the theater one) is 265 MB...a bit larger than what my computer likes. I'll have to research RAM. I have 256 DDR right now, my budget probably is only gonna take me up another 256. MD

Something you need to check before upping your ram, is to see how much ram your mother board supports. Just because you can buy a 1 gb ram module and it fits in the slot, doesn't mean the motherboard can support it. Judging that your board supports a 1.4gh processor, I would guess it will support at least 512 mb of ram. ( but I'm just guessing ) You really need to check your documentation, or look the board up at the makers web site. Also the processor does come into play when you fill up the ram with a large scene and the computer has to start swapping to disk. But with a 1.4 it really shouldn't be that bad. I remember having a scene file so big I had to click and hold the button for over a minute to move an object. I had a 500 mhz processor with 96 mb ram, that's when I decided to get a new machine ( almost 3 years ago ) Now I need to upgrade to a new board that supports a faster processor and more ram. This PIII 1ghz and 512 ram run Bryce ok, but it's just not cutting it for some of my other software.

I believe my board goes up to 2GB of DDR or 3GB of SDRAM (it has options for either type, but I went with the newer and better. You can't use both at once though. MD