Dual processor vs dual core on NX CAD system 1

[asadi2013]

Hi,

I was wondering if having two physical processor is better than one physical processor with more cores in NX CAD. Example 2 physical 4 core vs 1 physical 8 core. Will it drastically reduce the rebuilt time with 2 physical processor than 1 physical with higher cores.

Thanks

 

[cowski]

Will it drastically reduce the rebuilt time

No.
In benchmarking, you'll see a marginal improvement with multiple processors vs multiple cores; but in day to day work you'll not notice the difference.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[MASawtell]

Refresh my hazy memory but NX is still a "single processor program", right?

 

[cowski]

Refresh my hazy memory but NX is still a "single processor program", right?

Mostly, but there are some operations in modeling and CAM that will take advantage of multiple processing units (boolean operations, regenerating toolpaths, etc). If you search the forum there are other threads that give more specific information.

Also, don't forget to set the option to enable multiple processor support with NX. In older NX versions the default was set to not use multiple processors/cores (before multi-core had gone mainstream), I'm not sure if that has changed with recent versions or not.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[looslib]

If I remember right, the multi processor support variable ONLY works with multiple processors, not multi-core chips, which are a 'single' processor.

There is also a performance hit with multicore processors.
1 core/1 cpu = 100%
1 core/2 cpu = 200%
2 core/1 cpu = 160%
4 core/1 cpu = 240%

Hyperthreading a CPU also cuts the relative performance.

What multicore chips do allow is processes to run on a 'dedicated' core, so you do get some slight performance boost when running the typical 4-6 apps that we all seem to have open these days. Each Web Browser tab is a separate process, so take that into account.


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

Ben Loosli

 

[aluminum2]

Depending on other components either one could be faster. The speed of your computer doesn't just depend on the CPU. I also don't think anyone would notice a difference with either configuration running a CAD system.

 

[JohnRBaker]

NX supports both dual CPU's and Dual Core CPU's equally (although from an architectural point of view, multiple CPU's are always slightky better than a single multt-core CPU). However, you do need to enable this by setting the UGII_SMP_ENABLE environment variable equal to '1'.

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