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CAD Workstations
We are often asked to advise on the best hardware to run Solid
Edge and your other CAE applications on. The answer will invariably
depend on the type of work your company does, the size and the
complexity of the models and drawings which you will create.
For Solid Edge V20 Siemens PLM Software recommend the following
system configuration
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Intel Xeon or AMD Opteron processor
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Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 or
Windows Vista Business or Enterprise
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At least 1GB RAM for Windows XP, or at
least 2GB RAM for Windows Vista |
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True Colour (32-bit) or 16 million
colours
(24-bit) |
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Screen resolution of 1280x1024 |
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Disk space required for installation: 1.4 GB |
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DVD-ROM (local or network) for installation |
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One thing, however, is certain. The criteria used when selecting
hardware for CAE Applications is different to the criteria used when
selecting hardware for gaming or for general 'office' applications
to run. This is especially the case when selecting a Graphics Card.
There are any number of Graphic Cards released each year but only
those designed for Workstations / CAD usage should be considered for
a CAD / CAE workstation. For
that reason we choose, recommend and supply cards from nVidia and
ATi within the following
ranges.
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Entry Level |
FX | 350, 550, 560 |
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Mid Range |
FX | 1300, 1400, 1500,
3450 |
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High End |
FX | 3000, 3400, 3500 |
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Ultra High End |
FX | 4000, 4500
X2, 5500, 5600 |
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Entry Level |
V | 3100, 3300, 3400 |
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Mid Range |
V | 5000, 5100, 5200 |
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High End |
V | 7100, 7200 |
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Ultra High End |
V | 7300, 7350 |
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If you choose to purchase a turnkey solution from
SOLID Applications Ltd. Then with
HP and
SUN as our preferred Hardware
Platforms we can invariably offer a configuration to suit most budgets.
Each product, in either the HP or Sun range, will
have a base configuration which can be tailored to suit your
individual business requirements. Two sample configurations are given below as guidelines for
specifying a new workstation. The sample HP configuration matches a
typical High End workstation and the sample Sun configuration more
suitable for Mid Range applications.
32bit or 64bit?
Should I purchase a 32Bit or 64bit platform to
run Solid Edge on?
There is a popular misconception that investing in a 64bit platform
will make CAD run faster, however in the majority of cases this is
simply not true and it could actually have the opposite effect. The limiting
factor to CAD performance is invariably RAM. If your system is
running out of Physical Memory (RAM) and has to resort to
switching to the Page File (Virtual Memory) then you can expect your
system to ground to a halt. There is however, a limit to the
amount of RAM that your workstation can take, and allocate, to a single
application, and this factor may determine whether to consider a
64bit platform.
Refer to the table below to see if 64Bit Windows
with 64Bit Solid Edge is suitable for you.
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Memory Required |
Minimum Hardware |
Minimum Software |
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2 GB |
32 Bit Machine |
Windows XP Professional |
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3 GB |
32 Bit Machine |
Windows XP professional (plus /3GB
switch) |
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4 GB |
64 Bit Machine* |
Windows XP x64 / Solid Edge V20 (x32) |
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4 GB ><128GB |
64 Bit Machine* |
Windows XP x64 / Solid Edge V20 (x64) |
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*Intel EM64T or AMD Opteron
Sample CAD Workstation Configurations
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Compaq HP Workstation XW6400
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Intel® Dual Core Xeon® 3GHz
2GB RAM
nVidia Quadro FX3500
146GB SAS HDD (10000 rpm)
DVD-ROM Drive
Windows XP Professional |
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Sun Ultra 20
Workstation |
AMD 2.6GHz Opteron
2GB RAM
nVidia Quadro FX1400
250GB HDD
DVD-ROM Drive
Windows XP Professional |
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