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Building or Specifying Computers for SolidWorks

Building or Specifying Computers for SolidWorks. Charles Culp – SWtuts.com Anna Wood – RenderBay.com . About Anna and Charles. Anna Wood. Design Engineer/CAD Admin for Auer Precision in Mesa, AZ RenderBay.com. Charles Culp.

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Building or Specifying Computers for SolidWorks

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  1. Building or Specifying Computers for SolidWorks • Charles Culp – SWtuts.com • Anna Wood – RenderBay.com

  2. About Anna and Charles • Anna Wood • Design Engineer/CAD Admin for Auer Precision in Mesa, AZ • RenderBay.com Charles Culp • Product Development Engineer/CAD Admin at Essex Industries in St Louis, MO • Designs ergonomic pilot controls • SWtuts.com

  3. Goals for Today • Understand which components are important for a CAD Workstation • Understand the enhancements in recent technology • Understand which components provide the best value • Feel free to ask questions at any time, this is a discussion

  4. Topics to Cover • Components and Benchmarks • Video Cards • CPUs • SSDs and HDDs • Recommendations for Other Components • Prebuilt Systems • Concluding Thoughts • You can download this presentation right now - http://www.swtuts.com/?p=700

  5. CPUs • It is all about Intel • Tom’s Hardware compares single core operations • Passmark now has a single thread benchmark: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html • Both show blowouts in favor of Intel http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core-i7-3770k,3181-19.html http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html#

  6. Intel CPUs • Today’s systems have Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge, also known as 2nd or 3rd generation Core i5 or Core i7 processors. These are the E3 or E5 series in the Xeon line. • March-June 2013 will bring Haswell.

  7. How Many Cores • Two is enough for modeling, but four doesn’t hurt • Four is enough for occasional FEA • For rendering, the more the merrier

  8. CPU Benchmark • Modeling Benchmark: • http://www.solidmuse.com/benchmarks/solidworks-benchmark-punch-holder/ • FEA Benchmark: • https://forum.solidworks.com/message/330823 • Simulation Benchmark:

  9. Best CPU for Modeling

  10. Best CPU Value for Modeling • This graph does not represent true value

  11. Best CPU for FEA

  12. Best CPU for Rendering

  13. Best CPU Value for Rendering • This graph does not represent true value

  14. Video Card Overview • How much is enough • Frame rates and user experience • What requires expensive video cards • Changes to SolidWorks 2013 • Benchmarks: • Spin 50 • Cinebench • Die Assembly • Dining Room • Potato Farm

  15. Video Cards • AMD FirePro • V3800 • V4800 • V5800 • V7800 • V8800 • V9800 nVidiaQuadro • V3900 • V4900 • V5900 • V7900 • W5000 • W7000 • W8000 • W9000 • Quadro FX 580 • Quadro FX 1800 • Quadro FX 3800 • Quadro FX 4800 • Quadro FX 5800 • Quadro 600 • Quadro 2000 • Quadro 4000 • Quadro 5000 • Quadro K5000 • Quadro 6000 Q K5000$1800 V4900 $155 W5000$450 W7000$770 Q 2000$400 Q 4000$700

  16. Video Card Performance

  17. Video Card Performance

  18. Video Card Performance • Dining Room Table Benchmark

  19. Video Card Performance

  20. Video Card Performance

  21. SSD & HDD Overview • SSDs create a significant improvement over HDD, 85% depending on usage • Which brand SSDs are the best? Don’t worry about it too much, that is only a 25% gain • Intel is used by pro’s for high reliability • “SSD’s fail early” is a myth. As a whole they are as reliable, and maybe more reliable, than HDD when used in desktop machines • http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-reliability-failure-rate,2923.html

  22. Compare SSD to HDD

  23. Other Components • Power Supply • Motherboard • RAM • Case • Optical Media Drives (DVD, etc) • Heatsinks

  24. Power Supply • Only buy premium brands. It’s easy to tell, they are 2x as expensive as the cheap ones. • SeaSonic, Antec, Corsair, SPI (Sparkle), expect to pay $45-60 for a 400W, and $70-140 for a 600W+, and really expect to pay $90+. • 80 PLUS is a no-brainer, I will only buy Platinum. • http://www.plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSupplies.aspx • Modular vs non-Modular (I just hide the cables in the top slot above the DVD drive).

  25. Motherboards • LGA1155 for Sandy/Ivy Bridge Core i5/i7 CPUs. LGA2011 for the Sandy Bridge-E 6-8 core CPUs. • Z77 is the new premium motherboard. H77 allows for older PCI cards. • This means integrated video support, USB 3.0, Smart Response, RAID, SATA 3.0. • miniITXvs ITX vsmicroATXvs ATX • Capacitor failure, Mark Larson: https://forum.solidworks.com/message/239004

  26. RAM • Speed vs Latency • Today, think DDR3-1600 with 7, 8, or 9 CAS latency • 1.5V for Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge

  27. Case • Mini Tower, Micro Tower, ITX • Make sure there is room for the video card • Sometimes sold with power supplies, buy it separately • Appropriate number of fans • Liquid cooling?

  28. Heat Sinks • Consider liquid cooling. New $50-60 ready-to-install cheap options for quieter computing. • Expect to pay over $100 for an overclocking-ready ready-to-install option. • I typically just use the Intel heat sink.

  29. Homebuilt vs Prebuilt Comparison • Homebuilt • $1,372-$2,153 • Inc’l keyboard & mouse • Corporate discounts • 3 year warranty included • No compatibility concerns • Sometimes a few months behind, limited offerings Prebuilt (Dell, HP, Lenovo) Premium Prebuilt (Boxx, Xi) • $922 • Parts warranty • No guarantee components are compatible • Perfectly tuned to your requirements & latest hardware • $1766-$3,483 or more • Warranty included • No compatibility risk • Overclocking means ~35% speed increase • Tuned for SolidWorks, but somewhat limited choices

  30. Homebuilt Specs - $921.91

  31. Prebuilt Systems Overview • Everything was priced on January 5th, 2012. I included all discounts and sales at that time. • Prices for all prebuilt systems include Windows 7 Professional. This is approximately a $140 for purchasing the OEM version of Windows 7 on the open market. • I specify the E3-1270 3.5GHz or E3-1245v2 3.4GHz. The E3-1290 is faster than the E3-1270, but costs $552 more for a 6% speed increase. The E3-1280v2 is faster than the E3-1245v2, but costs $650 more for a 6% speed increase. The E3-1290v2 is available from HP, but it will cost $1,200 for a 9% speed increase.

  32. Prebuilt Systems Options • All systems listed are for general modeling machines. Most make alternates for rendering or FEA systems. • Dell Precision T1650 • HP Z1, Z220 Small Form Factor, and Z220 MiniTower • Lenovo ThinkStation E31 • BOXX 3DBOXX 4050 XTREME, 4920 XTREME • @Xi MTower

  33. T1650 • $650 in instant discounts • $1,372 for the E3-1270 3.5 GHz CPU • $1,238 with the Core i5-3550 @ 3.3 GHz • Up to an E3-1290 3.7 GHz for $553 more • 320W 90% efficient power supply • 8GB Non-ECC RAM • AMD FirePro v4900 • 156 GB SSD. Or 32 GB boot + 250 GB HDD for $229 savings ($1,145) • 3 year hardware + limited onsite service

  34. Z220 Workstation • $2,287 (20% off is $1,830) • Xeon E3-1245v2 3.4 GHz CPU • 8GB nECCRAM • Quadro 600(that’s the fastest they offer) • 256GB SSD (expensive) • HP 3-3-3 SFF Warranty

  35. Specialty Systems • Z220 – Small form factor. Customization was hard to find on website • $2,187 – 20% off? That leaves it at $1,750 • Xeon E3-1245v2 3.4GHz, 8GB nECC RAM, Quadro 600, 256GB SSD • Z1 – All-In-One workstations (monitor/cpu in one) • Brace yourself. $3,712.00 (20% off is $2,970) • Xeon E3-1245v2 3.4 GHz, NVIDIA Quadro 1000M 2GB, 8GB DDR3-1600 nECC (4x2GB), 256GB SSD

  36. ThinkStation E31 • Available in both Tower and Small Form Factor • $2,153 (see below) • Core i7-3770 3.4GHz • 8GB RAM - $315 premium. Why? Even for ECC • Quadro 600 • 256GB SSD - $650 premium. Ouch! • 3 year warranty parts and labor onsite • Only $1,188 with HDD and 4GB RAM, but that’s a big compromise

  37. 3DBOXX 4050 XTREME • $3,483 • Core i7 Overclocked @ 4.5 GHz, liquid cooled. 32% faster than an E3-1245v2 • 8GB RAM • 240GB SSD (you can save $250 with 24 GB cache) • Quadro 600 • 1 year premium & 3 year limited warranty, $229 for 3 year premium onsite

  38. 3DBOXX 4920 XTREME • The fastest computer for SolidWorks • $5,800 as tested, starts at $4,830 • Core i7 Overclocked @ 4.75 GHz, 6 cores, liquid cooled. 35% faster than an E3-1245v2 • 32GB RAM as tested • 180GB SSD as tested • Quadro 600 • 1 year premium & 3 year limited warranty

  39. MTower • $1,766 • Core i5-3570K Overclocked @ 4.6GHz. 35% faster than a Xeon E3-1245v2. Plenty of other options. • 8GB 1866MHz Overclocked RAM • FirePro v4900 • 240GB SSD • Includes Windows 8. Windows 7 Pro is an add’l $59 • 1 year warranty on parts. $49/yronsite, $99 3 years on parts. $199 for 3 years system, parts & labor onsite.

  40. Conclusions • CPU is King. • More cores do not increase rebuild times • That means processor design & speed are important • RAM is a matter of how much is enough • SSD prices have plummeted, buy one • Homebuilt systems add versatility • Overclocked systems mean faster SolidWorks modeling

  41. More Questions? • https://forum.solidworks.com/community/administration?view=discussions • http://www.swtuts.com/?p=700 – more hardware content on SWtuts.com in the future • Tom’s Hardware, AnandTech, c|net • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridge_(microarchitecture)

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