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Solidworks system and var

Hi

I am looking to purchase a decent system shortly for running SW2005. I have seen a decent spec dell dual xeon 3gig with 2gig ram, decent HD and an ATI X2 256m gfx card. any opinions on this system? assemblies would be in the order of a couple of hundred parts only. Does photoworks take advantage of dual processors? or would a faster single processor make more sense? I will be doing a lot of rendering.

Also, I see a couple of different VAR's in the UK, does anyone have experience of any of them with regards to support etc? I'd like a recommendation prior to purchase.

thanks for your time

Rich

Reply to
RT
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I would go with an approved Nvidia card. PhotoWorks will use dual processors but I'm not sure of the performance gain. SolidWorks will not take advantage of dual processors.

Reply to
Rob Rodriguez

Why DELL? Why XEON? Why Dual CPU?

None of the above items really helps SW perform although they look good on paper.

AMD64 or Opteron Good quality motherboard (see

formatting link
or tomshardware.com)

2-3 GB of fast, quality RAM like Corsair or Mushk> Hi

advantage of

Reply to
P.

If you have the budget for 2x 3GHz Xeons, you might look at IBM Opteron workstations. The NVidia Quadros they have get fewer complaints than the ATI cards, and the Opteron family outperforms the Xeon in all the SW banchmarks I have seen. "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM". That would also get you the support of a major vendor.

If you dare (or if you need to) you can build you own for a lot less than either of those. Of course, if there's a problem, you're on your own.

On the dual CPU issue: SW won't use 2 CPUs, but it would be a nice reserve if you do a lot of multitasking. PhotoWorks will use the 2nd processor, but I don't know how often or to what effect. Hopefully someone with experience can weigh in on whether the 2nd processor is worth the extra money.

Reply to
Dale Dunn

We use NT CADCAM (01565) 621150 who have been very good and were recommended to me.

We just bought seats from them so I can't comment on training etc but their telephone support is fine.

Jonathan

Reply to
jonathan rees

I'll agree with Rob that you should go with different video card. PNY Quadro FX500 is good quality with decent price (around 300 =80 in Finland). I'm using NVIDIA Quadro4 980 XGL which is around 800 euros but it's worth every cent.

Reply to
Tonius K

Thanks guys. I'm still not sure if dual processors are going to be better than a faster single. The only reason I looked at dual Xeons was because there are a lot of offers around and you could pick a system up pretty cheap. I have also looked at NT Cadcam before, so I will probably go with them.

Thanks

Rich

Reply to
RT

Can't believe you can by a slower dual Xeon cheaper than a faster single CPU.

Reply to
P.

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