32 bit vs 64 bit

[luirib]

I have an Excel file with a few PowerPivots and I'm getting error messages that say that I should upgrade to 64 bit. My file is only 7Mb. It does have a number of measures though. Is there something I should look at before going with the advise? I understand that 64 bit has more muscle but may pose some compatibility challenges when installing other applications so, if possible, I'd like to stick with the 32 bit version. Thanks.

 

[miguel.escobar]

- Try checking if your data model can have any optimizations
- The number of pivot tables DOES affect the overall performance of your file
- Try checking if your measures are not taking a real chunk out of your memory.

 

[luirib]

I suspect that the measures are the culprit here. How do I go about checking how much memory measures take? Thanks.

 

[miguel.escobar]

DAX Studio usually helps
DAX Studio - Home

 

[luirib]

Are there any specific(s) that is too tasking for a PowerPivot? Will filtering be one of them?

 

[miguel.escobar]

Are there any specific(s) that is too tasking for a PowerPivot? Will filtering be one of them?

It would depend on your data model and how your DAX has been written...it's a case by case scenario but most of the performance issues that I've seen or read are purely from experience and/or blogs from BI Pro's.

Times like these require the official call to the italians!

 

[AlbertoFerrari]

It is nearly impossible to answer to such a generic question... if the file is only 7MB, then sharing it seems the best option to find out why Excel wants 32 bits more.
I have seen scenarios where a 200MB database requires 15GB to run some query, but these were databases built to show how poor performance can be if you don't pay attention to data modeling and to the internals of the engine.
In any case, a measure does not consume memory, it uses it only at query time and you need to do really bad things to use a lot of it.
Show us the workbook, and we'll take a look at it.

Alberto
PowerPivot Workshop - The first PowerPivot course, produced by SQLBI - Tweet #ppws

 

[miguel.escobar]

Luirib,
You might also want to check this out.
Excel PowerPivot SQL 2012 vs. Excel 2013 Performance Demo « Dan English's BI Blog

It's specifically talking about the memory consumption part that I was talking about with the OLAP query and refresh while taking in consideration your pivot tables and measures. But according to the test there's hope in Excel 2013 with an incredible boost in performance which is EXTREMELY cool

EDIT: ouch about the 15GB...it hurts even just by reading about it