Hardware spec for SolidWorks beginner

I've got a design team who are currently using computers (home made) with
Pentium III 700MHz processors and 256Mb.

I'm not a CAD professional, I've just been brought in to sort out the IT
area, and the CAD equipment has come under my remit. The engineers, however,
tell me that the kit they're using is too slow - to rotate models, for
example, they need to reduce the complexity first, as otherwise it isn't
possible in a reasonable amount of time.

To help solve their problem, I need to be able to compare their current
equipment with new kit that I'm proposing to buy, as follows;

Dell Precision Workstation 650 (or another Dell, or the Compaq equivalent,
if there is any - no other manufacturers are authorised by the IT
Department)

2 x Intel Xeon 3.06GHz
2Gb memory

40Gb IDE disk 1, 80Gb IDE disk 2

nVidia QuadroFX500 graphics card

20" Ultrasharp LCD

Gigabit network cards (Design network runs at 100/1000)

Does this specification sound well balanced for SolidWorks? The application
is vehicle manufacturing.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

You should compare the fully equipped Dell work station with HP (former
Compaq) workstations when fully equipped, since Dell seem prone to have a
low starting price, but when you fill it up to your needs the price may well
have passed an HP machine, equally equipped.
Others may have something to say about balancing one of two expensive
processors to serial ATA or SCSI hard drives and/or faster graphics. The old
Quadro 750 or higher XGL's seems faster in tests than the new (budget model)
Quadro FX500. But an FX 1000 should be faster still.
/per

 

Doug,

The overall specs look pretty good. You may want to kick up the graphics a
notch to an FX10000 though.

HP doesn't market a CAD worthy machine under the Compaq name anymore. All
the good stuff is HP.

Dell offers quit a few options as well.

One thing you do need to know is that a well spec'd "white box" machine will
out perform the best from HP and Dell for allot less $. It will be just as
reliable too.

The big boys compete on price, so they tend to go the cheapest route. Mother
board makers like Supermicro, Asus, and Gigabyte, compete on performance
(IO). All three of these companies use first quality components. We have
several Supermicro servers that have been running day and night for years
with zero downtime. Our workstations are Supermicro and ASUS, again zero
problems, and very fast.

Regards

Mark

 

Dale,

Many thanks for your comprehensive answer. The comments yourself and Per
have made have given me some areas to look at in more depth. In particular,
I think I'll look at using a SCSI subsystem instead of IDE, and finance that
by dropping the second processor. I did think about allocating SolidWorks
solely to the second processor, and leaving the first to do the dogsbody
tasks such as handling email.

I do want to run a certified graphics system, and I'd rather spend money on
graphics cards that really do the job rather than try to push a cheaper card
just to save a few quid.

Luckily, the engineers don't do a lot of web surfing. Well, none at all,
really - there isn't an internet connection in their office! (thats another
item on the long list of things to do!)

Regards,

Doug

 

I was going to say that SCSI will only pay off if people load a LOT of files
every day. I was thinking that it would make sense for someone who is doing
a lot of drawings, but for engineers who are working on a few parts each day
it would be hard to justify. Then I did a quick estimate of time saved. I
think I only spend a few minutes a day, maybe 10 or 15, loading and saving
files. If I could save 5 minutes a day by going to a SCSI drive, 235 days a
year (3 weeks vacation and 11 holidays), that adds up to 19.6 hours. At $100
an hour fully loaded, that's $1960 a year. That'll easily pay the difference
between SCSI and IDE drives. Looking at the Dell prices, Going with a 36GB
(15k rpm) and a 73GB SCSI would add $1079 with cable and card. If you figure
on 2 years before you replace the drives, you will break even with a labor
rate of about $27.50 per hour. I guess I need to ask for SCSI drives next
time we replace our boxes!

SolidWorks is pretty good about letting go every once in a while so that you
can read email without undue waiting. I've never felt any need to add a
second processor. Other programs, like FEA for example, seem to hang on to
the processor like death, making it pretty much impossible to do anything
else while the analysis is running.

Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems

 

Hey Doug. ..
Heres what I reccomend. . . (I do IT for automation co. - we use
PRo-E, Mech Desk, Sld Works)

DUAL CHIP IS NICE BUT WITH THE RIGHT COMPONENTS SINGLE WORKS FINE - I
WILL SAY GO AMD - ARCHITECHTURE WORKS BETTER WITH CAD STUFF.

Drives:
2 setups
First, Dual 10-20g Scsi Raid 0 or westernDigital Raptor-raid is a
must.

Second drive: Small ScSI (dont slave it. . . Run it solo ON pci card)
This second drive would be ONLY for Virtual Mem - make vm static-hide
drive so engineers will not be tempted to use (older 3-5gb scsi will
suffice)

Notice all drive are small-Reason? Smaller drive faster read/write.

Memory: 1g ddr400 will work just fine (again tweak your virtual
memory)

Video Card;

this is the difficult part but definately NO ATI!!!

I would reccomend WILDCAT III (3dlabs) or nividia QuadroFX 2000

Bottom line - Spend at least 1k on your video card. . . ( video cards
have been our single biggest issue in the last 10 years)

also, are you running file server? if not, do so . . . and let the
engineers store everything on server. Keep CAD stations clean and
lite.


Have FUN!

-Alex