2015 NX Workstation recommendation 4

[JDub74]

Greetings All,

My company is going to be purchasing new workstations very soon. These will be running NX 9, Teamcenter 10 and some will be used for FactoryCAD and Process Simulate. We've been buying the Dell T3610 but those are being phased out. We prefer Dell workstations. Currently considering the Dell 7810. We have the option of ordering dual processors but we're leaning toward a single 8 core Xeon processor. Are there any big advantages to a dual processor setup for NX 9. I'm hoping someone can chime in here. An 8 core Xeon is pretty beefy. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[JohnRBaker]

If all things are equal, it's generally batter to have TWO quad-core CPU's than a SINGLE 8-core CPU.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[looslib]

There is an overhead performance hit when you have more cores on a chip. You will see slightly better performance from 2 quad-core processors than a single 8-core system. 4 dual-core chips would even be better, but they are hard to find.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli

 

[JDub74]

Thanks for the fast response. I'll pass on the dual processor recommendation. How about graphics cards? There is a pretty large selection in the 7810 model. We like to stick with the Nvidia Quadro line and don't typically go for dual cards though I wouldn't completely rule it out.

 

[JDub74]

Would dual 4 GB Quadro K4200's outperform a single 8 GB Quadro K5200? Price is about the same...

 

[JohnRBaker]

I'd go for the single, more capable card.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[aluminum2]

From what I remember NX is a single threaded program which means that it will only use one core. There are circumstances where multiple coes can be used, but I don't think they are in modeling. As far as cost goes your probably better off getting a single quad core with the largest bus multiplier ( rated ghz).

It also can depend on your motherboard which chip configuration is better. Anyway two quad cores can have an advantage because the cpu cache and the ram channels are doubled. But I don't think the average person can tell the difference, especially running NX. Probably the best upgrade for the money would be an SSD drive, everybody can tell the difference.

 

[JDub74]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe NX can utilize multiple cores as of NX 9. I can't say if or how much it helps in modeling. It looks like we're going for the single 8 core Xeon E5-2630 v3 (8C, 2.4GHz, Turbo, HT, 20M, 85W). The second processor added another thousand dollars to the quote so that was ruled out. For the video card we're going with the 8 GB NVIDIA Quadro K5200. We only order SSD drives these days. It's crazy not to at this point.

 

[SDETERS]

Are you doing any FEA work? Then the NX nastran can utilize the multiple cores. Just a thought.

 

[cowski]

NX has been able to utilize multiple cores for a number of releases, but by and large, NX (modeling application) will do better with a faster clock vs more cores. I think a quad-core is (was?) the performance/price sweet spot for NX (modeling). NX can get a boost when needed, otherwise the other cores can be used by system processes and other running programs. If you are running CAM or simulations, then more cores could be an advantage.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[JohnRBaker]

Actually NX has supported SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) since the last millennium (well, at least as far back as Unigraphics V16.0 released in 1999).

In the beginning this was limited to only the Parasolid kenel, but over the years more SMP support has been added to both Parasolid as well as selected NX processes. As mentioned previously, CAM has recently introduced some opportunities to utilize more than single core configurations. Also, when we added the built-in 'movie' capture function to NX, that takes advantage of a secondary core. And while it is true that NX itself can only take use up to four cores, additional cores will allow other applications to run on your system without having a big impact on NX. Also note that NX Nastran can take advantage of more than four cores. Depending on how the Nastran solver is set-up, it can spread a analysis run over as many as 128 cores at once.

So the bottom line, get at least four cores if all you're running is NX, and more cores if NX is only one of the primary applications that might be running or is you intend to do any sort of structural analysis (CAE/FEM) type work.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Lunar7]

Hi,

I think that the single 8 core Xeon E5-2630 v3 (8C, 2.4GHz, Turbo, HT, 20M, 85W)is the wrong choice, look for something with a higher clock speed and less cores.

I'd suggest the Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-1630 v3 (10M Cache, 3.70 GHz) or Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2637 v3 (15M Cache, 3.50 GHz), which are both 4 core

I have just seen an HP z620 that was brought for NX Cam with a 6 Core 2.4Ghz Xeon have to be replaced because it was slow compared to a 4 year old Z400

Also look at as much RAM as possible. and how it is configured (4 x 4gb may be better than 1x16 or 2x8 depending on the motherboard used)

I'm currently running a Z620
2x Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2637 v2 (15M Cache, 3.50 GHz)
Quadro K4000
32GB RAM (4x4 on MB 4x4 on the 2 processor riser card)
256gb SSD.

I'm my case the K4000 Card works really fell running 2 27" screens, not sure if the K5200 would give any real advantage unless your doing a lot of rendering or are thinking of 4K screens ?

If I was to replace this today I would look at the newer V3 Processor the K4200 and a bigger SSD

 

[EngProgrammer]

We are running Hewlett-Packard workstation. Model HP Z420

 

[aluminum2]

NX 9 and above being able to use up to 4 cores or more for everything. Thats great!!! I can't wait until my company upgrades.

 

[cowski]

NX 9 and above being able to use up to 4 cores or more for everything.

Slow down there, my metallic friend...
NX modeling can use up to 4 cores for certain tasks (e.g. booleans, movie capture, some display operations, etc), it will not utilize multiple cores for everything.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[stephlouv]

As a pure drafter, the bottleneck of my job is updating drawings.
Looks this is using only a single core/thread.
To me, the better is looking for fastest raw power single thread CPU. (Highest clockspeed/Cache, but this is not always true)

"My english is bad ? That's why i'am french."

 

[JohnRBaker]

Actually the computation of the Hidden Lines takes advantage of multiple cores, so there is an impact on Drafting.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[JDub74]

Now that is good to hear. I've seen plenty of NX sessions crash while trying to regenerate complex views in drafting. Typically these are complex views with hidden lines though not always. I've also seen a lot of detail views (view in circle) that will repeatedly crash an NX session.

 

[JohnRBaker]

IF ANY session of NX crashes, PLEASE immediately contact GTAC and let them know. You should save any syslog from sessions like that as they will need to see them.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[JDub74]

John, if all the people at GTAC were as enthusiastic about NX as you are I would be happy to do that. Unfortunately my experience has been nothing like that. Most of the tickets I've opened go round and round for a month or two and finally they close the ticket because they can't resolve the issue or can't duplicate it. I've been dealing with GTAC for at least 15 years now. I will try to stay positive though and do as you suggest.