Solidworks 2005 out of memory?

I've run into issues on several occasions w/ large drawings and/or
assemblies where Solidworks tells me it is unable to attain the memory
required for the current operation, yet I have upwards of 725 MB of
PHYSICAL RAM free.

When this occurs, I'm typically using about 1.2 GB (mixed physical and
pagefile) when Solidworks "gives up", again w/ 700+ MB of free physical
RAM.

I'm running a Precision 370, 3.4 Ghz Proc, 2 GB ECC 800 Mhz RAM, SATA,
ATI V3100 and XP SP2. We have slightly slower Precision 360's w/ less
RAM and different hardware that have run into the same issue.

My VAR support is telling me they can't duplicate the issue, thus they
cannot escalate it and they're telling me my video drivers are one
version out of spec. I understand the intracacy of the software and
operating system, but I highly doubt the video drivers have anything to
do with it (especially since it has occured on other Precisions w/
different hardware).

Has anyone else had any issues like this? Were you able to find the
solution?

Thx,
Eric

 

We have all had issues like this. To check how much ram you can really
use try the Patbench benchmark found at
http://www.engtran.com/SWBM001.html. Run it with 12 iterations and
watch memory usage in the task manager while it runs.

1. It is an easy thing to update the video drivers. You should be
running the ones on SW list.

2. Typically Windows will run out of memory when usage approaches the
number you have posted. This varies depending on many things.

3. Try using the 3GB switch documented elsewhere on this news group.
That should fix the problem.

4. ATI cards are known for less than stellar SW performance. Your VAR
may not have said all they wanted to.

 

Thanks for the reply. I've updated the video drivers and since my
system has locked up twice (the power off to reboot type). I changed
the setup to "optimized" for Solidworks and haven't had any trouble as
of yet.

Again, the other systems we're running and have had the same problem w/
are running Quaddro FX500's. I was leary of the ATI's when I bought
these newer systems, but it's the best Dell offered at the price point
we could afford (for whatever reason the Quaddro wasn't offered at the
time). That said... I have a hard time believing it's video driver
related.

I'll try the 3GB switch... I understand how that could make a
difference. In previous versions of Swx, you only got that message
when Windows did literally run out of memory (task manager is pegged at
the top of the memory window and the system is unresponsive otherwise).
It just doesn't make any sense to me that Windows would report to Swx
it was out of memory (or couldn't have anymore) when there is plenty
more to be had... unless Swx is "missunderstanding" something from
Windows and taking it as an out of memory error.

Furthermore, I've been in situations where I've used upwards of 1.6GB
of RAM w/ no problems. So... what gives w/ that?

 

The amount of ram you will actually be able to use depends on how big a
contiguous chunk of memory the program needs and how much is being used
for page files and cache by the system.

 

As you note, this is a mystery. It's apparently a mystery that the folks at
SolidWorks haven't been able to solve either. Or maybe they are unwilling to
look into it for fear of what they will find. In our experience, the 3GB
switch is typically good for another half a GB or so before the system goes
south again. Your mileage may vary.

Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems
"take the garbage out, dear"

 

We run into the same thing here and I am on a Precision 360. I just
think it is these machines. They suck. I restart more than other
people. That is the only thing that I have left. All the drivers and
everything is up to date. Chalk it up to a CPU that is not designed
for top of the line engineering work.

KM

 

I don't know if it's legitimate to blame it on Intel, Ken. We've got a 370
that we use primarily for Anysy and Moldflow, but it sees quite a bit of
SolidWorks use as well. It doesn't seem to have any more difficulty than our
(admittedly older) AMD machines.

Jerry Steiger
Tripod Data Systems
"take the garbage out, dear"

 

I am not blaming Intel at all. I am blaming Dell. These boxes were
ordered before I got here and the stroy from my boss is that he called
Dell and talked to someone in sales support on getting a computer for
SolidWorks. He gave sales support the whole rundown of what we do and
we ended up with a Dell 360 with a Quadro NVS video card with 1 GB of
Ram. For all the pretty stuff we do with surfacing blah blah blah....
These computers just aren't enough. The computer now at least has a
Quadro FX 2000 in it. Still stuck at 1GB of RAM til next year.....

KM

 

I think that's expected. I'm not entirely sure how RAM works but you'll
always tank with any app long before you actually utilize 100% of the
memory. It's got something to do with your system needing free memory
just to operate, sort of like room to move about I guess.