How will Solidworks do?

[jagboy]

My Dell Dimension 4550:


1 gb ram
2.53 ghz P4 w/ HT
Plenty o' HD space
XP Home
The catch: a nVidia GeForce MX 420
So, how well will this handle SW? I will be buying the student edition, but I want to know what to expect. For the most part it will be simple stuff. By the time I start with complex assys (i.e. full rcs) I will hopefully have enough money to buy a kickbutt comp. For now I have this and I think it should run decently except for the graphics card. Any predictions?


JB

[Zcrusher]

A good ram and video card is needed. My school had top of the line, and prodesktop made me lose 10 hours of work.

Z

[bubba069]

I would get another gig of ram and a new vid card.

the one you have will work for small parts/assy's but may not display certain things right.

check here -> http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/videocardtesting.html

also, keep in mind just because the card kicks butt for gaming does not make it good for workstation use. keep that in mind if this is going to become a workstation.

[jagboy]

^^Thats good enough for me. All I need it to do is display simple stuff. One of the main reasons I purchased the Student Edition is to learn how to use the program. Once I get good enough I am going to do bigger things which will require a commercial licence and a top end workstation. What makes a vid card good for workstation use? I will most likely build the comp myself when the time comes. I guess I'll start saving now, because the comp I want wont be some basic machine. Do you think $3500 will get a decent enough workstation?

BTW: my motherboard's maxed out as far as ram goes.


JB

[bubba069]

3500 will get a good machine, but for about half that will go to the vid card. the 3dlabs wildcat realism 800 is a 1600 card, the nvidia quatro cards are in the 600 range, and the ati fire gl v7100 is in the 700 range. the fire gl or a quatro card should do just fine though.

but what ever you get make sure it PCI-e, for the processor I would lean towards the intel dual cores or xenon if you got deep pockets. more ran the better, and get the good stuff. and DO NOT I repete DO NOT cheep out on the power supply get a good one.

as for the chips you can wait and see what the new AM2 chips from amd brings to the table, also the new intel conroe chips are coming out soon as well.

either way I would not buy untill later this year when all this is out, if you can hold off that long with what you have, if nothing else for the price drop on current hardware.