System Requirements for Solidworks 2004

Hi there,
Got a present of a solidworks 2004 cd recently and would like buy a
suitable pc for it. Could anyone advise me as to what environment is
best for this program?
On the official sw2005 website the following system requirements are
mentioned:
- Microsoft Windows XP professional or Windows 2000 recommended
- Intel pentium - or AMD Athion - class processor
- 128 MB RAM or greater (512 mb to 1gb or greater recommended for
assemblies exceeding 1000 parts
- Pointing device
- CD-ROM drive
- Microsoft Office XP or Microsoft Office 2000
- Internet Explorer version 6.0 or later recommended
Is this really all that is needed - or could these specs. be a bit on
the low end?
Who can tell me from experience?
Thanks in advance,
Carlos.

 

Ignore everything you read at SW about hardware requirements. The concept
being able to run SW on a Pentium 1 is ludicrious. I don't know who they are
trying to fool.
Try looking here for more realistic requirements.
http://www.cadimensions.com/requirements.htm

As a good start, get any current computer system with an nVidia gaming card,
and you will be fine. By the time you outgrow this system, you will know
what you want. If you want more detailed info, you should state how much you
are able to spend, and state what you intend to be doing. In particular,
what is the largest assembly you intend to model, i.e. a table, a set of
kitchen cabinents, or a motorcyle engine.

 

NO NO NO
get a proper CAD card - Nvidia Quadro
AMD processors rule at the moment
and get 1gb ram min.

 

Well, you also need a valid and legal serial number and unlock code. As
you got an outdated version as a 'present' I doubt seriously whether you
have such as that, BUT giving you the benefit of the doubt I'd have to
say that the requirements stated are indeed a minimum. 512Mb of RAM is
about as little as you should consider, and 1Gb or greater is to be
highly recommended. Also a video card which has 128Mb video RAM and
which supports OpenGL -- anything other than one of the ones noted as
being fully compliant on SolidWorks' list is apt to cause you to take
great pains getting the right driver, at best. At worst SolidWorks'
display will be bad and the performance will be grindingly slow. nVidia
GeForce cards in general will work pretty well as long as you keep open
windows to four or less. A Pentium IV class processor or AMD equivalent
with a couple of gigahertz processing speed is the least you should
consider. One of the crippleware processors (Celeron, etc.) will
probably cause you to wait. And maybe even wait and wait and wait. The
Microsoft Office products are recommended because SolidWorks makes use
of Excel and Excel format files. Without Excel you will have severe
limitations regarding any kind of tables (design tables, bills of
material, etc.). You wouldn't like it.

'Sporky'

 

Hi Tiger,
Thanks for this.
Carlos.

 

Hi Neil,
Thank you. I wellcome any bit of useful info.
Carlos.

 

Hi 'Sporky',
Thank you for taking the time to aswer my question so comprehensively.
It is most interesting and revealing. Had great pleasure reading this.
Made my day!
Thanks again.
Carlos.