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boxx 3960 or 4860?

Question asked by Kumar Jambunathan on May 13, 2011
Latest reply on May 21, 2011 by Kumar Jambunathan

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HI guys, I am deciding if I need to spend the extra coin for the 4860 which is a slightly slower processor with more cores.

I work in medical devices and design stents, so though I don't have large assemblies, my individual parts are very hard on the machine.

I use solidworks mostly for modeling, but will also use it for photoview 360 and some very light simulation. Do I need the extra cores or should I just go for processor speed?

Also, where does the graphics card fall into this?

Any input would be really appreciated.

Charles Culp May 13, 2011 12:29 PM

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Go for the single core speed. Causal PV360 use does not require 6 cores. Simulation won't use past 4 anyway.

Get the cheapest video card Boxx will offer, most modern professional video cards are overkill and overpriced.

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John Matrishon May 13, 2011 11:24 AM

We currently have a bunch 4860 Extreme's at 4.15GHz, and core i7 with 6 cores. They are screamers. The extra cores help you with rendering, and they render very well. I'd say the 4860 would give the better range based on what you are asking. The 3960 has the new next gen2 core i7, and those are quads and can be overclocked as well, so your core SolidWorks won't see much difference, just your rendering, and seeing as the processor speeds are not much different at the top end (4.15 to 4.5GHz), is why I say the 4860. You could ask for a 30day trial, Boxx is very good to work with.

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Charles Culp May 13, 2011 12:29 PM

Go for the single core speed. Causal PV360 use does not require 6 cores. Simulation won't use past 4 anyway.

Get the cheapest video card Boxx will offer, most modern professional video cards are overkill and overpriced.

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Kumar Jambunathan @ Charles Culp on May 13, 2011 12:59 PM

thats interesting. what does the video card help with?

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Charles Culp @ Kumar Jambunathan on May 13, 2011 2:38 PM

Video cards help display the CAD data on the screen. They do not help with PV360, as that is software ray-traced rendering (all CPU).

https://forum.solidworks.com/message/216857#216857

You know you have an underpowered video card if you try and rotate the model, and it is jittery. This often happens in assemblies with many transparent parts with shaded edges as the view style. Turning on shadows, and realview can also make a difference. You will also have problems when you CTRL-TAB between SolidWorks and another application. You may notice a long pause, and the model area going white for a few seconds.

A faster video card with more onboard memory and higher bandwidth will alleviate these issues. Luckly, we do not work on immersive 3D environments (we do not work at Pixar). So it just depends how complex of models you work with, as to how big of a card you need. For people who design even reasonably large assemblies (hundreds of parts), I would say the ATI FirePro v4800 is more than enough.

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Kumar Jambunathan @ Charles Culp on May 21, 2011 6:51 PM

Hey guys, I wanted to close the loop on this thread. I ended up getting the 3960 for the clock speed. As soon as I got it, I replaced the 7200 RPM drive with a SATA III SSD from Crucial and it flies. I have a stent design which uses linear patterns and then machine still chokes a little bit on it, but it is nothing compared to what I was having before (granted, the other machine was having other issues). The video card I got was a quadro 2000, and the machine has 8 gigs of RAM.

we'll see how the machine runs over the next few weeks.

In other news, I ended up sending the DELL T7500 back. The BOXX is its replacement. More expensive, but if it works, then it may be worth it.

Thanks again to everyone for your input.

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John Matrishon May 13, 2011 11:24 AM
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We currently have a bunch 4860 Extreme's at 4.15GHz, and core i7 with 6 cores. They are screamers. The extra cores help you with rendering, and they render very well. I'd say the 4860 would give the better range based on what you are asking. The 3960 has the new next gen2 core i7, and those are quads and can be overclocked as well, so your core SolidWorks won't see much difference, just your rendering, and seeing as the processor speeds are not much different at the top end (4.15 to 4.5GHz), is why I say the 4860. You could ask for a 30day trial, Boxx is very good to work with.
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Charles Culp May 13, 2011 12:29 PM
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Go for the single core speed. Causal PV360 use does not require 6 cores. Simulation won't use past 4 anyway.

Get the cheapest video card Boxx will offer, most modern professional video cards are overkill and overpriced.
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- Kumar Jambunathan @ Charles Culp on May 13, 2011 12:59 PM
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  thats interesting. what does the video card help with?
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  - Charles Culp @ Kumar Jambunathan on May 13, 2011 2:38 PM
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    Video cards help display the CAD data on the screen. They do not help with PV360, as that is software ray-traced rendering (all CPU).
    
    https://forum.solidworks.com/message/216857#216857
    
    You know you have an underpowered video card if you try and rotate the model, and it is jittery. This often happens in assemblies with many transparent parts with shaded edges as the view style. Turning on shadows, and realview can also make a difference. You will also have problems when you CTRL-TAB between SolidWorks and another application. You may notice a long pause, and the model area going white for a few seconds.
    
    A faster video card with more onboard memory and higher bandwidth will alleviate these issues. Luckly, we do not work on immersive 3D environments (we do not work at Pixar). So it just depends how complex of models you work with, as to how big of a card you need. For people who design even reasonably large assemblies (hundreds of parts), I would say the ATI FirePro v4800 is more than enough.
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    - Kumar Jambunathan @ Charles Culp on May 21, 2011 6:51 PM
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      Hey guys, I wanted to close the loop on this thread. I ended up getting the 3960 for the clock speed. As soon as I got it, I replaced the 7200 RPM drive with a SATA III SSD from Crucial and it flies. I have a stent design which uses linear patterns and then machine still chokes a little bit on it, but it is nothing compared to what I was having before (granted, the other machine was having other issues). The video card I got was a quadro 2000, and the machine has 8 gigs of RAM.
      
      we'll see how the machine runs over the next few weeks.
      
      In other news, I ended up sending the DELL T7500 back. The BOXX is its replacement. More expensive, but if it works, then it may be worth it.
      
      Thanks again to everyone for your input.
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