The shortcut will say x64 Edition and so will the “about” box under Help > About SolidWorks…
~w~
Thanks, makes sense now. So, it seems like the only issue would be the older version of SolidWorks?
I’m also curious about your memory comment. I’ve been wondering exactly what kind of specs on a computer are really necessary, and what’s more than what anyone would ever need. I know you can get a PC with 16 gigs of memory, and a 2gig video card for like 1K, but do you really need it? Can you elaborate a bit more on what design programs use what resources on a computer? For example, if I’m using SolidWorks for simple parts and assemblies with less than 100 parts do I really need a graphics card over 1gig?
I hear a lot of people using bootcamp to run their CAD stuff off of, and the ones I’ve talked to are fine with it. Yet, many comments from people on these boards claim that it’s not that great. I’m curious to know what kind of usage do you have to get to to make it unacceptable? I’ve been interested in moving to this type of setup, but haven’t read enough about exactly what the limitations are.
Basically, I’m looking to get a new setup for portfolio maintenance and to play around with any side ideas or simple freelance jobs I may have. Irun CS and Painter (70% of the time), then SolidWorks and maybe some Rhino the rest of the time. Any rendering is done with photoworks or flamingo, nothing crazy like Maya, 3dstudio, etc.
Like I said - hitting ctrl+alt+delete and going to the processes tab under task manager will show you exactly how much memory something is using for all your apps. Theres tons of background processes that use memory, and the general rule is the larger your file, the more memory it will take.
If you have a 500 meg Solidworks database- chances are it will require several gigs of memory. If you are working on a 2 meg skin for rendering, not so much.
Theres no hard and fast rule. Video memory is slightly different - this is where all your textures and shaders and visual geometry gets loaded for shaded 3D modes. If you aren’t using any real time 3D intensive apps, you don’t need a lot of Video Ram. On the other hand, there are rendering apps like Showcase that are entirely dependent on the video card for rendering and those will require a fast GPU and a lot of Vram for texture heavy scenes.
Bootcamp is fine for 90% of people. If you are doing very heavy 3D work, then consider jumping to 8+ gigs. I do most of my personal work with 6 gigs with no issues. My work machine has 12 gigs (just because it could) and I’ve never gotten close to taxing that.
SolidWorks uses ram for rendering, not graphics cards (unless you use realview). I was told the ‘squares’ on a Photoview rendering are the cores, i.e 4 squares for a quadcore chip.
Right - generally those little squares indicate a unique thread. So you’d actually have 8 on a modern quad core with hyper threading (2 threads per core).
Thanks again for all the comments. Think I have a better understanding of what I really need now. I still have questions about video cards thought. How much dedicated memory is really needed? is 512 fine, or should you really have at least 1gig or more?
Again, I’d be running mostly CS, and solidworks. Might like to get into editing some HD movies from my GoPro camera too.
512 is probably fine - but these days even most cheap low end cards will come with at least 1 gig, so I’d opt for a little more if possible.
that was my thought too. Pretty sure I want to go with a Mac and just dual boot when i need too. Was looking at 21" imac, but there is no option to upgrade to a 1gig graphics card, you have to get the MacPro or 27" iMac for that.
Also, are SSD that worth it? Seem like it would help boost performance. Just need to have a sizable external drive to store files.
512mb would be OK, but I have heard of issues with the current Mac’s that are using the AMD graphics in terms of stability and graphical issues under Windows (For Alias at least, but I haven’t done any first hand testing).
Just something to keep in mind, the iMac is a sexy solution but it is a LOT of money for not a lot of bang. You could get a very fast desktop with dual 24" monitors for what the cheapest iMac costs these days.
If you’re mostly doing 2D stuff or Mac native things then you should be OK - just a word of caution.
SSD’s provide a very noticeable speed boost for anything disk related - startup, loading apps, saving files, etc. If you’ve got the budget I would definitely go for one.