P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
(OP)
How would a 1.7 P4 with 786 RAM compare to a P4 3.0 GHz with 1 or 2 GB of dual channel RAM, when it comes to stability issues in doing large assemblies?? And going from 1 to 2 GB or RAM, is there a huge difference there?
I'm about to tell my boss what system i need but just wondering what a new system could do.. (miracles, i hope)..
we have 4 solidworks stations all running 1.7 or 1.8 P4.. and we all seem to crash about 3 - 5 times a day, which to me seems completely unnecessary.
by the way we do have Quadro FX 500 graphics cards..
I'm about to tell my boss what system i need but just wondering what a new system could do.. (miracles, i hope)..
we have 4 solidworks stations all running 1.7 or 1.8 P4.. and we all seem to crash about 3 - 5 times a day, which to me seems completely unnecessary.
by the way we do have Quadro FX 500 graphics cards..






RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
If your crashing see FAQ559-884, FAQ559-507 or FAQ559-488
A new computer is not going to stop you from crashing if you don't do Basic Computer Maintenance once a week (clean temp, defrag (depending on the amount of files you do in a week)) and if you don't upgrade your drivers to the newer version then you can count on more instability. If you install SW with an AV was on, then you can count on instabilities. There are a number of things that can cause crashes. Before you talk your boss into buying you new systems, make sure for a that it's the computer system and not the fact you didn't look at simply cleaning and doing basic "Computer Maintenance". It could be the personal profile of the person. Make a new prfile and see if the crashing stops. To test a video card turn the Hardware acceleration all the way down and run SW. If your crashing stops then it a video card or it's driver. If you have Hyperthreading on your computer - turn it off. Hyperthreading causes slower performance. If your going from 1 to 2 Gig of RAM - My question to you is were you running out or getting low on memory with the files you were opening? If not, then I don't see why 2 Gig's will help you. (You can check this by watching your Task Manager). Check your Virtual memory settings as well - I set mine to 3-4 times the amount of RAM used. Also, are you running the files locally or over a network? If over a network and your crashing. Try them locally, then see if you crash. If not the problem might be in your Network.
There are a number of places to look before you buy new machines. I'm not trying to discourage you into not buying new computers. But in this day and age, I would hate to see you talk your boss into buying something that you really don't need yet. I don't think your boss or the company would like you spending extra dollars on something that could have been repaired by a driver, a new personal profile, or reinstall.
Regards,
Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
I just replaced my P3 667 (that's right) with a much more substantial system (64-bit Opteron). However, my P3 was extremely stable--hardly ever crashed--and was even stable in virtual memory. (Oxygen card.)
Unless you're using up all your RAM regularly, I don't know what would be causing the crashes.
Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC
http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
No, I don't think it's quite normal for your CPU to be chugging that hard unless your doing something like rotating the model or performing an operation. You should only see peak activity when things are really getting done--otherwise the CPU graph should be somewhere in between.
Jeff Mowry
Industrial Designhaus, LLC
http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
Regards,
Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
additional info:
may I add that I am also the network administrator of our company and that no I am not the free-spending type.. I make sure I have reasoning behind everything I propose..
As with SolidWorks, I have tried everything I could think of, everything that you, SBaugh, mentioned..
1. I access files both locally and remotely but doesn't make a difference
2. I clean my temp drive several times a week
3. Defrag is not an issue as crashes happened right after a clean install
4. Drivers: I have tried at least 6 different versions of drivers, the newest...the older ones, and the one that worked best on my PC was several revisions old
5. AV a non-issue
6. HT doesn't exist in CPU's with bus speed of under 800MHz
7. Hardware acceleration; I've tried taking it off
8. RAM! I had 512, my PC was using about 450. I upgraded to 786, now it's using about 650.. the higher you go, the more it will utilize the physical RAM rather than the RAM on the hard drive.. if the PC has more physical RAM the less virtual space it needs.. and virtual RAM is slow. Now i know that 1 GB would increase my performance, but the reason I asked about 2 GB was that I know people out there have 2 GB, and am wondering whether Solidworks utilizes most of that, since I haven't yet run solidworks in 2 gigs. And yes, my virtual RAM is at its limit.
9. Personal Profile is a non-issue
10. reinstall hardly seems necessary, as 4 computers all act the same.
hope that info will help...
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
I'm not criticizing you, I just wanted to make sure all basis were covered.
additional info:
may I add that I am also the network administrator of our company and that no I am not the free-spending type.. I make sure I have reasoning behind everything I propose..
Again “I'm not criticizing you”
As with SolidWorks, I have tried everything I could think of, everything that you, SBaugh, mentioned..
1. I access files both locally and remotely but doesn't make a difference
It should make a difference in speed of loading, saving, closing and even crashing sometimes.
2. I clean my temp drive several times a week
Good!
3. Defrag is not an issue as crashes happened right after a clean install
Clean install of what - SW or Windows? If it’s SW I would still do a defrag because if you haven’t done one prior to the install of SW you might have some mixed up files or something causing a problem somewhere.
4. Drivers: I have tried at least 6 different versions of drivers, the newest...the older ones, and the one that worked best on my PC was several revisions old
Use the ones that SW recommends for the card.
5. AV a non-issue
Why is that? Do you not have an Anti-Virus on the system? Do you run one from the server?
6. HT doesn't exist in CPU's with bus speed of under 800MHz
Just thought I would mention it
7. Hardware acceleration; I've tried taking it off
You mean turned it down. Then try this Open SW go to Tools\Options\System Options\Display/Selection\ and check “Software OpenGL” – Also try restarting in VGA mode.
8. RAM! I had 512, my PC was using about 450. I upgraded to 786, now it's using about 650.. the higher you go, the more it will utilize the physical RAM rather than the RAM on the hard drive.. if the PC has more physical RAM the less virtual space it needs.. and virtual RAM is slow. Now i know that 1 GB would increase my performance, but the reason I asked about 2 GB was that I know people out there have 2 GB, and am wondering whether Solidworks utilizes most of that, since I haven't yet run solidworks in 2 gigs. And yes, my virtual RAM is at its limit.
If your files are demanding then yes they are going to use more. SW is a hog. You will get to a point where you will not use all the Physical RAM on the system. I have 1 gig and I usually don’t exceed 650 and that is on my most complicated model. I also run SW03 and 04 together and I don’t exceed that much RAM. What is your Virtual Memory set too?
9. Personal Profile is a non-issue
How do you figure it’s not? Have you tried making a new profile to see if it helps you or the user?
10. reinstall hardly seems necessary, as 4 computers all act the same.
If that the case have you ever thought that it might be a file issue?
Have you talked to your VAR about any or all of this?
I’m not trying to be critical here I just want to try and help you. Before you spend your cash on new systems. I think new systems may help for a little while and then again they may not. The Amount of RAM will help, but you didn’t list whether or not your Virtual Memory is set up correctly vs. the amount of RAM you have.
But if you don’t like my questions to you don’t have to answer them.
Regards,
Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com
http://www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
Hardware acceleration: taking it off, turning it down, disabling some acceleration, disabling all, terminating it.... and so on.. is it that critical on how to describe it?.. MS uses disabled, so i suppose that is the most correct..
anyways,, enough about that..
.Yes, AV is run at the firewall level..
I did a clean install of Windows, and I've run solidworks under several profiles right after..
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
At the risk of having my head bitten off
You mentioned that your cpu is running close to 100% in Performance Monitor when in SW. What is it when you are not? With or without SW open but without anything actively working it should not be more than about 5%.
You also mentioned that you have your VM set at max. I read somwhere that Windows will only recognize 2Gig of VM. Is this correct?
One last thing, do you have the SW performance email enabled. I found that affected my system, albeit slightly, so switched it off.
FAQ559-863
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
Yea I have the VM set to 2048..
thanks for the tip on the performance e'mail.. I'll try everything I can.
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
Actually, the short answer to the actual question you asked is of course the faster machine with more memory will be better - lots better. Whether you need 2GB or only 1 or even 1.5 would depend on your part and assembly size/complexity. Just make sure you have enough to avoid VM.
Why not get one new machine and try it first. If you are going to buy 3 more, you could work with your supplier to figure the right memory requirements, etc. and upgrade the first machine before you get the other 3. They ought to do that for you at no additional cost for swapping out memory if necessary - heck you are spending enough. Get them to loan you several different machines one at a time to try out even.
John Richards Sr. Mech. Engr.
Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics
A hobbit's lifestyle sounds rather pleasant...... it's the hairy feet that turn me off.
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
Also, quicktime caused hang-ups, it would try to access the internet and crash SW, uninstall it.
*WAIT TO BUY A NEW SYSTEM(S)!* 64 bit technology is just around the corner. Don't get stuck with dino's. Try massaging your existing P4's for 6 months.
Vern
Unemployed engineering software salesman
RE: P4 1.7GHz compared to P4 3.0GHz
There is an issue with a Verisign PCA root certificate which expired January 7th 1004. Symantec has a bulletin about it - see below.
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-gate.nsf/6369e...
I had all kinds of speed problems on my home system until I dowloaded the new cert.
John Richards Sr. Mech. Engr.
Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics
A hobbit's lifestyle sounds rather pleasant...... it's the hairy feet that turn me off.