PC settings for Solid Edge large assys

[KENAT]

We just got a new ‘super computer’ (colleagues term not mine) for CAD, specifically for dealing with our top level assemblies of our new product (several thousand components).

2x Dual Core Intel Xeon Processor 5140 2.33 GHz 4MB
4GB DDR2 SCRAM FBD Memore 667 MHz ECC (4 DIMMS)
768MB Pcle x16 nVidia Quadro FX 4600, Dual DVI or Dual VGA or DVI + VGA

(I didn’t spec it)

Any suggestions on settings on the actual PC to maximize performance, especially with large assemblies, including generating draft views.

I thought I had some notes on this but can’t find them now, only stuff about SE itself.

I had a look at thread562-192183 and did a search for other relevant threads but didn’t find much.

I gave our IT guy a copy of that thread, and pointed out /3GB/USERVA=2900 in boot.ini

Any other tips for any settings etc on the PC itself?

Thanks,



KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[swertel]

What about hard drives and NIC?

I'm assuming Gigabit NIC on a Gigabit LAN. You should have at least two hard drives, non-RAID. First one is OS and applications. Second one is Page File and data, assuming most data will be on the network.

If you have a dual monitor graphics card, get two monitors. Love it. Can't live without it except out of necessity. By choice, I'd always have 2 monitors.

You don't need to to do the /3Gb switch with SE typically. If you do, there are specific settings you need to tweak, such as that 2900 value. You'll have to play with it to find the optimum value because it varies by system. Only use the 3Gb switch if you find that you are using that much memory during your typical work load: SE open and running, email up, interet up, adobe up, Word up, etc.

Make sure you min and max page file is set to the same value so it is static. Don't let Windows adjust it automatically. Defrag often. Exclude SE files and application from the antivirus scan, including temp files. Empty your temp folders regularly.

--Scott

http://wertel.eng.pro

 

[KENAT]

The network is a major limiting factor. We brought this up with IT when they installed the machine. We are looking at moving to a PDM which will help but it won't be anytime soon.

I don't think dual monitors is an option, I made jokes about getting a widescreen monitor

As for the rest thanks Swertel. I'm not overly IT savvy so I'll forward a link to this thread to our IT.

Also has anyone uses 64 bit, IT mentioned they may be willing to do this but I've from what little I've seen I've heard mixed reviews.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[donyoung]

[cite]
You don't need to to do the /3Gb switch with SE typically. If you do, there are specific settings you need to tweak, such as that 2900 value. You'll have to play with it to find the optimum value because it varies by system. Only use the 3Gb switch if you find that you are using that much memory during your typical work load: SE open and running, email up, interet up, adobe up, Word up, etc.
[...]

that's not correct. The /3GB switch extents the address space
any task may use from approx. 1.96GB to 2.96GB that's all. It
has nothing to do with the physical RAM installed. The more
tasks are running the more, however, will the available RAM come
into play -- excessive paging may be the result just because they
don't fit into the RAM all together with their active pages

dy

 

[KENAT]

Thanks for the clarification. We've deliberately not installed most other software on the machine. It's not specifically asigned to one person.

The idea is it's used only for CAD, specifically for dealing with the top level models. We'll have 2-3 people hot seating it as required. My guess is some users wont be able to resist having at leas their email in the background and or web but that should be about it, I don't think we even installed office on it!

Boot Hard drive: 160GB SATA, 10K RPM Hard Drive with 16MB DataBurst Cache

Hard Drive Configuration C1 All SATA drives, Non-RAIE, 1 or 2 drive total configuration

Hard Drive Internal Controller Option SATA/SAS Integrated Card - For connetcing internal hard drives.

It's a Dell Precision 690

This is all clearly indicating what a luddite I truely am!

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[HDS]

Does it show all 4 gigs of ram when running windows? Without XP64 it will often ignore anything over 3 gigs.

 

[donyoung]

the 32Bit OS will only assign at most 3GB of RAM for the
applications, the remaining RAM it will use for PCI, graphics
card and other hardware mapping and for it's own usage.

dy

 

[swertel]

Without the /3Gb switch, Windows reserves 2Gb of memory for applications and 2Gb for itself (max address space for 32-bit is 4Gb). Once you use the 3Gb swith, 3Gb are reserved for applications and 1Gb for itself, so as dy phrases it, the application can address the additional memory. On the surface, it seems like a no brainer.

But, some applications can't parse, or utilize, or whatever term you want to use 3Gb. Therefore, they don't function properly. SE doesn't have this problem, but other applications you run may. So, if SE doesn't require the 3Gb switch for performance reasons, then don't use it.

There is a lot of information on the UGS newsgroup about the 3Gb switch. From what I've read, there are few, if any, gains in SE by using it. If you are running other applications that need more addressable space, then I'd consider turning it on.

--Scott

http://wertel.eng.pro

 

[KENAT]

We're not planning on using this machine for anything other than SE at this time. We are primarily using it for large assemblies where I suspect it may be beneficial.

Maybe we'll have to try it out and see.

Thanks,

Ken

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[donyoung]

Hi,

[...]
Without the /3Gb switch, Windows reserves 2Gb of memory for applications and
2Gb for itself (max address space for 32-bit is 4Gb). Once you use the 3Gb swith,
3Gb are reserved for applications and 1Gb for itself, so as dy phrases it,
the application can address the additional memory.
[...]

just to clearify a bit ;-)

the RAM will be controlled by the OS. Without the /3GB switch and with say
3GB RAM installed nearly all of the 3GB will be used by the OS to run the applications.
Any task will only think it uses real memory in fact its only virtual memory
that is backed up by RAM. Most of the time only part of a task is in RAM.
Within task manager the VM-Size will tell you how much address space any task
is actually using. The 'Mem Usage' will tell you what amount of RAM is currently
assigned to a task whether still in use or not. The OS will not release the pages
when there are still enough free pages. Minimize/maximize say SE and you'll see
a decrease in Mem-Usage but nearly none in VM-Size.

dy

 

[SLemin]

I'm watching this with interested as we too have recently bought a Dell 690 with similiar spec for a SE large assemblies, and ANSYS work....

I've installed 64bit SE, will let you know if we get any performance data (interestingly enough it was 5 times quicker on opening a large assembly compared with 32bit Edge on a Dell 380).

Cheers

Simon