Optimizing Computer Systems To Run SolidWorks. Jeff Setzer SolidWorks / 3DVIA Product Manager Graphics Systems Corporation

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2 Optimizing Computer Systems To Run SolidWorks Jeff Setzer SolidWorks / 3DVIA Product Manager Graphics Systems Corporation

3 What To Optimize Hardware Operating System Network Tech Tools

4 Hardware

5 Central Processing Unit Get the fastest possible! Many varieties, no rules Multiple cores help Opening multiple documents Low-level modeling operations (Boolean, mass prop & body check) Drawing view creation & modification Simulation studies

6 Multiprocessing is the Future Clock speeds are bumping up against the laws of physics Solution: Mimic the physiology of a biological brain Challenge: Re-write software to be multiple threads

7 New Machine Recommendations 2.8GHz quad-core CPU or better Motherboard should handle at least 16GB RAM Start with 8GB and 64-bit Windows 7

8 Graphics Cards Forget game cards! It s not about video memory Drivers Use SolidWorks-certified version Use SolidWorks-specific settings Search system THEN card OpenGL performance is key

9 Good Cards ATI Fire GL series nvidia Quadro series Recommended by GXSC Current Best General SolidWorks Card: nvidia Quadro 600 / $150

10 Money Does Guarantee Performance Constantly changing product lines Old models can cost more than new! $3,711 $2,700 $1,701 $1,485 $728 $700 $420 $388 $160 $137 $114

11 Random Access Memory 6GB is practical minimum Should have enough RAM Largest dataset Typically running applications Minimize the need to swap! Disk access is measured in milliseconds RAM access is measured in nanoseconds DDR3 is now standard Banks of three slots each 6GB PC NECC Unbuffered: $65!

12 Reading the Task Manager (XP) CPU and swap usage Commit Charge Total = memory in use Limit = Swap + RAM Peak = Since last reboot (should be less than physical RAM) System cache = how much memory is being used right now

13 Reading the Resource Monitor (Windows 7)

14 Video RAM and System RAM: Surprise! Video card on-board memory (frame buffer) is mapped to the SolidWorks memory space So with 4GB RAM if you run a 2GB card you are left with 2GB for the rest of SolidWorks and everything else Video memory takes away from available SolidWorks memory!

15 Hard Drives SATA 3TB for $130 Now standard technology 7,200rpm drives typical Most cost-effective drive SSD 500GB for $1,500 Newest technology Faster transfers in theory Very expensive

16 Redundant Array of Independent Disks

17 RAID 0 Striping (2 Drives) Not redundant! Maximum performance Transfer speed close to double RAID 0 Failure risk doubles Space added to the array by each disk is limited to the size of the smallest disk If one drive goes bad all data is lost

18 RAID 1 Mirrored (2 Drives) Provides redundancy Read performance doubles Write performance same Only as big as the smallest member If probability of a single drive failure is 1 in 500 weeks RAID 1 failure (2 drives) 1 in 250,000 weeks (both drives fail at same time) RAID 1

19 RAID 5 Striping with Parity Provides redundancy Slower than RAID 0 Faster than RAID 1 Three-drive minimum Expensive for workstations Popular on servers due to its low cost for large volumes Surviving disks reconstruct the data from the failed drive on the fly RAID 5

20 Laptops OpenGL graphics available nvidia QuadroFX Mobile ATI Fire GL Mobility Current models w/ certs HP: 85x0w, 87x0w Dell: M2x00, M4x00, M6x00 Lenovo: ThinkPad Wx00 With less-capable hardware Get the fastest CPU possible Run in Software OpenGL

21 Dream Machine 11 Years Ago Intel Pentium III 1GHz 512MB RDRAM (1GB max) 80GB SCSI hard disk ELSA Gloria III graphics 16x CDRW drive USB 1.1, 10/100 NIC & sound Windows 2000 Professional $8,000!

22 The New Standard: Dell Precision T1600 Intel E (4-core 3.40GHz, 8M L3, Turbo) 8GB DDR2 RAM (16GB max) 500GB SATA-3 HDD nvidia Quadro 600 graphics 16x DVD ROM USB 2.0, 10/100/1000 NIC & sound Windows 7 Enterprise, 64-bit $1,500 at

23 Big Honkin' Machine: Dell Precision T3500 Intel Quad Core Xeon W3690 (3.46 GHz, 12MB L3, 6GT/sec) 24GB DDR3 RAM (72GB max) 1TB SATA-3 HDD nvidia Quadro 2000 graphics 16x DVD ROM USB 2.0, 10/100/1000 NIC & sound Windows 7 Professional 64-bit $4,800 at

24 Operating Systems I m a PC

25 Which Windows? 64-bit, of course!

26 64-Bit Benefits Larger memory address space 64-bit Win7 supports 192GB RAM and 16TB of virtual memory SolidWorks can have XP32 + SW32 = 3GB XP64 + SW32 = 4GB XP64 + SW64 = 8TB

27 What The Heap? Memory used by Windows for GUI elements Limits: XP32 is 3MB Vista32 SP1 is 12MB 64-bit Windows editions are much larger

28 Still Not Convinced? This Just In * Windows 7 x64 shown to be faster on file opening with SolidWorks x64. December 14, 2010 at 12:18pm by Bill SolidWorks is a demanding software package and can generate some large data sets. It s not surprising that many SolidWorks users struggle with performance issues over a network. While SolidWorks has had multi-threading functionality for several releases the bulk of the work is still done by a single process (SLDWORKS.EXE). This means that a large data set can bring a 32 bit system to its knees quickly. Recent benchmarks conducted by a DDI customer showed that installing Windows 7 x64 made a substantial improvement using hardware that had previously been running Windows XP x32. The advantages of going 64 bit are numerous. The obvious benefit is the ability to address more memory for a given process. A 32 bit Windows operating system is only capable of addressing around 2GB of RAM for any given process. A 64 bit system can address up to 8TB! Another benefit of 64 bit is that the operating system is capable of seeing more RAM. Many users will put 4GB+ of RAM in a 32 bit Windows system hoping that the extra memory will assist them with large file operations. The reality is that a 32 bit system will only see 3.25 GB of that RAM. Below is a list of each commonly used version of Windows and its memory limit according to Microsoft: Windows XP x32 / x64 Memory Limit: Windows Vista x32 / x64 Memory Limit: Windows 7 x32 / x64 Memory Limit: 4 GB / 128 GB 4 GB / 128 GB 4 GB / 192 GB Source: So what about the benchmark? The customer was having performance issues opening larger files over a network connection so the scope of this test was just the time involved in opening a file. If you ve used SolidWorks for some time this can often be the time to hold your breath and wait when using an x32 system. In addition to the operating system change on the test computer they used two different network connection speeds to try to improve performance independently from the workstation. Generic System Specification: Dual Core Intel Core2Duo, 4GB RAM, nvidia Quadro 3700 video card Workstation with XP x32 with 100Mb network connection: 5 minutes 30 seconds Workstation with XP x32 with 1Gb network connection: Workstation with Windows 7 x64 with 100Mb network connection: Workstation with Windows 7 x64 with 1Gb network connection: 5 minutes 30 seconds 2 minutes 30 seconds 0 minutes 55 seconds It can be deduced that the improved network connection had little effect on the ability to quickly open files with the Windows XP x32 workstation. Without digging into the operations with ProcMon or some other monitoring utility it could be assumed that the issue was a bottleneck occurred due to a lack of RAM on the system. This is something x64 can solve with little effort aside from reloading the operating system (presuming the hardware in question supports 64 bit). We always strive to help users with performance while in technical support. It s becoming clear that a 64 bit platform is the direction users really need to go when evaluating new CAD workstations or contemplating a mid-life upgrade for existing hardware. *Thanks to Digital Dimensions for sharing (

29 Antivirus Impacts Deployment Always disable antivirus before installing! It s not just a SolidWorks thing As another precaution, before you install SP2, you need to disable antivirus software you're using and close any open programs. This is always a good idea before installing new software, but it's especially important when you're installing a service pack. And for SP2, it's important that you disable any antivirus software especially. Some antivirus software can interfere with the SP2 installation. To disable the software, follow instructions from the antivirus software provider that you use. Check the software provider's Web site for exact steps. Autodesk Apple Intuit Roxio Close any programs that launch at startup, such as faxing and antivirus softwares. Failing to disable antivirus software may result in a corrupt or incomplete installation. Anti-virus utilities can interfere with normal installation operations if they are running during the installation. This can result in performance problems later. Installing Director while anti-virus software is running, can cause conflicts. Disable anti-virus software before installing Director. After Director installs, re-enable your anti-virus software. If you believe Director was installed while anti-virus software was running, uninstall and reinstall. RIM Etc Activision

30 Antivirus Impacts Performance Many additional processes Interferes with read and write operations Configuration recommendations Scan at night or during idle time Exclude SolidWorks files from scanning

31 Death By A Thousand Cuts Anti-spyware, anti-malware Same ramifications as anti-virus Cute stuff (weather bugs, sidebars) Sap resources and can interfere with SolidWorks Streaming media Do you really have bandwidth to spare? Assume NOTHING!

32 Understanding Swap AKA Virtual Memory Initial setting should be 2x RAM Maximum value should be about 10% above Initial It is faster if placed on a separate physical hard drive

33 Keeping The Disk Healthy Check it Defragment it Back it up!

34 Temporary Files User TEMP folders Local ~ files Get rid of these on a regular basis

35 Use SolidWorks RX To See your system Record errors Do system maintenance

36 Other Utilities Unfrag (PC Magazine) EcoSqueeze Gets rid of OLE shadow data Works on a file-by-file basis Not recommended by SolidWorks Corporation Process Explorer Task Scheduler

37 Networks & SolidWorks Windows Server is tested Novell is not supported Store SolidWorks files on a Windows server Don t use the Novell client Bandwidth, bandwidth, bandwidth! 100BaseTX full-duplex, bare minimum Switches only! Server should have gigabit access Watch out for bandwidth leeches

38 Work Locally, Share Globally With Enterprise PDM Check Out/Open All Files Copied Increment Revs Check In Changed

39 Other Necessities 3D Controller SpaceNavigator only $60 USB Flash Drives 32GB USB 2.0 for $35 Capacities up to 256GB! External Hard Drives 1TB for $88 Great for backup Very portable and USB powered! FAST using USB 2.0 Drive Imaging Software Combine with external hard drive Instant full-machine recovery! Built into Windows 7

40 Keeping Up Maximum PC magazine Hardware

41 Summary 64-bit Windows 7 for new workstations Keep your system clean Manage your system software Build the right network Use PDM