Whenever you install complex software, there will usually be changes made to Windows itself, regardless of the installation drive of the program in question.

There might be changes to the registry, and in some cases shared components such as the Visual C++ runtime may be updated by the installer. In the case of Cinema 4D and Vue, they will usually park config files and libraries in the 'user' folder hierarchy on the Windows drive.

If the computers main disk was lost to a crash, there's no guarantee that some of what the program installed is not lost, settings, shared components, activation files.

In the case of the WACOM tablet, the drivers will almost certainly be part of the Windows installation, and not on your external disk.

What you are proposing will work fine, provided the external disk stays in place on the same drive letter. If however you were going to take your external disk to a machine that hadn't previously had the software installed, then things get complicated. It might work (e.g. BagginsBill's experience with Poser), or it might say 'where the heck have my registry settings gone', or why is the version of that Windows component different, or 'where has the software activation key gone - I've been pirated!'

Agreed, I remember the stunning images Rochr got out of Bryce 5 before he moved on to Cinema4D.

Once you've got a competent level of product to work with, it's the artist after that.

Quote - And the only thing i can think of is it is the OS, which is Vue 7 x64. If i wasnt an avid gamer i would run XP x64 for sure.

I assume you meant Windows 7 x64?

I've found Windows 7 works just fine, but I'd say video drivers always seem to be the big problem, so I've always endeavoured to install the Windows Hardware Quality Lab (WHQL) certified drivers in favour of any 'latest and greatest' version.

Also, now I have a stable system, I've used Windows 7 image backup to make a snapshot of the hard drive, and then disconnected the PC from the internet - that way nothing gets changed or upset.

My new system has nVidia cards (2 x GTS 240), and this has really improved things for previewing and modelling, especially with Hexagon and UV Mapper. Whereas the old computer would get really bogged down trying to rotate and pan, the new video cards make it much more useable.

I can also use OpenGL preview much more reliably in Vue, which is a god send when using some of the big city models from Stonemason.

More to do with 'virtual' rather than 'physical'.

The i7 is seen as 8 CPUs by Vue Complete.

Quote - Mark
I thought you were using Vue

Yes indeed, and will continue to do so.

My last machine had Bryce 6.3 on it as a curiosity, (I was intrigued by the boolean mesh export) but didn't bother installing it on the new machine - it has its uses, but only because it is very cheap.

I have just bought a machine with the i7 processor, so I was wondering how it might work with Bryce, and whether the Pro version and Standard version differ in how many CPUs they recognise.

While I think about it, is Bryce 7 going to be 64bit?

Does Bryce 7 support multiple CPUs?

I only ask as the last version I used in anger was 5.0 which I think was single processor only.

I was pointing out that hyper threading means each physical core is seen as two CPUs by Vue.

The product comparison table says 8 CPUs for 64 bit machines, that's why I went for the i7 930 rather than the one you are considering.

My new i7 930 powered machine has four processors, but Vue 8 Complete sees 8 CPUs and certainly uses them as Task Manager shows only too well !!

Hope that helps.

I've only had mine six days so I would be tempting fate to suggest it was fine, but so far so good.

Getting it built by someone else means I didn't have to figure out how to install water cooling, making sure I had the right BIOS settings and any number of other things I haven't got time to be an expert in.

As it is, my Alienware Aurora looks very cool with its various running lights and other gratuitous bling, as well as being a veritable hot-rod compared to my old AMD machine; it's number crunching performance in Vue is amazing!

My friends at work where having a go at me about buying an off the shelf computer and not building it myself, but I've got to that age where I just want it to work and know I can phone one number if it doesn't. :-)

Just bought a similar system myself, more RAM but slower CPU, with Vue 8, Poser 6 and Photoshop CS2.

As was said above, run and install as administrator for all of them.

I've also switched to the Windows 7 Basic theme as Illustrator CS2 causes the Aero look to switch off and you get a nasty display change.

Difficult to know if the Vue crashes are anything to do with the machine or Windows 7, or just the usual annoyance that Vue throws at us from time to time, although I did follow the tip of using the hardware pipeline for OpenGL display.

 Peggy, you are a super star.

It had gone and sucked down some more Windows updates while I was doing other things. After a reboot, the installer worked fine, and I'm now rendering one of the sample scenes.

Mark

I should be getting my new 64bit system tomorrow with a lot more RAM.

I'll try out the trial version again on that, and see if the overall stability improves too.