Comprehensive Hardware Guide

TITLE: DATE: SUBJECT: ABSTRACT: Comprehensive Hardware Guide 10/12/11 Computer hardware guide, system requirements, 2012 Comprehensive computer hardware guide, including specific explanation for all hardware components for building a custom computer

This document has been written to provide insight on the suggestions made in the Hawk Ridge Systems Hardware Recommendation document and to answer common hardware questions for users building custom system configurations to run SolidWorks, SolidWorks Simulation and SolidWorks Flow Simulation. Unlike the hardware guidelines that written for a specific version or range of versions, this document applies to all versions of SolidWorks unless specifically noted. Guidelines for other products and previous versions are linked at the end of this document. This is not a troubleshooting guide. If you have any technical issues with SolidWorks please contact Hawk Ridge Systems Technical Support.

Contents
Comprehensive Hardware Guide ....................................................................................................1 General Comments........................................................................................................................2 Unsupported & Not Recommended Platforms..................................................................................3 Hawk Ridge Systems Computers ....................................................................................................3 Operating Systems ........................................................................................................................4 Graphics Card ...............................................................................................................................7 Processors ....................................................................................................................................9 Memory (RAM) ........................................................................................................................... 10 Storage (Hard Drive) ................................................................................................................... 10 Other Required Components/Software ......................................................................................... 11 Display ................................................................................................................................. 11 Network/Internet Connection ................................................................................................. 12 Input Device ......................................................................................................................... 12 Microsoft Excel...................................................................................................................... 13 Internet Explorer .................................................................................................................. 13 Adobe Acrobat Reader........................................................................................................... 14 Other Optional Components/Software .......................................................................................... 14 Benchmarks ................................................................................................................................ 14 SolidWorks Specific Benchmarks ............................................................................................ 15 General Benchmarks ............................................................................................................. 15 Other Hardware Guides ............................................................................................................... 15 Previous Comprehensive Hardware Guides ............................................................................. 15 Other Product Hardware Guidelines ........................................................................................ 15

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General Comments
The Hawk Ridge Systems hardware documents combine all HRS knowledge regarding hardware and are derived from multiple sources including but not limited to internal testing, customer experiences, user forums, hardware reviews, system/component availability, direct discussions with SolidWorks Corp. representatives, the SolidWorks Corp. System Requirements page and the SolidWorks Customer Portal Knowledgebase. Hardware recommendations are based on currently available hardware because older hardware is not readily available for purchase or testing. Unless explicitly defined as no longer supported or confirmed by support as unsupported it is assumed that older hardware with similar specifications should be able to run the current version of the software. It should be noted that while users may stay on older hardware of equivalent specifications, there may be additional performance benefits from newer technology and clean systems that have been reformatted or had system maintenance performed on them recently. Users that are concerned about whether their hardware meets the current specs should compare the specs of their systems to the current specs using benchmarks, user reviews, internal testing and if still concerned should contact Hawk Ridge Systems Technical Support. Unfortunately because HRS does not have all types of hardware at their disposal, beyond general recommendations and comparison to HRS systems, HRS may not be able to provide additional information. While this document does not include an exhaustive list of all hardware options or components available, resources such as http://www.tomshardware.com and http://www.3dprofessor.org/ can be consulted for more information. Some additional comments about benchmarks are available at the bottom of this document. While SolidWorks does not publish specific minimum recommendations, the Hawk Ridge Systems Recommended Hardware Guidelines has been written under the assumption that most users are looking for an optimal configuration rather than the bare minimum. For users looking for the minimum system requirements a good rule of thumb is that any modern system (no more than 5 years old) will run the current version SolidWorks as long as no hardware components are listed as unsupported. It should also be noted that systems with these specifications may not perform optimally for all users. Developers test and develop new versions primarily on new hardware, leveraging the latest technology. As such, it is not possible to guarantee that new hardware will support future versions of the software. It is difficult to determine the future proof capabilities of a new hardware configuration, but in general systems should be able to support at least 2 versions. As such, HRS recommends upgrading computers every 2 years for maximum compatibility, performance benefits and efficiency. When choosing between buying a new computer versus upgraded, users should consider the cost of upgrade vs. the cost of a new system. In general, replacing computers on a 2 year schedule will maintain optimal performance versus upgrading and older computer or even buying an extremely high-end system from the beginning. For example buying a system that costs $3000 in 2009 to run the 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 versions

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may not be as efficient as spending $1500 in 2009 and 2011 because the $3000 system will be out-of-date by the time that 2011 is available. Hawk Ridge Systems recommends pre-built computers from manufacturers like Dell, HP, and Lenovo because these manufacturers develop drivers specifically for their hardware. It also puts the burden of compatibility testing and hardware technical support on the manufacturer, saving time for the end user.

Unsupported & Not Recommended Platforms

While it may be possible to install or run SolidWorks products on unsupported platforms, the extent of support that can be provided is limited. There are 3 general categories of support issues: User Related, Hardware/Network Related and Software Related. Customers using platforms described as not supported by SolidWorks will be exposed to potential support limitations in the last two items stated above. In order to properly troubleshoot many hardware and software related issues, support representatives and developers need to be able to reproduce those issues. Hawk Ridge Systems personnel will attempt to reproduce issues that are submitted to them with the supported platforms. However, if the issues are not reproducible or identifiable, Hawk Ridge Systems support personnel will have to close any issues that reach this as they are not covered by SolidWorks development. Similarly, customers using platforms described as not recommended may be exposed to similar issues but generally less severe in nature such as inconsistent behavior or limited performance. While these issues can be reported to development, a final resolution may not be obtainable or may result in an enhancement request to improve the softwares functionality under these system configurations. Predictions as to the nature and number of issues that may be encountered are also difficult as unsupported and not recommended platforms are not tested.

Hawk Ridge Systems Computers

What is Hawk Ridge Systems using? The tables below show the systems currently in use at Hawk Ridge Systems, the currently supported versions that they are capable of running and the versions HRS recommends running on the systems. These systems are aligned with the recommended hardware guidelines with some upgraded for analysis and/or large assembly support purposes with more memory and 64-bit operating systems. Windows 7 is the primary operating system of our computers, with some running Windows XP. Our desktops are a generation old due to the fact that they are less frequently replaced and laptops are our primary computers.

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Notebooks

Current Generation HP 8560W

One Generation Old Dell M4500 HP 8540W Up To 2012 Up To 2012

Two Generations Old Dell M4400 HP 8530W

Model

Versions Capable Versions Recommended

Desktops

Current Generation Dell T3500 HP Z400

One Generation Old Dell T3400

Two Generations Old Dell P390

Model

Versions Capable Versions Recommended

Up To 2012 Up To 2012 Up To 2009

Operating Systems
All operating systems should be updated 100% on windows updates. Take note of Windows 7 service pack specific support in the table below. It should also be noted that it is required that XP users are running sp2.0 or higher. SolidWorks Corp. Officially Supported Operating Systems o o Supported X Supported with limitations. See notes below the table for more information. Outside of the limitations, the software has not been tested and cannot be supported. Not Supported. Installation is not supported and while the software may install and run on these operating systems, these configurations have not been tested and cannot be supported.

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2008 XP Home XP Professional 32-bit SP2+ XP Professional 64-bit Vista Starter, Home Basic or Home Premium Vista Business, Ultimate or Enterprise 32-bit Vista Business, Ultimate or Enterprise 64-bit Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise 32-bit Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate or Enterprise 64-bit Windows 7 Starter, Home, or Home Premium (Tablet PC, Media Center)

2009

2010 & 2011 3 3

2012

2013

3 3

1,6

5,7

5,7

4,5,8

5,6

5,6

4,5,6,8

1. Cannot be installed with SP0.0 and upgraded. Must be installed using 2008 Sp3.1 (or higher) x64 DVD or full installer download. 2. Only available SP4.0 onward. The x64 version does not support activation and will require registration codes and COSMOS license.dat files. Please contact Hawk Ridge Systems Technical Support. 3. While Microsoft has officially retired Windows XP as of April 2009 and will no longer provide support to software developers, SolidWorks will continue to support Windows XP Professional operating systems excluding issues resulting from operating system issues or requiring operating system fixes. These types of issues are very uncommon but should be taken into account when choosing an operating system. At the minimum customers should have an upgrade plan if necessary. 4. 2010 Cannot be installed with SP0.0 and upgraded. Must be installed using 2010 sp1.0 (or higher) DVD or full installer download. 5. Pre 2009 SP5.0 and 2010 SP0.0 installers may install but are not tested or recommended or supported. Users in this situation should downgrade to the operating system that supports all the versions that are required. The reason these versions were not supported is because the operating system was not available at the time of development and development closes when the new version is available. For more information on SolidWorks 2009 running on Windows 7, see this document. 6. 32-bit version is only supported on 32-bit operating systems and will be blocked from installation on a 64-bit operating system. Windows XP is the only version that supports installing the 32-bit version on a 64-bit operating system because it was required during the initial release of 64-bit operating

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systems when there was limited 64-bit adoption of other add-ins. It is no longer required and as such is not supported on newer operating systems. If you need this capability please submit an enhancement request through the SolidWorks Customer Portal. 7. Operating system compatibility modes are not supported. 8. SolidWorks 2010 will not be officially qualified for use with Windows 7 SP1, only Windows 7 SP0. 2011 SP4 is the minimum requirement for Windows 7 SP1. Windows 7 SP1 may be installed for use with SolidWorks 2010, however issues found can be reported, but these issues will likely be fixed only in SolidWorks 2012 SP1 or later.
Virtual machines are not supported. SolidWorks must be run on physical machines. With activation based standalone licenses, each virtual machine will count towards activation and may potentially be lost resulting in the software being non-functional and will require Hawk Ridge Systems Technical Support interaction to resolve. Intel equipped Apple Macintosh systems with Microsoft Windows operating systems are not supported hardware platforms for SolidWorks regardless of the emulation system used (VMWare, Parallels, Bootcamp...etc). For more information, please see our Apple article on eSupport. When changing operating systems, including operating system upgrades, SolidWorks must be uninstalled and then reinstalled under the correct operating system for optimal functionality. Users considering operating system changes should confirm that their existing hardware can support the operating system if it is newer than what is currently installed. (I.E. upgrading to Windows 7 from Windows XP) Systems may not functional optimally if they were not built to support the operating system. While Hawk Ridge Systems recommends 64-bit variants of current supported operation systems, they are not required. o However, due to their greater versatility, Hawk Ridge Systems recommends that new systems are purchased with 64-bit operating systems. In cases where 32-bit users would be forced to switch operating systems, 64-bit users may simply only need to add RAM or increase page file to resolve stability or memory issues. It should be noted that while the 64-bit version of SolidWorks running on a 64-bit operating system with a 64-bit processor will not directly translate to faster processing speed (Opening, Saving, Rebuildingetc), speed benefits usually come from newer processing technology, clean systems or the ability to install more ram. Currently most 64-bit processors are using 32-bit processing algorithms and true 64-bit processing architecture which would result in faster processing speed is available in only a few processors such as SPARC6 and Intel Itanium processors.

Choosing an operating system and suggesting a recommended operating system has become a difficult task due to individual customer corporate requirements, availability of the operating systems and the near equal performance of the operating systems. The following table outlines the advantages and disadvantages of the currently supported operating systems. If users have a choice of operating systems, Hawk Ridge Systems encourages testing the operating systems in your environment to make sure that it matches your needs.

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Preference (Rank) 1 Windows 7 Advantages

-In general can be downgraded to Windows XP or sometimes Windows Vista and upgraded at a later date. Please contact your hardware manufacturer for more information. -Decreased operating system graphical and processing overhead compared to Vista resulting in more resources available for SolidWorks. -Full Microsoft support for software developers

2 Windows Vista
-More bench time than Windows 7 -In general can be downgraded to Windows XP and upgraded at a later date. Please contact your hardware manufacturer for more information on eligibility. -Full Microsoft support for software developers

3 Windows XP
-Tried and tested operating system -Supported for majority legacy hardware and software

Disadvantages

-Requires careful consideration of legacy software and hardware which may not be supported -For most users it requires learning a new operating system interface and new methods of performing day to day functions. -Increased operating system graphical and processing overhead compared to XP resulting in less resources available for SolidWorks.

-Requires careful consideration of legacy software and hardware which may not be supported -For most users it requires learning a new operating system interface and new methods of performing day to day functions. -Increased operating system graphical and processing overhead compared to XP resulting in less resources available for SolidWorks. -Not available for purchase

-No operating system fixes -Retired operating system, limited support for much new software. -x64 variant requires careful consideration of legacy software and hardware which may not be supported -Not available for purchase

Graphics Card
Consumer graphics cards such as the ATI/AMD Radeon, NVIDIA Geforce, integrated graphics or 2D cards such as the NVIDIA Quadro NVS or AMD FirePro Multi-View cards are not recommended due to graphics related performance and stability limitations. Hawk Ridge Systems highly recommends the use of 3D workstation graphics cards such as the ones in the table below:

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Entry Level Desktop PCs NVIDIA Quadro1 AMD FirePro2 Notebook PCs NVIDIA Quadro Mobile AMD FirePro Mobility 600 V4800 880M/1000M M5950

Mid-Range 2000 V5900 2000M M8900

High-End 4000/5000 V7900 3000/4000M N/A

1. Previous name was NVIDIA Quadro FX 2. Previous name was ATI FireGL
SolidWorks maintains a list of certified graphics cards and the drivers recommended for them on different operating systems and versions of SolidWorks at: o o http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/videocardtesting.html. Recommended cards will show up with a green icon indicating they have passed all tests. Yellow rated cards are not recommended due to limitations observed during testing. Red rated cards are not supported due to severe limitations observed during testing. When looking up graphics cards, be aware that notebook systems will only be found under the system manufacturer. New systems or graphics cards may take several weeks to be certified, so please check back often to verify that it is certified before purchasing. In general, new cards which already have certified cards of the same family (for example the NVIDIA Quadro FX family) will also be certified and will perform well with the latest driver for the system or card manufacturer until a certified/tested driver is available. If the card/system is listed for older versions of SolidWorks, but not for current versions, you can assume that your card is no longer be supported. See our OpenGL document for more information.

Along with benchmark results and availability of a recommended driver, the amount of memory on board, memory bandwidth and number of processing cores are important values when comparing graphics cards. As values increase, generally performance is better. Some sample specification comparisons are included below: o o http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_11761.html http://products.amd.com/en-us/WorkstationGraphicCardResult.aspx?f1=FireGL

When displaying greater amounts of graphical information (complex models, large monitors, multiple monitors or high resolutions) more powerful graphics cards should be chosen to improve display performance. When using graphics cards with large amounts of onboard memory (1GB+), users may see a decreased memory capacity in SolidWorks due to graphical memory mapping on system RAM.

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The memory mapping is not 1:1 but significantly decreases SolidWorks memory capacity as the graphics card on board memory increases. When working near the threshold of a 32-bit operating system this may result in out-of-memory errors which cannot be resolved through operating system, hardware or SolidWorks software changes. If models cannot be modified to decrease memory usage from the 32-bit operating system threshold, 64-bit operating systems should be considered. Similarly, graphics cards with shared memory will produce an additional reduction in available memory to supplement on board graphics card memory. NVIDIA SLI and ATI Crossfire technology are currently not supported and no benefits are gained by having multiple graphics cards. Hawk Ridge Systems recommends substituting multiple graphics cards by a more powerful single graphics card if necessary. At this time SolidWorks does not leverage GPU processing. PhotoView 360 rendering capabilities are not improved by more powerful graphics cards. With Windows Vista and Windows 7, video cards with 256mb or less will experience reduced performance due to architectural changes in the operating system.

Processors
SolidWorks does not state a minimum processor specification but any modern processor should be sufficient. However for 2010 products and above, Pentium 3, older AMD Athlon and AMD XP processors are no longer supported because these CPUs do not support SSE2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 2). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE2 for more details. Floating point based (Xeon) vs. integer based processors do not matter. The software is not written to benefit one type of processor or another. Currently there are no specific benchmarks which compare single processors to multi-core processors/multi-processor systems in SolidWorks, however users who multi-task and some aspects of SolidWorks (Opening Drawings, Draw Compare, Boolean operations, Updating Views), PhotoWorks(2010 and below), PhotoView 360, Simulation and Flow Simulation will benefit from parallel processing (multi-core or multi-processors). For other functions, it should be noted that the majority of parametric operations are required to be performed sequentially (like rebuilding features in the feature tree) and by nature are single threaded. Users should make decisions based on the capabilities of a single core rather than the processor as a whole. In general, if you use the clock speed of the processor as the measurement, higher clock speed values and benchmark results will provide better performance. It should be noted that AMD processors are rated differently than Intel processors and the manufacturer should be contacted to ensure those differences are taken into account. These examples illustrate the selection process between Intel processors: o Example 1: Similarly priced 2.5Ghz dual core vs. 2.0Ghz quad core, the dual core would be recommended because most operations would be done on a 2.5Ghz core instead of a 2.0Ghz core.

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Example 2: 2.5Ghz dual core processor vs. a slightly more expensive 2.66ghz quad core, the quad core would be recommended because most operations would be done on a 2.66Ghz core instead of a 2.5Ghz core and multi-threaded processes would benefit from the additional cores.

Disable hyper-threading for older P4 class processors. For modern generation processors (Intel Core CPUs) it should be enabled. Testing so far indicates substantial benefits with turbo boost and hyper threading. However, we recommend doing individual benchmarks to see if its optimal or not to leave hyper-threading enabled as results will vary depending on hardware setup. When choosing a processor, the clock speed is important but you should also review the number of cores, bus speed, amount of onboard cache, boost capabilities and also hyper-threading capabilities. While they may not provide direct benefits in SolidWorks, they may provide additional benefits in general processor capabilities.

Memory (RAM)
It is recommended to install as much RAM as is feasible to improve performance and stability by: o Increasing the opportunity for RAM to be allocated to applications instead of slower, more volatile hard drive based page file. Reduce the amount of memory swapping between programs when there isnt enough RAM to satisfy the needs of all programs. Improve the memory threshold for computers running 32-bit operating systems. For more information on how RAM, and page file are related to virtual memory and SolidWorks please see our memory document.

In most cases, more RAM is better. However, more RAM does not always equate to more speed. It is recommended to have enough RAM to handle the needs of your applications. Faster RAM can also provide performance benefits but please verify with your hardware manufacturer that faster RAM is compatible with your system and that existing RAM is of equal speed. Existing RAM which is slower, may reduce the performance of new, faster RAM. For an in-depth explanation of SolidWorks and memory, see this document.

Storage (Hard Drive)

Some performance benefits can be obtained by having separate drives (not separate partitions on the same drive) for: o o Operating System/Programs and Current Files Page File

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Data Archive (Can be much larger and slower for archive use only)

While there are no specific benchmarks which compare performance in SolidWorks with different RAID versions, (RAID0 (Data Spreading), RAID1 (Data Mirroring) and RAID5 (Data Mirroring and Spreading)they can be used in a SolidWorks client system to add data redundancy and improve hard disk access performance. It should be noted that page file should always be located on a non-RAID hard drive. More information is available here: http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/Tech_Tips/TT_RaidDrives.html. The performance of a SSD is the fastest of all storage devices. As SSD technology matures, it will become easier to just buy any SSD and get a boost in performance without any side effects. Please review the article below for more details and helping you decide which type of SSD is right for you: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ssd-value-performance,review-1455.html o We only recommend using SSDs if they support TRIM and you are using Windows 7. More information is available here:http://www.bittech.net/hardware/storage/2010/02/04/windows-7-ssd-performance-and-trim/1

Performance benefits will be seen from upgrading to a 10K or 15K RPM hard drive. As these drives have high data transfer rates and can access data very quickly. Primary hard drives should have enough storage for the OS, other programs, virtual memory, temporary files, free space, file storage, SolidWorks installer and program files (Up to 12GB). The minimum storage space we recommend is 80GB.

Other Required Components/Software

Display
Widescreen monitors are recommended because of the widescreen nature of the SolidWorks interface. When displaying greater amounts of graphical information (complex models, large monitors, multiple monitors or high resolutions) more powerful graphics cards should be chosen to improve performance. When using multiple monitors, the best compatibility is with monitors with the same resolution and color settings. This is the configuration that is used during SolidWorks graphics card driver testing. SolidWorks 2010, 2011, and 2012 includes limited functionality for multi-touch monitors. Click here for SolidWorks help for functionality that is supported. Minimum 1024x768 not required but some menus might be cut off at that resolution. This is not an intended functionality and should be reported to Hawk Ridge Systems Technical Support.

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Network/Internet Connection
An internet connection is required to: o Access to http://customerportal.solidworks.com for SolidWorks knowledgebase, technical articles, SPR tracking, etc. Accessing Hawk Ridge Systems eSupport Downloading software updates (Depending on installed software the download required averages around 1GB but can range from a few MB to 4.5GB. High-speed internet connection recommended.) Standalone license activation and obtaining SolidWorks network licenses. (At minimum the activation process requires access to e-mail on at least one company computer) Remote support sessions and HRS Webinars. (High-speed internet connection recommended)

o o

Wired network connections are recommended for SNL and accessing files over a network for optimal performance and least chance of latency or data loss. Users working with wireless connections or VPN connections should borrow licenses or move files locally. It should be noted that Hawk Ridge Systems does not recommend working with files over a network and users that need this capability should consider a data management solution such as SolidWorks Workgroup PDM or SolidWorks Enterprise PDM. Remote desktop connections or VPN connections to SolidWorks clients are not supported. Network components should be speed compatible or adjusted to be speed compatible. If gigabit Ethernet cards are being used with gigabit routers/switches, it is highly recommended that CAT6 cable is used between them as CAT5 and CAT5e may not provide sufficient bandwidth. (http://www.edn.com/article/CA46370.html) It should be noted that Hawk Ridge Systems highly discourages the use of network opening and saving for performance, crashing and file corruption reasons. PDM systems are recommended for network saving because they provide the best balance of performance and file backup in addition to revision control and change accountability. SolidWorks is tested only with Microsoft's Windows Networking and Active Directory network environments. Novell networks and non-Windows based network storage devices are not supported.

Input Device
A 3-Button mouse with a scroll wheel is required. Hawk Ridge Systems experience shows the best compatibility is with Microsoft products with the most current drivers.

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3D Controllers can be used but please check with the manufacturer to ensure that they are compatible with the version of SolidWorks that you are using. Tablets are currently not supported but should work in sketch mode. Please contact the hardware manufacturer for any compatibility concerns or for information on configuring the tablet for use in SolidWorks

Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel version should be an equivalent or older version than that of SolidWorks for full functionality and compatibility. 2007 and below Excel 2002 Excel 2003 Excel 2007 Excel 2010 2008 and 2009 2010 2011 2012

1. .xlsx is not supported, must use .xls files 2. Only with 2010 SP5.0

Internet Explorer
Used for Installation manager, help files, admin image (one step installer), Workgroup PDM Viewer, Enterprise PDM and Hawk Ridge Systems eSupport. 2008 and below IE6 IE7 IE8 IE9 2009 2010 2011 2012

1. 2009 sp5 required. 2. 2011 sp4 required.

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Adobe Acrobat Reader

Latest version is recommended but version 7.0.7 or higher will work for reading the Whats New PDF

Other Optional Components/Software

DVD-R/DVD-RW with software for archiving and file transfer. Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware tools: SolidWorks has published a list of compatible Anti-Virus tools: http://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/AntiVirus_SW.html Additional Cooling: Extra case fans or notebook cooler. System/Disk Imaging Software: Should not be used as it is not supported by SolidWorks. If used, SolidWorks should be installed after systems have been imaged or should be used with a network license.

Benchmarks
Unfortunately the number of SolidWorks specific benchmarks and their results are limited. However, in general, benchmarks which evaluate overall component or system performance can be used when making component or system selections because the principal functions in SolidWorks are comparable to functions in other programs and the measurements made in benchmark programs. Examples of items tested in a benchmark: Hard drive performance benchmarks apply to SolidWorks for opening and saving functions. Graphics cards that perform well in OpenGL tests or in benchmarks for other 3D CAD applications based on OpenGL apply to SolidWorks Single-threaded application performance benchmarks apply to the majority of SolidWorks functions such as rebuilding Multi-threaded application performance benchmarks apply to multi-threaded functions in SolidWorks such as photo rendering and analysis. For more information about what processes are multi-threaded, please query the SolidWorks Customer Portal Knowledgebase using the search term multi or review the comments above in the Processor section. Overall processor benchmarks will still give a decent idea of the performance of a processor as long as equal core processors are being compared. For example the results of a quad core vs. dual core should not be compared. If compared, it should be kept in mind that most processor benchmarks take into account multi-threaded applications which may skew the results towards the processor with more cores.

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Some of the most common benchmarks used for evaluating existing systems or for choosing new ones are listed below. These benchmarks have been performed by third parties not associated with Hawk Ridge Systems and the publishers should be contacted directly with any questions you might have. An additional note of caution: The results of benchmarks are subjective. High scores may provide adequate performance for one user but may be insufficient for another user due their unique use of the software. Hawk Ridge Systems recommends working with hardware manufacturers to demo/evaluate systems before purchase whenever possible or make sure there is an acceptable return policy if the system does not meet your needs.

SolidWorks Specific Benchmarks

SolidWorks RX Benchmark: o See the Add-in tab in the SolidWorks RX utility(start menu>all programs>SolidWorks 2012>SolidWorks tools>SolidWorks RX)

Toms Hardware workstation graphics card testing with SPECapc in SolidWorks 2007: o http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/workstation-graphics-charts/SPECapc-Solidworks2007-Overall-Score,123.html

SolidMuses SolidWorks rebuild tests: o http://www.solidmuse.com/benchmarks/

ATIs FirePro and NVidia Quadro FX graphics card testing with SPECapc Viewperf 10: o http://ati.amd.com/products/firepro/firepro_3D_benchmarks.html http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/quadrofx-firepro.html

General Benchmarks
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/ has general benchmarks for CPUs, graphics cards, hard drives and systems. These benchmarks are usually based on multithreaded applications and consumer graphics applications (Video games and multimedia) and should be evaluated with caution based on the benchmark comments made above.

Other Hardware Guides

Previous Comprehensive Hardware Guides
2010 2011

Other Product Hardware Guidelines

SolidWorks Authored

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o o o o

SolidWorks Network License Manager SolidWorks Workgroup PDM Server and Viewer (Scroll to the Bottom) 3DVIA Composer eDrawings

Hawk Ridge Systems Authored o Recommended hardware guide SolidWorks Enterprise PDM Clients and Server

This information is subject to change without notification. Please make sure you are using the most current version of the document. If you have any questions or find that there are discrepancies between this document and the SolidWorks website or documentation, please contact Hawk Ridge Systems Technical Support.

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