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Selecting a CAD system

If you are configuring a computer to run SolidWorks®, there are choices to consider based on your technical requirements and budget constraints.

One approach to evaluating CAD systems is to consider information along two categories:

•  Type of system – if you visit a SolidWorks hardwares solution partner, you will readily notice options for for laptops, desktops, and workstations. Your selection should be based on technical requirements; you would not, for example, approach or configure your CAD system as you would a system used primarily for Microsoft® Office tools.

A personal computer is a general-purpose machine designed for a broad range of tasks, such as running productivity suites (Microsoft Office). A workstation is designed to meet the requirements of a number of more specific markets and applications (CAD, Animation, and more).

SolidWorks software will demand a higher level of performance compared to a system used as an office computer. Bottom line is that your productivity is affected by the decisions made when selecting a workstation. Purchasing a workstation-grade computer is highly recommended. The trade-off in cost is offset by better performance for your users.

•  System Components – Each of the following sections describes what to look for with each of the components that make up a workstation. They are listed in order of importance. So when making trade-offs in price, pick the items that offer the most benefit.

Another factor to consider is the vendor. SolidWorks hardware partners actually engineer, test, and certify their systems to work with SolidWorks products.

To find a listing of our hardware partners, visit http://www.solidworks.com/pages/partners/PartnerProducts.html and select Computer Hardware Vendors.

System requirements for the following products:

SolidWork 3D CAD software: http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/SystemRequirements.html

Product Data Management software: http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/PDMRequirements.html

The following sections describe each of the main components and list some FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions) for each area.

Processor (CPU)

The CPU is the most important factor in selecting your system. This also can be the most confusing as to the type, speed, and number. The following FAQ's should help.

Does SolidWorks take advantage of multiple CPU's?

SolidWorks does take advantage of multi-threading and has done for several versions. Therefore, it will take advantage of multi-CPU systems where possible (it is not always possible to multi-thread each stage of the modeling process since some operations are sequential not parallel).

It is not possible to give an accurate number of how much quicker SolidWorks would run on a multi-CPU system, since it will vary depending on the area of the software being used. For some operations it could be up to ~20-25% faster.

Does SolidWorks take full advantage of and recommend hyper-threading?

SolidWorks does not take full advantage of hyper threading. The overall computer performance increase as a result of hyper threading is only around three percent, SolidWorks performance would be expected to decrease.

The only advantage to running hyper threading with SolidWorks would be the fact that running other applications at the same time would be more responsive. SolidWorks shows a slight loss of performance for many operations with Hyper-Threading enabled, and only a slight improvement for a few operations. Hyper-Threading is therefore recommended to be set to off.

Does SolidWorks take benefit from the dual core or multi core?

SolidWorks testing has shown that the Dual Core processors are almost as good performance wise as having two physical processors and of course will be quite a bit cheaper.

Which processor is better for SolidWorks, AMD or Intel?

Both AMD and Intel offer processors which are supported for SolidWorks. These are listed on the System Requriements page www.solidworks.com/pages/services/SystemRequirements.html.

What kind of processors – 32/64 bit?

3D drawing performance is primarily dependant on the speed of your processor and the amount of memory you have…consider a dual-processor or dual core CPU if you are going to be doing a lot of other things besides straight modeling and detailing with SW, like FEA.

RAM

The amount of physical RAM on your system will have a significant effect on performance. If you have enough, you never notice it. If you don't your system will become slow and unstable.

The recommended amount differs based upon the type of modeling you plan to do within SolidWorks. 1GB or more is recommended if you plan on working with complex parts (>200 features) or large assemblies with greater than 1000 components.

Why is it bad to run out of physical RAM?

Once your system runs out of physical RAM it goes to virtual memory. This is disk-based and slow. Always insure you have enough RAM for your type of work with the applications open that you commonly run. Never skimp on RAM.

How much RAM can I access with Windows 2000 or Windows XP?

There is a /3GB switch that can be set. This should be used with 4GB RAM and the system will be able to access ~3GB of RAM for applications. If more memory is needed, use a 64-bit OS.

How can I access more than 4GB or RAM?

Although a 64 Bit application will not necessarily give improvements in performance it does enable applications to access far more memory than a 32 Bit application. This will be a benefit when working with large assemblies. 32 Bit applications can access up to 4GB and 64 Bit applications will be able to access up to 16 TB.

Hard Disk

The hard disk needs to be big and fast. There are many types. Your selection will be based on how much information you need to store on your local computer and whether you will configure a RAID array for performance. Keeping your SolidWorks files on your local is not recommended. SolidWorks recommends the use of a PDM (Product Data Management) system to manage and share information.

Which Hard Drive do I need? (SCSI, Ultra ATA? SATA? Rpm? IDE drive?)

The factors here are speed, data transfer rate, and whether you want to configure them into a RAID array.

How will having a Raid array help performance?

There are different levels of RAID and this allows for multiple hard disk to be accessed at the same time speeding up performance.

This is typically a pretty cheap option as all you need is a RAID controller and additional hard disks. Also remember with a single hard disk, if that fails, you lose your system as well.

What level RAID should I use?

While RAID level 0 is the cheapest (2 disk required), if either hard disk fails, you lose the system. There are higher levels of RAID that require additional disks and offer redundancy.

Virtual Memory

The virtual memory is used by the OS. When RAM usage is high, the CPU dips into the virtual memory to keep all processes running smoothly.

Here are some recommendations:

• Set the minimum and maximum value to the same value so the virtual memory does not become fragmented.
• Make sure the initial values are set to more than (1.5x) the actual physical RAM size.
• Run the Virtual memory on a separate hard disk from the OS and application.

Video Card

The video card is perhaps the most important consideration when selecting a new computer. With regards to video cards, we encourage the use of a video card/driver combination listed on the Graphics Card page mentioned above as passing and that supports functions that the user is interested in (“real view graphics”, dual monitor support, etc).

Note: It is recommends you select a certified graphics card and run the driver that was certified for your version of SolidWorks. For more details visit the SolidWorks Hardware and Graphics card page at: http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/VideoCardTesting.html

Can I use my Game Graphic card with SolidWorks?

While you can, it is not recommended or supported by graphic card makers.

Should I buy the most expensive graphics card?

Having a workstation level graphics card with an up-to-date driver will be more important than buying the most expensive card on the market. From a performance standpoint, the CPU, RAM, and hard disk will effect system performance more.

Operating System

These are a number a couple of choices when it comes to Operating Systems (OS). Outside of selecting a supported OS, the only other consideration is 32-bit vs. 64-bit. This is answered in the FAQ's below.

Does a 64 bit operating system give better performance?

Although a 64 Bit application will not give improvements in performance it does enable applications to access far more memory than a 32 Bit application. This will be a benefit when working with large assemblies. 32 Bit applications can access up to 4GB and 64 Bit applications will be able to access up to 16TB.

If I have a 64-bit OS, should I use the 32-bit or 64-bit version of SolidWorks?

If you have a 64-bit OS, use the 64-bit version of SolidWorks. While you could run the 32-bit version, it is recommended that you run the 64-bit version of SolidWorks as well.

Conclusion

When looking at different options and systems, the best case would be that you test the system in your own environment. When this is not possible, looking at benchmark results can also be useful. Information about available benchmarks can be found on the Hardware and Graphics card page listed below.

Although SolidWorks does not make specific hardware recommendations, SolidWorks will supply information (Graphics Card, System Requirements, best practices, etc.) to help users make informed decisions: http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/VideoCardTesting.html

System maintenance is a vital component in keeping your SolidWorks workstation running smoothly, see the system maintenance tech tip for more details:

http://www.solidworks.com/swexpress/nov03/200311_techtip_04.cfm