System requirements

[mharmon]

We are purchasing Autodesk Inventor 10 and upgrading to 11 when it becomes available. Any suggestions on hardware specifications for large assembly design. I know what autodesk recommends and I would appreciate any advice.

 

[DesignerMike]

This has been discussed at great length on the autodesk discussion group, and

http://www.mcadforums.com/forums/

1) Serious RAM...if possible wait for a 64 bit machine so you can use more than 3GB

2) Graphics card is probably more important...Most users prefer the Nvidia, but ATI is making some major improvements. Get as much as you can afford.

3) Most CPUs are not the bottleneck, IV doesn't utilize the dual processors very well (if at all), so it won't help IV performance much from what I hear.

4) Hard disk transfer speed and access time will help.

Probably more important: Keep the machine CLEAN. If I had my way, I would have a machine for Inventor ONLY. No web-browsing, no e-mail, no accounting software or photo editing etc. Put that on a cheap machine right next to it, and let Inventor take all the resources. That way you can browse the web or type e-mail while you are opening that huge drawing that takes 10 minutes to open.

 

[xgrigorix]

I've heard mixed results on anyting above 2GB of RAM. If you do have over 2GB of RAM, there is a virtual switch that must be engaged in order to allow inventor is utilize the additional RAM. Autodesk forums will have more information on this particular issue.

And yes, graphics card & driver are extremely important. Get the list of certified cards/drivers from Autodesk, and hand that to your IT department. Fight tooth & nail to get the biggest baddest one on that list.