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 with Synchronous Technology Siemens PLM Software recommend the following system configuration

l	Intel Xeon or AMD Opteron processor
l	Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista Business or Enterprise
l	At least 1GB RAM for Windows XP, or at least 2GB RAM for Windows Vista
l	True Colour (32-bit) or 16 million colours (24-bit)
l	Screen resolution of 1280x1024
l	Disk space required for installation: 1.4 GB
l	DVD-ROM (local or network) for installation

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.

		Entry Level	FX \| 350, 550, 560
		Mid Range	FX \| 1300, 1400, 1500, 3450
		High End	FX \| 3000, 3400, 3500
		Ultra High End	FX \| 4000, 4500 X2, 5500, 5600

		Entry Level	V \| 3100, 3300, 3400
		Mid Range	V \| 5000, 5100, 5200
		High End	V \| 7100, 7200
		Ultra High End	V \| 7300, 7350

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.

Memory Required	Minimum Hardware	Minimum Software
2 GB	32 Bit Machine	Windows XP Professional
3 GB	32 Bit Machine	Windows XP professional (plus /3GB switch)
4 GB	64 Bit Machine*	Windows XP x64 / Solid Edge V20 (x32)
4 GB ><128GB	64 Bit Machine*	Windows XP x64 / Solid Edge V20 (x64)

*Intel EM64T or AMD Opteron

Sample CAD Workstation Configurations

	Compaq HP Workstation XW6400
	Intel® Dual Core Xeon® 3GHz 2GB RAM nVidia Quadro FX3500 146GB SAS HDD (10000 rpm) DVD-ROM Drive Windows XP Professional
	Sun Ultra 20 Workstation
	AMD 2.6GHz Opteron 2GB RAM nVidia Quadro FX1400 250GB HDD DVD-ROM Drive Windows XP Professional

Call us on (0121) 544 1400, Fax on (0121) 544 1600 or Email info@solidedgeUK.com

CAD Workstations

32bit or 64bit?

Sample CAD Workstation Configurations

Compaq HP Workstation XW6400

Sun Ultra 20 Workstation