Catia V5R18 hardware requirements

[zyx82]

I am trying to setup Catia V5R18 on a machine with the following specs.:

Summary:

Computer:
Computer Type ACPI Multiprocessor x64-based PC
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)

Motherboard:
CPU Type DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo E8200, 2666 MHz (8 x 333) 6Mb L2 Cache
Motherboard Name Asus P5KPL (3 PCI, 1 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Bearlake G31
System Memory 2048 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)
DIMM1: Kingston KTC1G-UDIMM 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
DIMM3: Kingston KTC1G-UDIMM 1 GB DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-18 @ 400 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz)
BIOS Type AMI (02/29/08)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter ASUS NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT Silent(512 MB DDR2)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT
Monitor SAMSUNG SyncMaster 2243NW/2243NWX [NoDB] (HMEQ904751)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Realtek ALC662 @ Intel 82801GB ICH7 - High Definition Audio Controller [A-1]

Storage:
Disk Drive ST3500320AS (500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)
Optical Drive ASUS DRW-20B1ST
Optical Drive CLKDO QVS1I7S96F SCSI CdRom Device
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Input:
Keyboard HID Keyboard Device
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse HID-compliant mouse
Mouse Wacom Mouse
Network:
Network Adapter Atheros L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Controller.

The problem is that by 3D assembly model that I handled on a lower configuration machine, on witch I know why it worked better, the machine being a DELL Precision T3400 with Nvidia QuadroFX 570 with 256 MB RAM, having same 2Gb System RAM, same OS.
The problem is that rotating, panning, zooming on the first mentioned machine works very bad (hooking, hanging, very low frame rate). On the other side on the DELL station the things are working just fine.
Can some one tell me what can I do to improve the frame rate on the first NO NAME machine, maybe driver updates, hardware changes (other RAM modules, other Graphic Adapter), Catia display settings tweaks...
Thank you in advance for your attention.

 

[ferdo]

Hi,

Are you working with cache system, load and visualize first the cgr files ?

If you will search the forum you will find topics about working with big assemblies....

Regards
Fernando

 

[MarkAF]

Hi zyx82,

I think that your video card is the source of your trouble. It is a very low-end gaming card, and I would estimate it is not powerful enough and also potentially unstable for running Catia.

I would strongly recommend that you get a Quadro card, similar to the one in your older computer. While they tend to be expensive, something like the Quadro FX1700 is not too expensive and would be a huge step up in graphics ability.

Catia tends to be picky about video hardware and drivers, and using a Quadro card will allow you to use the specialized and Dassault certified drivers. This will give you the best stability for your system. Many of the "Click OK to Terminate" errors seem to be related to graphics issues, that are minimized by using certified hardware.

If you are unwilling or unable to spend the money on a Quadro card, then I think you at least need to buy a better game card. My home computer has a GeForce 8800GTS card, that works fairly well with Catia. I suggest a GeForce 8800 at a minimum. However, you may need to experiment to find a video driver that works best.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[catiajim]

Yes, it is the Graphics Card. The GeForce is indeed a gaming card, and as such does not have hardware support for OpenGL, the graphics language the CATIA uses.