Hi All,
I am a user of SolidWorks Simulation. I am buying a Desktop and have two options.
1. Processor i7 4790K, 4GHz, 4 Core, 8 Threads, 32 GB RAM
2. Processor i7 5930K, 3.5GHz, 6 Core, 12 Threads, 64 GB RAM
Can you please advise which one should I go for? The processing speed on option 1 is higher.
Regards,
LS
There's also a really nicely done .pdf of studies done by SW over the years with some numerical results in the Knowledge Base under S-018633. It does a really good job of breaking things down for Direct Sparse and FFE+, different analysis types and how they utilize multi-cores (or don't) and so on.
My interpretation of that .PDF: You have to be pretty well maxed out on your CPU usage for the extra cores to really make a difference. It does happen, but not that often and depends on things like solver type, analysis type, stage of the solution, etc. I think that helps explain the reasons why Jay wrote "Prioritize CPU clock speed over number of cores" in his recommendation at that link.
I'd rather have more cores over a slightly higher processor
Please see the Hardware recommendations for SOLIDWORKS Simulation section of the July edition of SOLIDWORKS Support Monthly News: - this should help you with your decision.
http://blogs.solidworks.com/tech/2015/07/solidworks-support-monthly-news-july-2015.html