Slow performance with my dual xeon Quad cores

[tmalinski]

I am experiencing very slow performance with my Dell T5400 with Dual Xeon Quad Core processors, 4gb ram. I don't think it's solid works specifically because some of my other applications just seem slow, even when I do File Open in SW the icons associated to file names in Detail view are so slow to generate. I count them as they generate 1,2,3,slow. I also have a complex part with 90 little loft features that are arrayed and I need to fillet each of them to the face they are attached to. What I don't understand is when I create a fillet around just one of them it takes 15 seconds, but my Task manager shows processor performance only at 12% on only a few of the processor windows. If the fillet is so complex why isn't my CPU applying 100% on all processors to get it done quicker?
I suspect there is a problem in general with my PC, but any suggestions would be helpful.

Tom Malinski

http://www.okayind.com/

Dell Prec T5400, dual Xeon 3.16,
4GB Ram, Nvidia Quadra FX 5600
SWorks Premium 2009 SP 1 PDMWorks

 

[MadMango]

Do you have desktop search indexing enabled (forgot actual name)? How do things look when you bring up the Task Manager?

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[tmalinski]

No, windows search is disabled. Task manager shows 12 to 17% processor usage and all eight processor windows are active. Shows 2gb ram still available. All indications is everything is normal. But SW is so slow just to generate the icons when browsing files. I also noticed when SW is running that I launch AutoCad and it takes forever to come up. Without SW it comes up in a second or two
Is there any performance issues with SW2009 SP1?
I have the latest video drivers for my nvidia, and I work local off of my D Drive. I'm thinking of reformatting and reinstalling everything.

Tom Malinski

http://www.okayind.com/

Dell Prec T5400, dual Xeon 3.16,
4GB Ram, Nvidia Quadra FX 5600
SWorks Premium 2009 SP 1 PDMWorks

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Quad cores are wasted on SW. It is not coded to use quad cores, except for FEA or rendering. Regular modeling calculations will only use one core.

Is Indexing also disabled?

XP or Vista, x32 or x64?

While scanning the forums I have been noticing that users with the most problems are running quad cores, especially xeon quads. It may be because they are becoming more prevalent and stand out, but there are still loads of duals and even P4's around.

 

[AnnaWood]

Many folks with issues are running Xeon Quad cores. Xeons run with higher latency fully buffered dimms which are a bit of a drag on perfomance.

Need to know the specific model of Xeon you have to see what vintage (old or newer) of cpu core. Newer cpu architecture tends to be faster at the same clock speed.

Tom, spend some time over on the forums at SW in the performance and hardware sub-forums. There are multiple threads there that may have hints on improving your system performance.

http://forum.solidworks.com/

There are multiple things going on, some hardware, some OS and some SW that are probably causing you grief.

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

 

[mechengdude]

Some of the other posters are correct, multiple cores don't help SolidWorks per se. Now if you are trying to run a bunch of other programs at the same time the additional cores will help.

You may have a bottle neck in your graphics card. Are you running a certified graphics card?

 

[tmalinski]

Yes, Nvidia Quadra FX 5600 with the latest drivers
OK so if quad cores are not beneficial they should still perform at a relatively fast pace. I don't think the quad processors are to blame for my icons in "detail view" generating at a very slow pace when I browse for files with SW File/Open. When I first start SW its as if the icon generation is writing to cash or something. I can litterally count them as they generate.
Maybe my swap file is not set right. What should it be set to for 4gb ram?

Tom Malinski

http://www.okayind.com/

Dell Prec T5400, dual Xeon 3.16,
4GB Ram, Nvidia Quadra FX 5600
SWorks Premium 2009 SP 1 PDMWorks

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

I have mine set to 8176 MB, but that shouldn't affect the general slowness of your system.

Go to Start > Control Panel > System > System Properties > Performance Options and select Adjust for best performance. This will switch off all the unnecessary fluff and should result in some performance improvement.

If not you have some deeper problems. The quads themselves should not slow your system.

 

[tmalinski]

FYI everybody, I uninstalled SW, cleaned out all remnants of SW files folders and temp stuff including my registry. Reinstalled SP2.1 fresh
System is much better. the icons generate quick as they should, and all seems ok. I'll have to see if it still crashes and freeze up like it did.
Thanks all for your help
Tom

Tom Malinski

http://www.okayind.com/

Dell Prec T5400, dual Xeon 3.16,
4GB Ram, Nvidia Quadra FX 5600
SWorks Premium 2009 SP 1 PDMWorks