OK at the moment we have several computers in our company.Some arebrand new IBM machines with FX5500's (Intels) and othersaremid-range Intels, and my own is a one-off AMD with normalnon-cadgraphics card. By the way, I am the design administrator anddomore work than any others, CAD intensity wise.
I have worked for myself for over 10 years buildingcomputers,fixing hardware and software and programming etc... andin myexperience AMD have always been a lot better for most jobsthanintel and cheaper for the power you get.
My key observations are that my AMD computer is by farthelowest specs machine costing £500 back in the day with 2GBRAM,G-Force 7600 and 2Ghz X2 CPU, whereas all others are IMBIntelswith 3Ghz Core2Duo CPUs, FX5500 CAD-dedicated cards and2GBlow-latency RAM.
In 8 months my AMD has crashed in SW once when firstrunningSW2008, compared to _every_ other computer in the office onaverageof 5 crashes a week = 160 crashes each compared to my 1.
My other observation is that the AMD handles models muchbetterthan the CAD-dedicated systems and it cost a quarter oftheprice.
My thinking is, to get the go-ahead for a sub-£1000grant to builda computer of my choice and compare it to thetop-spec £2000 IBMsystem with its CAD dedicated card.
I intend to spec it with either a top-end AMD or an IntelE6600CPU, with a decent non-cad graphics card costing around£300instead of £900, put 4GB TwinX low-latency RAM in,and an ASUS PBmobo or equivalent Intel mobo, and my guessesare it will runcircles around the dearer cad-dedicated systems.
Bear in mind, we are modelling sheet metal parts, flatextrusions,nothing complex at all. Max parts are about 2-300 inrare cases. Ithink cad-dedicated graphics cards is simply massiveoverkill forwhat we need.
Anyone have any comments or suggestions about this?SolidworksGeneral







I have worked for myself for over 10 years buildingcomputers,fixing hardware and software and programming etc... andin myexperience AMD have always been a lot better for most jobsthanintel and cheaper for the power you get.
My key observations are that my AMD computer is by farthelowest specs machine costing £500 back in the day with 2GBRAM,G-Force 7600 and 2Ghz X2 CPU, whereas all others are IMBIntelswith 3Ghz Core2Duo CPUs, FX5500 CAD-dedicated cards and2GBlow-latency RAM.
In 8 months my AMD has crashed in SW once when firstrunningSW2008, compared to _every_ other computer in the office onaverageof 5 crashes a week = 160 crashes each compared to my 1.
My other observation is that the AMD handles models muchbetterthan the CAD-dedicated systems and it cost a quarter oftheprice.
My thinking is, to get the go-ahead for a sub-£1000grant to builda computer of my choice and compare it to thetop-spec £2000 IBMsystem with its CAD dedicated card.
I intend to spec it with either a top-end AMD or an IntelE6600CPU, with a decent non-cad graphics card costing around£300instead of £900, put 4GB TwinX low-latency RAM in,and an ASUS PBmobo or equivalent Intel mobo, and my guessesare it will runcircles around the dearer cad-dedicated systems.
Bear in mind, we are modelling sheet metal parts, flatextrusions,nothing complex at all. Max parts are about 2-300 inrare cases. Ithink cad-dedicated graphics cards is simply massiveoverkill forwhat we need.
Anyone have any comments or suggestions about this?SolidworksGeneral