Hi Guys.
We are running SW on two Dell Precision 390's and one HP xw4600.
Where can I find hardware upgrade advise for SW2010?
Hi Guys.
We are running SW on two Dell Precision 390's and one HP xw4600.
Where can I find hardware upgrade advise for SW2010?
Are you looking to upgrade individual components (and keep the same box) or get new systems?
There is no official advise from SolidWorks (although it might be in the works). I'm sure the forum members would be happy to make suggestions for you. If you are looking to upgrade a Dell system (keep the same box, just upgrade components), I know you can type in your service number into their support page and it will give you a list of items you can upgrade. It would be significantly cheaper to do it yourself if you or IT is capable and willing (aka, they are out of their warranty period with the builder).
What price are you looking for? How big are your assemblies and how complex are your parts?
Yes Jeff,
But as we discussed here: https://forum.solidworks.com/message/143676#143676
Those requirements undermine what really should be suggested to ALL customers purchasing new computers: Intel Nehalem based processors with 6GB RAM and a 64 bit operating system.
Thanks Charles.
Yes we are looking at keeping the Dell and HP. And yes we simply want to upgrade components. Money is not the issue as much as right components for the right job.
Our aim is to keep upgrades to a minimum. So we don't want to upgrade every year as appose to a good upgrade every 2-3 years.
We are a Plastics Packaging company that uses SW to design concepts for mostly bottles and caps. Consequently Injection, Blow, and Stretch Blow moulds are also part of our design scope. And to a lesser extend auxiliary machine tooling.
for the Dell, go here: http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/upgrades/en/hub
enter in your service tag number, and it will list components that you can upgrade.
I don't know if HP has a similar tool, I could not find it. I have never used an HP before.
You will want to get at least 4GB of ram for a 32 bit OS. You will probably want to upgrade to a 64 bit OS if you can, and then you can get 6+ GB ram. You may want a nicer video card, it depends what you have now. You also might want to get the fastest processor that your motherboard can accept.
Go to the Dell website, and find out what processor you have now, and what the fastest one they offer for your motherboard is. Also post how much RAM you have, and whether you can upgrade your OS or not. I'd be happy to provide any help I can with that info.
Thank you very much Charles.
You've definately steered me in the right direction.
My PC specs are in my profile, here follows the PC specs for the Dells:
And here's mine:
Both computer's processors are fairly good for their type. Upgrading them might not be worth it (without upgrading the motherboard too). The Dells are 64nm chips. I assume they could be replaced with 45nm CPU's, but the increase would be marginal.
In fact, they are both fairly decent systems, looks like you purchased good components when they were new. I suggest moving to a 64 bit OS, and put in as many sticks of RAM as the manufacturer & your budget allow.
If you really want a noticeable increase in rebuild times, you are going to have to jump to a new chipset architecture, which will require all new motherboard/ram/cpu.
I would save your money and not replace the Quadro FX 3500. The new FX580's have more video memory, but have half the bandwidth. Getting faster video cards would be a waste in these older computers, save the money for a whole new system.
The only thing I'd add to what Charles says is that moving to Windows 7 64 bit might allow you to get more out of the memory you have. Vista is a pig.
I have machines that are in this range of processors, and I'm not looking to upgrade any time soon. Of course if you're using huge assemblies and bathing in money and really need to/can afford the upgrade then the fastest cpu (probably a dual rather than a quad), and a more mid-line video (like the 580 or 1800) and of course Win 7 64 bit rather than messing around with anything else would be a good place to start. Moving to 6 GB RAM might not be a bad idea.
And then if you run a lot of FEA/rendering you'll want quad cores or even dual socket quad cores, depending on how much of that type of work you do.
Anyway, best of luck.
Geoffrey,
Why do you want to upgrade? Are you having performance issues? What problem are you trying to resolve with your current systems?
If you are having performance issues I would not bother upgrading and just get new systems. You will spend a lot of money for a marginal increase in performance trying to upgrade your old systems. They are already near the top of their performance curve for those system models and hardware. You can take your current systems and pass them to others in your organization that do not need as much computer power as engineering.
If you are not having performance issues I would keep what you have.
If you are getting out of memory errors, just upgrade the OS to Windows 7 x64 and get more ram.
Cheers,
Anna
Thanks guys.
If I read all you guys have to say, and think about the reason for considering an upgrade, it's probably best to wait a year or two and replace the whole system.
I agree that the systems we are presently running are not bad systems. We're just considering a upgrade as part of this financial years budget.
Thanks once again.
Geoffrey,
Why do you want to upgrade? Are you having performance issues? What problem are you trying to resolve with your current systems?
If you are having performance issues I would not bother upgrading and just get new systems. You will spend a lot of money for a marginal increase in performance trying to upgrade your old systems. They are already near the top of their performance curve for those system models and hardware. You can take your current systems and pass them to others in your organization that do not need as much computer power as engineering.
If you are not having performance issues I would keep what you have.
If you are getting out of memory errors, just upgrade the OS to Windows 7 x64 and get more ram.
Cheers,
Anna