Workstation suggestion

[biff44]

I am building up a new workstation to do heavy duty electronic analysis calculations. I would also like it to work well with Solidworks.

I notice that Solidworks has a list of "supported" graphics cards. Prominant in the list are the Nvidia Quadro cards.

Not being a computer geek, I am wondering what would happen if I had a workstation that did not have one of the suggested cards. Lets say it had a GeForce GTX590, with something like 1024 CUDA Cores in it? Would that work as well, or do I really need something like a Quadro FX4800?

The reason I ask is there are some pretty incredible deals on "gaming" computers out there with overclocked I7 2600K chips in them. But none of them are available with a Quadro video card. To get such a card, I need to go to much higher priced Xeon type processors. It seems that I would have to pay almost 2X to get what, on paper, seems to be the same performance from a computer that someone lists as a "workstation".

http://www.MaguffinMicrowave.com

Maguffin Microwave wireless design consulting

 

[biff44]

In a related question, How do you guys feel about Solid State Drives with the Solidworks program on them. Does Solidworks write to the hard drive a lot, and doing so would eventually cause a SSD to fail from too many write/read cycles?

Any computer I build will probably have at least 16 GB of high speed ram on it, but I suspect the hard drive is used a lot too.

http://www.MaguffinMicrowave.com

Maguffin Microwave wireless design consulting

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

What is your budget for a new system?

Using GeForce or Radeon cards is a 'crap shoot'. Some people have great performance with them, others have nothing but problems. The RealView function will not be available.

You do not need to got to Xeon machines to get an i7 2600K CPU and an nVidia Quadro or ATI FirePro card.
Lots of good info at

https://forum.solidworks.com/thread/42836

SSD's are great but are best used only for non-volatile data (OS, and main program installs). Volatile data would be better kept on a fast HDD. Although the R/W cycles of newer SSDs have been drastically improved.

 

[tummen]

The differens between CAD/Workstation Videocards and gaming cards is biggest when you use lines. Shaded 3d models are working fast on both but with visible edges or when you are skeching the gaming cards have bad performance according to the explenations i have got a few years ago.
If you buy your computer from dell you can buy a lower rande quadro fx then 4800 and still get the cpu you want.
Im running on a computer with 2 Q FX 580 one for each monitor. they are not as expensive and not as super as 4xxx but still safer then a gaming card.

 

[biff44]

Thanks, a lot of good ideas on that thread. I noticed a lot of people talking about 500W power supplies, but I figured out yesterday that might be a big mistake. Some of the better graphics cards need something like 12V at 39 amps! I think a 1000W supply is not overkill!

I guess the choice is xeon processor/I7 980 type/I7 2600K type or wait 5 months for the new X79 chips to come out and really build a smokin rig.

http://www.MaguffinMicrowave.com

Maguffin Microwave wireless design consulting

 

[EEnd]

I would stick with the Quadro cards. I have had good luck with their entry (Quadro 600) and mid-range (Quadro 2000) cards. They do not have the performance specs of a similarly priced gaming card. However with SolidWorks, the increase in performance is minor and the software is much more stable / reliable when using certified cards and drivers.

Eric

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Try this for PSU output

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

 

[KirbyWan]

I have used gaming cards to run SolidWorks with a couple of sudden crashes, but not very often and none in the last couple of years. If you can accept the occasional glitch you can go with the gaming card, but there is no need to get a Xeon process just to get a Quaddro. I went with a gaming card on my home system because I also enjoy the occasional game/flight sim.

Kirby Wilkerson

Remember, first define the problem, then solve it.

 

[ws000]

i have 2 rigs, one for simulations and one for CAD development:

Simulation rig:

HPz600 , Dual Xeon X5650
24GB RAM (some times there is not enough RAM if the model is crazy large)
300GB SAS on RAID0 (not too much help, perhaps Raid 1 would be better off?)

CAD Rig: (will upgrade soon) 3 yr old system
Q9500, 4GB
500GB SATA on Gigabyte mobo

Put my older CAD system a side, I can almost 100% utilize my HP system if the simulation environment contains many input parameters or even under batch simulation mode. Unless you are extnesively running simulations, otherwise stay away from this config. (it just cost too darn much!) I choose SAS over SSD because of the aging effect of the SSDs.... too much of a risk in a business. btw a nice Quadro FX3800 is more then sufficient for simulation (or try ATI cards now since DS providing a much better support)

However, as for my new CAD system, i will go:
i7 + 16GB RAM on a nice gaming board
intel SSD overclock to 4+GHz
perhaps i will give the firepro8800 just to try it out.....

 

[rbpmc]

I'm not a computer guy by any stretch, but a colleague told me once that the real difference between higher end CAD graphics cards and a high end gamer card isn't about speed, or memory, but it's really about precision and accuracy.

 

[ws000]

Your colleague is right. Speed of course has somethings to do with the card but the main question is, what applications are you trying to run? 3dS or SW....etc? they run very differently.

Usually the gaming video hardware is almost the same as the CAD system hardware with some minor twist such as GPU pipeline lock up & slower RAM. The highend graphics card comes into play when your model is large and consists of thousands of parts. Under many circumstances we don't need that type of cards.

don't ever use gaming cards on CAD software because their drivers are only tuned for high speed computations, whereas CAD cards are tuend for precision computations. Just consider what would you drive to a race and a Car show, a BMW or a Rolls Royce?

SW only uses openGL so just choose a card that runs the best in openGL. At the moment I would suggest ATI firepro cards for the price/performance ratio. (But I am a Nivdia fan )