Solid Works 2001 vs. 2005 1

[kdd282]

Greetings,

We are using Solidworks 2001. We are considering upgrading to 2005. We are reviewing enhancements in the product to find out if it’s really beneficial to upgrade. Any input would be helpful. Thanks.

 

[SolidsMaster]

Yes, if you got the funding do it!! Don't look back. Cautionary note though, if your computers are as old as your software, include that in the upgrade...at least RAM and OS. Good luck, and there will be a learning curve, the UI is quite different, but it will grow on you.

Save all your files before converting, or use the batch conversion with saved copies before doing any opening. With that difference in software, you may have a few glitches depending on how complicated your models are. I've only had one problem over the years that had me nervous...but my VAR sent it off to HQ and they found the problem and it was a quick fix to my model. Later.

John

 

[ctopher]

ditto
SolidsMaster is correct.
2005 is worth it. Huge diff between the two versions, but depends on how design complicated you need it for.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

 

[Regg]

2x ditto

2005 has a lot of nice features including the ones added in 2003 & 2004 (its been so long cannot remember what 2001+ added). Do as SolidMaster suggests. Backup. When I went from 2001+ to 2003, SW changed the way it evaluated mates and I found many that were now over defined. In some cases, I had to go back to 2001+ to fix them there before converting them to 2003. I would imagine that not everyone had this problem and I do not have anything from 2001+ laying around anymore to test with 2005.

My 2 cents

Regg

 

[SolidsMaster]

most of the problems I had was with Planes and draft combinations.

John

 

[Theophilus]

Conversions/updates will always be a bit of a pain--especially from that long ago in terms of major releases.

For a quick list of enhanced items in 2005, see:

http://www.solidworks.com/pages/products/solidworks/WhatsNew.html?PID=3

http://www.solidworks.com/pages/products/solidworks/featuresandbenefits.html?PID=3

http://www.solidworks.com/pages/products/swofficepro/index.html

Because I'm an industrial designer, the surfacing and spline stuff has been an amazing addition since 2001--much more powerful by far, and the model geometry on some of the more complex features I use is also more stable.

You'll need to upgrade your computer if you want to see the same response time in 2005--it's more intense and needs more resources. Check this forum for all sorts of advice on that topic by performing a search--plenty already posted on workstations, etc.


Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reality is no respecter of good intentions.