Hi Guys
I am running an Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo, E6850 @ 3.00GHz with 3.25 Gb of Ram. I use dual screens and my Video card is Quadro FX560. When I am working on large assemblies I sometimes run out of virtual memory and Solidworks shuts down. Yesterday I was putting a large assembly on a drawing sheet and shading of some of the parts would dissappear. I have always had a suspicion that my Video card needed upgrading and have been hounding my boss for an upgrade. He has finally agreed and we are now looking at getting an Leadtek Quadro 4 FX3700 PCI-E video card which is worth about $1600. Is this card worth getting or should i be looking for something else.
Cheers Dee
I am running an Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo, E6850 @ 3.00GHz with 3.25 Gb of Ram. I use dual screens and my Video card is Quadro FX560. When I am working on large assemblies I sometimes run out of virtual memory and Solidworks shuts down. Yesterday I was putting a large assembly on a drawing sheet and shading of some of the parts would dissappear. I have always had a suspicion that my Video card needed upgrading and have been hounding my boss for an upgrade. He has finally agreed and we are now looking at getting an Leadtek Quadro 4 FX3700 PCI-E video card which is worth about $1600. Is this card worth getting or should i be looking for something else.
Cheers Dee
The issues with your drawings are one thing. The running out of memory may be just that and you may need to go to a x64 bit Vista OS with more than the 4 gigs of memory you have in your system.
If you still have out of memory errors after upgrading your video card an x64 OS and more RAM will be your next step.
Cheers,
I am talking in Australian Dollars which will work out about US$1200. Our IT people are looking after the purchase so I will let them sort out pricing. I will be happy as long as I get a better Video card.
Cheers Dee
I'm quite sure Anna is right and you'd be better pushing for a ram and OS upgrade though in terms of your symptoms. Your stability sounds RAM/OS related (get 8gb and Win64), while the disappearing views etc are just 'features' of the patchy SWX graphics implementation lately, possibly cured by another driver (or not). This fault is not uncommon.
Do you experience poor view rotation performance etc? Generally that is all that a top end gfx card will help. A nice shiny high-end Quadro is a great thing to have in your box, but only as garnish on an otherwise well-spec'd computer.
Think of it as hoping that the killer new stereo you got for your car will stop the head gasket leaking.
Cheers
Steve
I vote a Quadro FX3800 plus a switch to Vista 64bit,
However I do agree that a 64 bit operating system would be the next change I would make and with the price of ram these days. Max out your computer and you will never regret you did.