advice for Graphic card 2

[Bertus]

I know that the discussion about graphic cards have been passed in this forum and in FAQ's before but i need some advice.

At the moment I work with SW 2004. My system: P4 2.8Gh 1mb cache, 2 Gb DDR and unfortunately a (very good) gaming card nVidia FX 5950 256 mb ultra (real view not supported). The card was about €400 what is approximately $480. Although the card works fine I ‘ve the idea that big assemblies slow down my system a bit. At the moment I work with (sub) assemblies up to 2800 parts in with SW is quite stable.

Of the time I thought that professional graphic cards were to expensive for me, but I saw in the forum that Scott Baugh recommends a quadro fx 500 witch is a lot cheaper than my gaming card!

My question: Would it increase my system a lot when i buy a quadro fx 500? Or is a FX 1100 a better idea, although that card is a bit out of my budget.

Kind regards,

Bert, from the Netherlands

 

[SBaugh]

I have both cards and the 1100 FX out runs the 500 but quite a bit.

See this benchmark for the FX cards

http://www.cgnetworks.com/story_custom.php?story_id=2214&page=1

The 500 FX will may not perform quite that well with that large of an assembly, most likely... depends on Complexity, etc...

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

If you are in the SW Forum Check out the FAQ section

To make the Best of Eng-Tips Forums FAQ731-376

 

[Bertus]

Scott,

Thanks for your reaction and your link.

i was wondering why my system is slow down, but maybe it's not my graphic card but due to something els. Are there tips or forums how you can speed up your system without buying new stuff.

When i use for example 'section view' in a large assembly i am waiting almost minutes. Same when SW updates a assembly. Is that normal? And is that due to my graphic card or due to my system?

Thanks in advance.

Bertus

 

[SBaugh]

Check your Virtual memory, watch your Task manager (Performance) for changes and memory being used.

How complicated is your assembly?

How many parts, and assemblies are in your assembly?

For a complicated to semi-complicated assy. A minute isn't that bad, but it does tend to show a slow down.

Could be a SP issue possibly too?

You must keep less than 300 Top level mates to maintain speed as well. If you have more than this. Try reducing those.

Check out these links maybe there is something there:

http://www.scottjbaugh.com/Tips_Tricks/Tips_Tricks.htm

http://www.eng-tips.com/faq.cfm?pid=559

http://www.solidworks.com/swexpress/mar04/200403_techtip_02.cfm

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

If you are in the SW Forum Check out the FAQ section

To make the Best of Eng-Tips Forums FAQ731-376

 

[Bertus]

Thanks a lot for the very interested links. I've used and followed all tips and it works out but unfortunately not very much.

According to the performance; the amount of used memory is quite stable. Sometimes there are peaks but not very often. The taskmanager shows that from the 4000mb available memory 1200mb is constanly used. On the other hand my CPU is not very stable. Its continue about 50% with a lot of peaks up to 100%. Especially by switching between windows. Normal?

I don't really know what you mean by complicated. I don't have the idea that they are very complex. I use a lot of sheetmetal with a big number of patterns. But i won't supress them.

My assembly has 10 assemblies in itself with 2800 parts and 30 toplevel mates. In the assembly are 300 unique parts and totally 300 subassemblies. In one of the 10 assembly is one wiht 440 toplevelmates so looking to your prevoius answer could that be a problem. But shall reducing toplevel mates fix everything?

Thanks a lot so far!

Regards,

Bertus

 

[SBaugh]

There is your slow downs! Sheetmetal (not that big of a deal, but complexity would matter) Lots of patterns or a big number of patterns. That's one reason why your probably running so slow. And yes 440 Top level mates will cause it to run slower. Decrease your mates there and make a configuration of the part(s) with a large number of patterns. Suppress the patterns in on config and not the other. If you made a config in the assembly that used those suppress configs then your assembly would speed up on load and rebuild times.

SW rebuilds each feature included all those patterns. So if you have a large # of patterns and your only waiting a minute then your probably doing fine... for now.

To help open the file faster use "Large assembly mode".

One other thing you can do is lower your Image quality down, if you have it turned up. That would probably help too.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

If you are in the SW Forum Check out the FAQ section

To make the Best of Eng-Tips Forums FAQ731-376

 

[Bertus]

Ok, this is really helpful. I haven't a clou yet how to make configuration but with the help topics i will find out.

I work alone so i haven't people with experience around me who can tell me what is normal and what's not, so i am very glad with you tips and suggestions.

Thanks!

Regards Bertus

 

[SBaugh]

Glad to see that helped you!

Configurations - Click on the third tab in the Feature mananger and then RMB (Right Mouse Button) click on the File name and select "Add configuration"

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

If you are in the SW Forum Check out the FAQ section

To make the Best of Eng-Tips Forums FAQ731-376

 

[Mindnumb]

You might want to check out if you can softmod your gard to a quadro. the processors of the gaming and workstation cards ar essentially like, but differ on bios and driver level. this way you will be able to test if there is any gain. i am not sure how well it works for your card, and it might not work with all drivers. i have tried this with geforce2 and geforce4 cards with great success.

http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=104105

Do a search for rivatuner.

Best of luck.