Do you use a HP Z800 with 64GB or more of RAM? PLEASE READ…

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.

So the criteria checklist is:
– HP Z800
– Windows 7 x64
– NVidia Quadro graphics, and

–  64 GB RAM or more (this is the key factor)

HP was able to determine that the problem occured when the workstation had over 64 GB of RAM.  If your workstation meets or exceeds this RAM amount, please download and install the 261.30 Rev. A (released 14 Jan 2011) driver as supplied by HP.  Here’s the direct link: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12454&prodSeriesId=3718645&prodNameId=3718646&swEnvOID=2104&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=wk-90481-1

Driver filename is sp51690.exe (125 MB).

This driver has not yet been certified by SolidWorks, but they are aware of this issue and are in the process of evaluating it.

If your Z800 has less than 64 GB RAM, then install and use the current “SolidWorks certified” driver as listed on SolidWorks website:
http://www.solidworks.com/downloads/videocarddriver/hp/sp50448.exe (259.57)