Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 17 of 17

Thread: Computer Hardware Question

  1. #11

    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Central Illinois
    Posts
    5
    Thanks Guys, I will repost with some exact specifications listing the items you (all) have mentioned. I decided to just try what I have and address the deficiencies. Right the greatest deficiency is between my ears. I downloaded Solidworks last night and finished this AM, thus the early post. It seems to load ok, but I'll progress through the first tutorials to see what is taking time. Then run the SW internal performance test to get a benchmark.

    As a rough hardware listing:

    Cooler Master tower
    ASUS Motherboard - model to be edited
    8GB memory, to be confirmed
    i7 950 3.4 ish GHz - this number seems to change depending on if it is being worked or advertised :-) - benchmark about half a new i7 - 8700 for single thread performance.
    1 TB HD, no ssd, but on Win10 boot, the HD communications are saturated, so an SSD is needed already.
    Invidia GeFOrce 460 card -

    All this stuff is old and subject to replacement or a new build, but it hopefully will be a good training ground.

    Thanks to all posting, it was more about how little, how slow a computer can be used than how fast. The latter is easy. The sad part is I had a knowledgeable/trusted guy build this unit but the store closed. It was way faster/$ than COTS at the time. Glad to hear people still do that though.

  2. #12
    DaleB's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    KMLE
    Posts
    654
    Quote Originally Posted by BillL View Post
    Thanks to all posting, it was more about how little, how slow a computer can be used than how fast. The latter is easy. The sad part is I had a knowledgeable/trusted guy build this unit but the store closed. It was way faster/$ than COTS at the time. Glad to hear people still do that though.
    Oh, heck yes. Based on my last experience, I'd say pick the processor you want to use first, then pick one of the dozens of motherboards that will allow you to use it, then shop for a deal on memory the motherboard supports, then pick out the video card, and look for a decent deal on a good, major brand, reliable SSD. If my motherboard or anything on it craps out, it's going to be inconvenient. If my SSD dies, it's a REAL pain in the tookus. Your backups are never quite as up to date as you need them to be.
    Measure twice, cut once...
    scratch head, shrug, shim to fit.

    Flying an RV-12. I am building a Fisher Celebrity, slowly.

  3. #13
    Matt Gonitzke's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    332
    Bill, I have a pretty similar setup to you. I don't know how big of models you are planning on working with, but I had to double my RAM from 8 to 16 GB about halfway through designing a glider trailer. You'll get by if you have only a few parts open at once, but once I got to an assembly that had hundreds of parts in it, I started having issues. Graphics card may have also been partly to blame. I had an Nvidia GTX560, which like your 460 is pretty dated these days. I just upgraded to a GTX 1060. Haven't used solidworks much since then, but a massive all-around improvement in performance of other applications has occurred.

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    159
    Matt: When you are done designing that trailer, would you consider posting it to GrabCad and tagging it EAA?

    RAM and Video card seem to be the big things as I take support calls on installation. I am a novice user of SW... several tutorials and designed a collapsible step stool. I am running an HP Zbook 15u with 16GB RAM and an AMD FirePro W4190M.
    Last edited by Cory Puuri; 02-26-2019 at 01:40 PM.

  5. #15
    bigdog's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Spring, TX
    Posts
    64
    On the high end, I built my new work box with SW in mind. I7-7820, 3.6ghz, 64GB, 1TB SSD, 14TB NAS, Nvidia Quadro P5000 and 42" 4K monitor. So far nothing fazes it and hopefully won't for years to come. I can't believe how much I love the big monitor compared to my previous dual 22"s. My business partner is a gamer and built his the same but with Radeon video instead.
    Regards,
    Greg Young
    1950 Navion N5221K
    RV-6 N6GY - first flight 5/16/2021
    1940 Rearwin Cloudster in work
    4 L-2 projects on deck

  6. #16
    Matt Gonitzke's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    332
    Quote Originally Posted by Cory Puuri View Post
    Matt: When you are done designing that trailer, would you consider posting it to GrabCad and tagging it EAA?
    Design is done (build too) but I'm not sure my models are really in good condition to put out for all to see, or if I want the whole world to be able to download them. Some aspects were only modeled well enough to build the trailer and are not "pretty" like most of the stuff I see on there.

    Name:  Iso_trailer.jpg
Views: 1213
Size:  93.8 KB
    Name:  IMG_9471.jpg
Views: 1088
Size:  95.3 KB

  7. #17

    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    159
    That is a nice looking trailer! I think people would love to have access to those plans, but I understand your concern about the world having access to the design.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •