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AR15.COM
11/6/2015 3:21:12 PM EDT
I have a friend with a 1.7 gig cluster of files that form one monster assembly. Basically an entire manufacturing plant in one assembly.

No matter if he has the file locally or on the server, it takes almost 6 minutes to open with a quadro k2000 ($400) video card.  Is system has a Xeon processor and 16 gigs of memory.   Would upgrading the video card make it open faster?  The k4200 is ~ $800,  I was going to recommend that but I really have no idea when it comes to workstation graphics cards.  I do understand that video game graphics cards are totally not related.

Anybody know anything about this sort of stuff?  Thank you in advance.
11/6/2015 3:25:04 PM EDT
[#1]
Best bet is to call Solidworks and ask them.
11/6/2015 3:28:21 PM EDT
[#2]
Quote History
Quoted:
Best bet is to call Solidworks and ask them.
View Quote

+1

here are the certified cards and drivers
11/6/2015 3:28:46 PM EDT
[#3]
6 minutes is really fast for something like that, the only hardware solution would be more CPU, an SSD and maybe more memory. The GPU doesn't have a ton to do with the opening/rebuilding of large assemblies.



There is a lot of little tweeks and best practices within Solidworks that can improve that time as well, their VAR can help a lot with that. Again a 6 minute build time doesn't sound too shabby for something like that.
11/6/2015 3:34:17 PM EDT
[#4]
Yeah, when I worked with Solidworks it was expected that these damned 2-8gb files would take time to open.

That was with a dual Xeon system with RAID, top end GPU, and 32gb memory (best machine in the building).

His experience is actually decent, considering.
11/6/2015 3:35:34 PM EDT
[#5]
Quoted:
I have a friend with a 1.7 gig cluster of files that form one monster assembly. Basically an entire manufacturing plant in one assembly.

No matter if he has the file locally or on the server, it takes almost 6 minutes to open with a quadro k2000 ($400) video card.  Is system has a Xeon processor and 16 gigs of memory.   Would upgrading the video card make it open faster?  The k4200 is ~ $800,  I was going to recommend that but I really have no idea when it comes to workstation graphics cards.  I do understand that video game graphics cards are totally not related.

Anybody know anything about this sort of stuff?  Thank you in advance.
View Quote


Post Count
California
GD
"for a friend"


lulz
11/6/2015 3:38:08 PM EDT
[#6]
Tell him to look up and use

wait for it...


Large Assembly Mode
11/6/2015 3:38:29 PM EDT
[#7]
Why the hell would he need it all open at once in full detail?

Create "shell" configurations for your sub-assemblies for the main assembly to use.  By "shell" I mean suppress all the guts in subs that you don't need to see.  Mates are a massive speed killer as well; use patterns where you can.
11/6/2015 3:38:40 PM EDT
[#8]
Quoted:
I have a friend with a 1.7 gig cluster of files that form one monster assembly. Basically an entire manufacturing plant in one assembly.

No matter if he has the file locally or on the server, it takes almost 6 minutes to open with a quadro k2000 ($400) video card.  Is system has a Xeon processor and 16 gigs of memory.   Would upgrading the video card make it open faster?  The k4200 is ~ $800,  I was going to recommend that but I really have no idea when it comes to workstation graphics cards.  I do understand that video game graphics cards are totally not related.

Anybody know anything about this sort of stuff?  Thank you in advance.
View Quote


Using a PCI E SSD and caching the file on it would probably speed it up significantly. Not a lot left system spec wise you could do given what you've got already. Not a Soldworks expert, but is there a way to simplify the models and reduce footprint while still keeping motion constraints?

http://www.engadget.com/2015/03/24/kingston-hyperx-predator-ssd/
11/6/2015 3:45:12 PM EDT
[#9]
While a better graphic card will help with rendering, for loading speeds you should be looking at CPU/memory upgrades.
11/6/2015 4:13:31 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote History
Quoted:
Tell him to look up and use

wait for it...


Large Assembly Mode
View Quote



It actually defaults to that at this size.
11/6/2015 4:46:03 PM EDT
[#11]
Can he suppress features in his design to speed loading? I'm not a solidworks user, but Inventor does this and they are pretty similar from what I am told.
11/6/2015 8:04:23 PM EDT
[#12]
I've had "full decks" take 2 hours to load.