new computer video problem

[JCROCCO]

I have a new Dell running Core 2 Quad Q9300 with 4GB 800MHz DDR2 ECC memory, 1333 fsb, and 512MB PCIe X16 nVidia Quadro FX1700, 250GB SATA3 with 8MB Databurst Cache, and running XP PRO.

The issue is I am running a program "Autodesk Revit MEP Suite" and when the program is open, and I open a pdf, and go to move it, its outline gets duplicated hundreds of times as I drag and move it on the screen, but then cleans up just fine within seconds. This happens with any window over the open drawing, however the shadows are ONLY within the drawings window, not the desktop or the border edges of the window the drawing is in.

This is a powerful and demanding program, and thats why I bought this computer. The drawing model I had open was relatively small, actually it was a training drawing model. I am worried that a very large actual building model may be worse.

What causes this? I need to buy a second station and will incorporate whatever I can to improve the overall performance. The only limitation is I really want to/need to stay with XP. Do I need a faster proecessor? 4 gig is max memory, do I need faster memory? Do I need a better Video card?

I bought the Q9300 as Dell originally showed it as having 12MB L2 cache, I come to find out it only has 6 MB L2 cache. I would need to buy the Q9450 to have the 12MB L2, which would also increase speed form a 2.5 to a 2.66.

Any thoughts or help is appreciated.

 

[AmberClad]

Have you had this same problem running the program on other setups?

 

[JCROCCO]

No, its the only computer that can run it in the office. Thats the main reason for getting it, as no other computer could. Since I will need a second, I want to figure out what I need to do to increase the performance.

 

[AmberClad]

It sounds like it could be a software issue, where the app isn't properly coded to update the window after it loses focus. It should be getting redrawn when mouse events happen within the window, regardless of whether it has focus or not, otherwise you'll end up with graphical artifacts from whatever app does have focus.

This usually happens when I'm working on Windows apps, and I'm too lazy to add in the event handlers to update the window for all cases where it should be happening .

 

[Schmide]

I haven't used Autodesk in a while, are you sure hardware rendering is selected.

 

[JCROCCO]

The software has a setting to enable or disable a selection to "use openGL hardware accelerator". I tried it both ways disabled(default) and enabled, and it didnt make a difference.

It only happens within the window of the application, not the background.

Its not really a problem, I just dont want it to be a sign of a bigger problem with larger files. Also, when I buy another computer, what specs should I change?

How do you select hardware rendering and I have NO IDEA what AmberClad said to do as I dont understand, though it sounds very promissing.

 

[AmberClad]

Sorry, I didn't actually have a suggestion on how to fix it -- I was just saying that it could be an oversight by the people who developed the program. All that mumbo-jumbo I said earlier was basically explaining that I've seen similar problems in Windows apps I've coded before.