We recieve a lot of .step files (many originally created in solidworks) that we open and use feature works on.  This takes a long time.  Primarily we use it for sheet metal parts, some machined.

Anythign with a lot of holes/cutouts really seems to increase the time.

I was wondering if which piece of hardware could be limiting how fast this is processing?

I have looked at the processor while this is happening and it either doesn't seem to change or doesn't change much.  No one thread/core is maxed out during the process.  I have more than enough RAM.  I am wondering if the GPU is responsible for processing this?

My system specs are:

i7 3.07GHz processor

12GB RAM I don't know the speed at the moment but it is probably 1200MHz at least.

SSD (although I will not that the files being opened are not saved on the local SSD but a server harddrive)

AMD Firepro V4900

I will try to find a program that displays GPU usage to see if this is the limiting factor.  But just wondering if anyone knows how to speed this process up.  It can take 5-10 minutes+ for complex parts.