I kept a record of how often SolidWorks crashed in 2009. I kept this as a benchmark so I could have good data for when I say "It's not the Software, it's you".
What does this data include? Hard crashes where Solidworks quits to the desktop. I have used Solidworks about 40% of my day in 2009, so I'd say fairly frequently but not as much as years past (more likely a couple week s straight every month). I typically work on complex surfaces (investment cast aluminum in complex shapes), and then those parts are built into small (~50-100 parts) assemblies. I have 2 GB ram and I max it out whenever I have an assembly, or multiple parts + drawings open. Sometimes single parts will max out my memory too. I run Windows XP 32 bit. I installed SW2009 the week before New Years, and we are still running SW2009 today.
Number of crashes per month:
January - 1
February - 1
March - 1
April - 1
May - 1
June - 4
July - 0
August - 0
September - 0
October - 0
November - 0
December - 2
Total Crashes in 2009: 11
At the end of May I received a Space Pilot Pro. I blame both the crash in May and the 4 crashes in June on the SPP with its drivers. In July/August I put on the updated drivers and I haven't had any issues since. I also used SW less frequently in the fall.
Total Crashes excluding SPP issues: 6
So, I crashed 6 to 11 times in 2009, depending on whether those crashes were due to the SPP, and if you want to count that.
What doesn't count as a crash for me is if I did something I knew was dumb. This includes things like creating a pattern of objects that ends up with thousands of features. This typically causes SW to hang, and I have to force close. I sometimes play around with stuff like that but you have to be realistic in that "I knew better".
The two crashes in December were definitely due to me working on two different assemblies at the same time, and SolidWorks just couldn't handle all the information. Even though I might "know better" than to try and run multiple assemblies at the same time, I think that is core functionality that the software should be capable of.SolidworksGeneral
What does this data include? Hard crashes where Solidworks quits to the desktop. I have used Solidworks about 40% of my day in 2009, so I'd say fairly frequently but not as much as years past (more likely a couple week s straight every month). I typically work on complex surfaces (investment cast aluminum in complex shapes), and then those parts are built into small (~50-100 parts) assemblies. I have 2 GB ram and I max it out whenever I have an assembly, or multiple parts + drawings open. Sometimes single parts will max out my memory too. I run Windows XP 32 bit. I installed SW2009 the week before New Years, and we are still running SW2009 today.
Number of crashes per month:
January - 1
February - 1
March - 1
April - 1
May - 1
June - 4
July - 0
August - 0
September - 0
October - 0
November - 0
December - 2
Total Crashes in 2009: 11
At the end of May I received a Space Pilot Pro. I blame both the crash in May and the 4 crashes in June on the SPP with its drivers. In July/August I put on the updated drivers and I haven't had any issues since. I also used SW less frequently in the fall.
Total Crashes excluding SPP issues: 6
So, I crashed 6 to 11 times in 2009, depending on whether those crashes were due to the SPP, and if you want to count that.
What doesn't count as a crash for me is if I did something I knew was dumb. This includes things like creating a pattern of objects that ends up with thousands of features. This typically causes SW to hang, and I have to force close. I sometimes play around with stuff like that but you have to be realistic in that "I knew better".
The two crashes in December were definitely due to me working on two different assemblies at the same time, and SolidWorks just couldn't handle all the information. Even though I might "know better" than to try and run multiple assemblies at the same time, I think that is core functionality that the software should be capable of.SolidworksGeneral
