Acceptable workstation for SW2009 on shoe string budget?? 1

[helbling34]

Can anyone recommend an acceptable workstation to run SolidWorks 2009 on while on a shoe string budget? Since Vista is a bit lacking and it's unclear if SW likes it, I would like to use Windows XP but be able to upgrade to Vista or its replacement in the future if needed. Is Dell the way to go? 4GB of RAM? 2 Quad processor? Quadro or FireGL card?

I'm currently using a Dell Dimension 2400 (Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz; 1.25 GB RAM) with XP and SW2008.

Thanks!

 

[AnnaWood]

What is your budget? Do you use PhotoWorks or do FEA? How feature rich and/or big are the models/asm you work on?

The fasted cpu you can afford. Core 2 Duo for core SW and quad core if you do a lot of rendering or FEA.

4 gigs minimum RAM.

Quadro card first choice FX570 or better, second choice an ATI FirePro card V3700 or better.

Order of importance for components is CPU, CPU, CPU, then RAM and video card.

I would not spec anything less then 2.8 Ghz, with 3.2 Ghz being the preference for minimum CPU speed. This is for C2Q or C2D.

Also look at Core i7 cpu's, although they will be more expensive. Core i7 is the new standard for cpu architecture from Intel. At the moment you will need to order from Xi Computer if you go OEM.

If you go with an OEM such as Dell, put the lowest amount of memory in the system, then buy aftermarket from

http://www.newegg.com

Cheers,



Anna Wood
SW2008 SP5.0, Windows Vista SP1
IBM ThinkPad T61p, T7800, FX570M, 4 gigs of RAM

http://www.solidmuse.com

http://www.phxswug.com

 

[GregLocock]

How does quad core help with FEA?

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[ATDENGINEERING]

I've had what I consider to be a good experience with Dell workstations so far.

If you are on a tight budget, you might want to check out what the Dell outlet has to offer.

The "outlet factor" worried me a little at first, but I have no complaints after recently purchasing two Precision M4400 laptops, and I believe them to be very decent computers for the price.

 

[AnnaWood]

Depending on how the FEA code is written, many of the solvers will utilize all the cores available to them. You will see 100% cpu usage in the task manager for all the cores.

On the rendering side, the rendering code will use all the cores up to 100%.

Cheers,



Anna Wood
SW2008 SP5.0, Windows Vista SP1
IBM ThinkPad T61p, T7800, FX570M, 4 gigs of RAM

http://www.solidmuse.com

http://www.phxswug.com