Maximizing SOLIDWORKS Performance (MSWP-12-#14)

Lightweight & LAM

The use of Lightweight and Large assembly mode made a tremendous impact in our testing.  These tools allow a user to open an extremely large assembly without bringing in all of the computational data that defines it.  The user gets the visual of the model without the over head of the math behind it.  The user will then resolve the portions of the assembly that they would like to work on.  The data for just that portion of the assembly is loaded into RAM and the user has the best of both worlds; the ability to work on a part or sub-assembly within the context of the greater assembly while dealing only with the overhead of the portion they are specifically working on.  The testing we did involved very large assemblies where Lightweight mode can have its most pronounced effect on performance.

If you remember from our first article; our test baseline had a runtime of 5:01:35 and we measured time for the areas of Opens, Rotations, Modeling, Rebuilds, Switching Sheets, Saves and Closes.

After we changed our SOLIDWORKS settings for Light Weight and Large Assembly Mode our macro ran in 0:34:18, this had a noticeable effect in all the areas we measured.

This change gained us a savings of 4:27:17 or 88.6%.

Please check back to the CATI blog as we will continue posting our series of articles that goes further into the details of each of our tests. All of these articles will be stored in the category of Maximizing SOLIDWORKS Performance and links to each with their release date are listed below:

• Maximize SOLIDWORKS Performance White Paper (7/2/12)
• MSWP-12-#1 Introduction (7/9/12)
• MSWP-12-#2 Windows Visual and User Settings (7/12/12)
• MSWP-12-#3 SOLIDWORKS Options Set to Optimal (7/17/12)
• MSWP-12-#4 Graphics Cards (7/19/12)
• MSWP-12-#5 Turn Off SOLIDWORKS Add-Ins (7/24/12)
• MSWP-12-#6 Processor Clock Speed (7/26/12)
• MSWP-12-#7 Reducing SOLIDWORKS Mates and Rigid Subassemblies (7/31/12)
• MSWP-12-#8 Number of Processor Cores (8/2/12)
• MSWP-12-#9 SOLIDWORKS Graphic Settings (8/7/12)
• MSWP-12-#10 Network Storage and Anti-Virus (8/9/12)
• MSWP-12-#11 Level of Detail (8/14/12)
• MSWP-12-#12 RAM and SWAP File (8/16/12)
• MSWP-12-#13 Hard Drives (8/21/12
• MSWP-12-#14 Lightweight and Large Assembly Mode (8/23/12)
• MSWP-12-#15 Optimal Configuration and Conclusion (8/28/12)

Thanks,

Josh Altergott, CATI Support Manager

Adrian Fanjoy, CATI Technical Services Director