Hi,
My company is into Oil and Gas applications which means we use Routing and Weldments for most of our time. We have good configuration machines, 32GB Ram, nVidia Quadro K4000 Graphic card and enough disk space.
Since we are using routing the assembly is easily 2500 to 3000 components (including fastners). The problem I am facing is, SolidWorks takes too long to save files even on files with much less componets (100 - 150). Also switching between windows has a delay and this also happens when we are working on drawing files.
I have recorded the average time to save for assemblies and drawings, which is as below;
Routing assembly with 700 components : 13 seconds for simple changes with a maximum of 35 seconds.
Drawings with upto 7 sheets: 15 seconds for simple changes with a maximum of 43 seconds.
These figures may seem reasonable but at times the time taken to save files is in minutes.
I have also checked the machine performance during save and noted that hardly 5.0% CPU is used and only about 5.0~6.0 Gb of memory.
I have set the LAM threshole to 500 components, but still there is no improvement in the performance.
Is there any way I can improve the performance of the machine, specially the file Save time.
P.S : We dont have admin rights to the machnies. (just in case if that matters)
Been there, done that. For some reason, that just the way it is with routing. There are some things that can be changed, but it won't get a whole lot better.
But let's go for the easy stuff first:
-Under Tools, there is an option called AssemblyXpert. Click this and click on the glasses. This will tell you how long each section takes to rebuild. Getting rid of any unnecessary features (screw threads, grating patterns in catwalks, etc) can help. Basically, you want to go for functionality with routing vs beauty. SW is a great program, but it's not made for laying building facility IMHO.
-Also you want to make sure you save only the bare minimum. I had a habit of hitting save after every change and again if i wasn't sure. Routing will make you pay. I've recorded damn near 5 minute saves before (piping a dough facility).
-There is another option to control the rebuild frequency, but i don't remember where to find it.
I'm not sure what you are modeling, but the best time saving advice i can offer as far as using SW for large assemblies is planning your subassemblies. Try to keep them small and simple.