Are you looking for a new SolidWorks workstation? You may have already reviewed the SolidWorks 2012 Hardware FAQ available on our website which will help guide you toward SolidWorks certified systems (http://www.javelin-tech.com/main/support/solidworks_2012_hardware_faq.htm).
However, you could still be faced with huge list of options when selecting a system from a major manufacturer, and if you are building your own custom system you have even more choices to make.
3DConnexion SpaceNavigator
Like many folks, I’ve had a 3D motion controller sitting on or near my desk for years now. One of
the things that frustrated me with motion controllers in general, and specifically the motion
controllers manufactured by 3DConnexion, was that their usage was limited to a very, very few
applications. 3DConnexion has addressed this little hiccup with their 3DxWare 10 driver platform.
Are you thinking of upgrading your laptop and optimizing your SolidWorks experience?
Here are my personal suggestions for what you should be looking for.
For the processor I would recommend an Intel i5 or an i7, depending on your budget. For general SolidWorks users, I would recommend an i5 processor with a speed of 2.5 GHZ or faster. If you are doing a lot of simulation I recommend an i7, because simulation does a lot of calculations and a better processor will produce faster results.
If you use, or are planning on purchasing in the near future, a HP Z800 workstation running Windows 7 x64 that has 64 GB or more of RAM installed and NVidia Quadro graphics, you could run into a driver compatibility problem that will prevent SolidWorks from running unless Software OpenGL mode is used.
SolidWorks actually uses multi-thread technology for certain functions. This is different from when we talk about multi-cores. Multi-core describes the CPU. It is the operating system that ultimately decides what Core each Thread runs on. Windows 7 is said to utilize multiple processors more efficiently compared to Vista.
The virtual memory on your computer should be adjusted to provide optimum performance, and minimum fragmentation. While this guide is written for Windows XP, the changes and settings are also fully applicable to other Windows operating system (however the locations of the menus in question may be different).
To properly adjust your virtual memory, you need to know how much physical memory, or RAM, is on the system. You can find this by going to Start-> All Programs-> Accessories-> System Tools-> System Information. Within the System Summary section of the system information window, find the Total Physical Memory. This is your RAM.
When a computer is unstable and consistently crashes, many people turn to the software that is running on it as the root cause of the crashing issue. Many do not realize that stability problems lie much deeper.
With today’s demanding applications, one being SolidWorks, vulnerabilities can be exposed in a computer’s stability much more abruptly than if someone were running just Internet Explorer and Word all day.
This is where the computer’s BIOS comes in. The BIOS of the computer controls all low-level functionality of a computer’s internal components, and is initialized on computer boot up. Just as it is important to upgrade your hardware drivers in your computer (Videocard, chipset, etc…you ARE doing this, aren’t you?) the BIOS is equally, if not MORE important in keeping up to date. Motherboard manufacturers constantly make improvements to the BIOS programs that run their products, and periodically release updates to address bugs and issues that occur in the motherboards themselves.
Further to this, video card manufacturers (namely nVidia and ATI) also release BIOS updates to their video card offerings. In the same way the computer’s main BIOS controls the motherboard, video card BIOS’s control low-level settings on the video card that are also initialized on computer startup.
I always find it surprising when I visit customer sites and see computers that have BIOS’s that are years out of date. I have had many instances where simply updating these outdated components, has improved SolidWorks and application performance dramatically, practically eliminating crashing issues. If you find your computer crashing consistently, consider contacting your IT Department and have them perform these steps. Any experienced computer tech should have no problem doing this (not for the faint of heart).
As a matter of fact, if I am building a new system, the first thing I do after the system is built is update BIOS components with the latest versions available from the motherboard manufacturer’s website. After a fresh install of Windows, I ALWAYS install all latest hardware drivers also. This is crucially important. Although Windows comes with a large array of built-in drivers, they are never optimized for best performance. You will only get high-performance, certified and tested drivers from the manufacturer’s website. The most important drivers that are a MUST to update are your video card driver (make sure to get the SolidWorks certified driver from SolidWorks, if that is what you are running) and the motherboard’s chipset drivers.
I am always happy to answer any questions you may have on the above, or anything else computer related. Feel free to contact me at dan.gamsby@javelin-tech.com
Happy upgrading!
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