Hello,
I have recently started working at a manufacturing facility and have been charged with recommending upgrades to the equipment running Solidworks 2004. They are currently running P4 workstations and P4 File server. They are having troubles with large assemblies. I do not know enough about the software to make an informed decision. I have been trying to learn as I go but the time for a decision is about here and I do not want to make the wrong decision. I have been looking at some posts and asking our Vendor. Can anyone give me an idea as to where to start?
Thank You,
Al
I have recently started working at a manufacturing facility and have been charged with recommending upgrades to the equipment running Solidworks 2004. They are currently running P4 workstations and P4 File server. They are having troubles with large assemblies. I do not know enough about the software to make an informed decision. I have been trying to learn as I go but the time for a decision is about here and I do not want to make the wrong decision. I have been looking at some posts and asking our Vendor. Can anyone give me an idea as to where to start?
Thank You,
Al
The specs are as follows:
Server
OS - Windows Server 2000
Processor - Intel P4 3.4GHz
Motherboard - Intel Desktop Motherboard D925XECV2
RAM - (2) Kingston PC2-3200 1 GB DDR2 RAM (2G TOTAL)
HDD - SEAGATE ST3160827as 120G 8M Cache Buffer 7200 RPM SATA
Graphics - g-force 6600 128 MB PCIx
Workstation 1
OS - Windows XP Pro 32-bit
Processor - Intel P4 3.4GHz
Motherboard - Intel Desktop Motherboard D925XECV2
RAM - (2) Kingston PC2-3200 1 GB DDR2 RAM (2G TOTAL)
HDD - SEAGATE ST380817AS 80G 8M Cache Buffer 7200 RPM SATA
Graphics - ATI FireGL V3200 128 MB PCIx
Workstation 2 (Upgraded recently to HP xw4600)
OS - Windows XP Pro 32-bit
Processor - Intel Duo8400 (3.0 GHz, 6MB L2 cache, 1333 MHz FSB)
Motherboard - ??? Intel® X38 Express chipset
RAM - 2 GB DDR2 800 MHz SDRAM
HDD - 250GB 7200 RPM SATA
Graphics - NVIDIA Quadro FX1700 512MB PCIx
We would like to obtain two-three more seats in the near future. I would like to upgrade the server with that in mind. That is if the server is not adequate. There seems to be performance issues when more than one person is working now. I upgraded the old CAT-3 network cabling to CAT-5e 1G, and there was a definite increase in file access time. There was already a small Gig switch it is now actually running at 1 Gig.
Thank you,
Al
I have looked up the specs on the boards for the server and workstation 1 and it looks like it will only support the P$ processors. That being said I would like to say that I have never ran SW 2004 & I am not that well informed on servers.
If I were looking into upgrades I would probably sell off workstation 1 and get a new PC. You could get a new card but that probably won't make much a differance with the processor you have. Also when there opening and running a large assembly check the ram useage. If solidworks is useing almost all of the ram that may be the proble. Do you have the same problems on workstation 2. If you have just as bad of problems on the second workstation your problem might be completly on the server side.
As for what to do on the server side I can't help you much there.
How are your SW files setup, do you use PDMworks or just use the server as file storage? Do you copy the SW files to your local harddrive or work directly off the server?
Are you planning to upgrade to SW2008?
Do you use Cosmos or PhotoWorks?
How big are your large assemblies? Looking at your memory usage, how much memory is being used and how much is available.
SW2008 requires a lot more computer then SW2004. At this point SW seems to run best on a dual core system, unless you use stress analysis or PhotoWorks quad cores appear to be overkill.
They are not using PDM Works. It is a serverstore and they work on the parts and assemblies right off the server.
We are trying to get to the point of upgrading and getting some training on the new version of Solidworks.
They do use COSMOS but not PhotoWorks.
The largest asemblies are under 1000 parts, most are less than 300. I have attached a screenshot of the older machine opening the largest assembly we have.
Thank you,
Al
Attachments
My files are all on my local computer. Looking through the threads here on the forum, one of the most trouble prone file storage methods is working directly off a server on a network. SolidWorks writes to the harddrive a lot when loading or saving files and the delay picked up over a network and load on the server harddrive when being used be several users can cause problems. If possible copy the files to your local harddrive while using them then upload them to the server when you are done.
Your Workstation 2 is a good system, SW2004 should fly on it. If your having problems with it, you need to look at driver or setup issues. SW2008 is going to be noticeably slower then SW2004, you'll have to make up for that by learning to work with the new enhancements.
Intel's Core 2 Duo is the best processor available and CPU GHz is the most important thing to SolidWorks. If you're doing a lot of stress analysis you might want to look at a quad core CPU. For general SW usage a higher GHz dual core will beat a lower GHz quad core.
Your memory usage looks good. Check it again after you've loaded your assembly and worked with it for a while. If 2GB of RAM isn't enough my personal opinion is, you should move to a 64bit OS.
I have noticed the same thing in some of the posts. Working over a network seems to be too slow and prone to crashes. I have been looking into the PDM Works and it seems to be the way to go. I will bring up transferring files to local machines as an option. As I am new to the office here I am not sure how it will go. I believe the newest one will work for now. I was considering recommending a Quad core for the individual who does the stress tests. I am looking towards new releases of the Solidworks that will utilize more processors.
Thank you,
Al