Why choose a workstation for SolidWorks?

From time to time we will see users who come to us with complaints of instability and poor performance. After a little investigation we find that the customers have purchased a non-workstation PC. Some of them will try to remedy this by swapping out the video card and viola! They now have a workstation… no, not quite… I have pulled some information from the Dell website, similar information is likely available through your preferred computer vendor as well. In addition this is just the tip of the iceberg if you want to really start looking into machine differences.

Basic guideline: Below is a link to the workstation adviser. A neat little tool but kind of skimpy on RAM, how much you add is up to you but SOLIDWORKS is recommending 6GB. The interesting part is it tailors to the application by name, so you will know they are on the right path.

 http://advisors.dell.com/advisorweb/Advisor.aspx?advisor=6eb02850-6fea-4d68-b859-bd5fbc70d44a-00d004

 White sheet link on workstation performance:

 http://i.dell.com/sites/content/business/smb/sb360/en/Documents/wp-workstation-productivity.pdf

John Van Engen

CATI Tech Support