Solidworks PC Configuration Reviews

Hardware
1

Hello

Change of hardware proposed by the IT department
I ask for your help if any of you have an opinion on what is being proposed.
For your information, I work on assemblies of sheet metal, tubes, electrical components, there are very often more than 1000 parts (so large assemblies).
Files on the site's servers and sometimes work on Windchill (PDM Creo), nothing on our desktop PCs.
To date, under I7 8700 3.2 GHz, 16GB of ram and Quadro P2200 GPU, I have a lot of problems opening the assemblies (5 to 15 minutes).

Here is the beast:

Intel® Xeon® W-2223 (8.25 MB cache, 4 cores, 8 threads,
3.60 GHz
Dell Precision 5820 Fixed 950W PCIe FlexBay CL Chassis
NVIDIA RTX A4000 Graphics, 16GB, 4DP
32 GB memory: 4 x 8 GB, DDR4, 2,933 MT/s, RDIMM, ECC
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Class 40 SSD

Do you think this will improve my use of the software?

Thank you

2

Hello, well re

What about your HDDs, SSDs, M2s? The speed of accessing files will probably save you more loading time than any other element.

2 Likes
3

Do you work locally or networked? With no PDM?

1 Like
4

Hello,

M2 nvme SSD class 40 512 GB, but all the CAD files are on server (so it's only used to quickly open windows and solidworks, not the assemblies?)

5

Only on a network, mix between PDM and site server

6

Make a "pack and go" and copy everything locally.
Compares local and network open time.
If the network opening time is > to 1.5 times the time locally, → network problem and the change of hardware will not bring much. (excluding sdd for opening SW and windows + fast indeed.
Report the network/local difference and then we'll see what happens.
While testing the 2023 version, I just found my 2016 tests before network improvement and after.
The test assembly opened in 3m27s before network improvement, and in 35s locally.
Visiativ had confirmed to me that it was way too correct ratio =1.5x the max network (from memory)
On the advice of the Visiativ network specialist we made changes (setting and type of memory formatting) and then the time was increased to 47 seconds on the network.
Now on SW2023 (big speed gain/SW2020) opening in 32s.

Edit: It seems to me that formatting in exFat had brought most of the gain, but I have a doubt about this solution because it dates back to 2016...

7

Hello;

The DELL tower 5820 chassis is not in the list of validated configs for Solidworks 2024,
I'm having a hard time identifying the difference between an RTX 4000 graphics card and an RTX A4000...
The RTX 4000 card is approved by Solidworks (I can't find the RTX A400 paired with the DELL chassis).

https://www.solidworks.com/fr/support/hardware-certification/

Which operating system (Win10 or 11)?
Do you render (Visualize)?
I'll push the RAM to 64GB minimum to make it more comfortable.

Kind regards.

8

The Precision 5820 is normally no longer distributed by Dell (that's what we have and we're going to switch to the 5860).
For the processor, for SW you have to aim for those who can switch to boost mode on a clock speed higher than 4Ghz or 4Ghz mini.

1 Like
9

Thank you for your detailed answer,
indeed I had thought about it too but very little gain, or even no stopwatch in hand:
Results:
2m20s
1m50s
1m52s

Files on the computer:

1m47s
2m10s
2m16s

On the other hand, when I open it, I have the PC ventilating at full capacity, the processor saturated, the ram at 15 GB out of 15.8 available

10

Hello

As said below, old Dell tower, but I don't think it changes the performance much when opening...?
Windows 11
No visualize
I note this!

Thank you

11

Several sites indicate that you shouldn't take into account the boost mode precisely?

12

Acceptable indeed you can actually dig on the material side.
Otherwise, on the hardware side , @Coralie has just announced the Visiativ :wink: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: promotions:

1 Like
13

Boost mode is Windows in charge.
We have that on our stations and no problems in terms of performance. It's properly managed and our PCs go up well to more than 4Ghz when necessary.