First, I would like to introduce myself to the world of SolidWorks. My name is Jesse Helms (no relation to the senator, lol) and I am a relatively new user to SolidWorks. About 6 months ago I took a consulting job with a new company that uses SW and recently was offered a direct position with them (I guess they like me, woohoo!), so im trying to learn all the ins and outs and become as proficient in SW as I was/am in ACAD and Inventor. Just like with AutoDesk, I have found the forums here to be invaluable and a great resource for new and experienced user.  So to all that are on here, greetings! Now on to business…..

I was hoping to get some opinions/feedback on some of the results I came up with while running some benchmark tests on some different workstations here at my work as well as a brand new workstation I purchased for doing work from home.  I’ll go ahead and use the numbers I achieved off of running Anna’s Punch Holder because this benchmark seems to be highly regarded on these forums, plus the results were typical with each benchmark I ran (sheet metal carrier, Scooby doo and a few of my own).

HOME WORKSTATION

(1)Dell T3500

2.93 GHz Xeon W3540

nVidia quadro FX1800

4GB RAM

Windows XP 64 bit loaded w/Windows 7 Professional 64 bit license

                Results= 66.73 (XP 64bit)

                                68.95(Win 7 Prof 64 bit)

COMPANY WORKSATIONS

(2)Dell T5400

3.16 GHz Xeon  X5460

nVidia quadro FX3700

8GB RAM

Windows XP 64 bit

                Results=103.91

(3)Dell T5400

3.16 GHz Xeon  X5460

nVidia quadro FX3700

17GB RAM

Windows XP 64 bit

                Results=102.20

(4)Dell T5400

3.16 GHz Xeon  X5460

nVidia quadro FX3700

17GB RAM

Windows XP 64 bit

                Results=102.89

(5)Dell T5500

2.4 GHz Xeon  E5530

nVidia quadro FX3800

12GB RAM

Windows 7 Prof 64 bit

                Results=75.93

Before starting this, my first thought was that the T5400’s would do rather well as they had the highest GHz processors but I also knew that it’s not necessarily about how many GHz the processor is but the actual architecture of the processor itself.  Honestly I don’t know exactly what the difference is between all the processors listed and the architecture of each other than the architecture does make a difference.  And this is why I’m posting this to get others thoughts….there are some very smart and tech savvy people on this forum and Im hoping to get some good feedback.

Things to note and questions I had during testing:

• Home computer was fresh from dell, brand new.  Other than windows xp 64 and office 2007      nothing else was loaded when received.  Only other software loaded prior to SW install was AVG 9.0 Free anti-virus      (SW certified AV).
• SW uninstalled and reinstalled after upgrading to win 7 64      bit.
• All computers on list are using SW 2010.  All Company computers are on SP      2.1.  Home computer is on SP 0.  Would      SP make a difference in time?(I would think not but will test tonight      to verify when I upgrade to 2.1)
• The 4 company computer all have various other software on      them and are all on a network      running PDM workgroup and utilizing network licenses. Home computer is standalone license and      everything is running local on c: drive. Does network license have an effect? Does other software loaded      have an effect?
• All Company computers were tested with PDM workgroup add-in      both on and off and no difference in times were noted.
• All times are the average of 3 runs of each benchmark. No times      deviated more than 1.0 sec from average taken.

Thank you to everyone that takes the time to read this and provide feedback!