Help for My Computer: Graphics Card for Solidworks 2011

[astrocad]

I am not a computer genius but understand low level hardware information.

Computer Specs are as follows

Intel i7 975 Extreme Processor LGA 1366
3.33 GHz

Motherboard ASUS P6X58D Premium

Hard Drives: Qty 2 WD Caviar Black WD1002FAEX Sata 6
(Shows running SATA 3 which i cannot figure out why. Cables are SATA 6 and are connected to the grey SATA 6 terminals)

Graphics Card (Computers Bottle Neck) ATI FireGL V5600

6GB RAM Corsair Dominator CMG6GX3M3A2000C8
(CPUID showing bandwidth at PC3-10700H (667 MHz. I don't Think that this is correct as the ram is PC3-16000 and is supposed to be running at 2000 MHz O.C.)

No Overclocking has been done as I dont know how to. Can someone tell me why Sata 6 is not showing and also why the Ram is showing incorrectly.

My problem is while using solidworks in large assemblies and with parts with Perforation patterns or lots of lines it freezes constantly. I need a new graphics card and i can get a NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800 on ebay for 2k. Will this solve all of the issues related to the Perforation patterns and the Lines/Linear patterns that are draging the system down.


Thanks For your help.

 

[wolfram23]

First of all, the RAM is running at it's stock speed, which is prety much always 1333mhz. To achieve the 2000mhz you need to enter your BIOS and start making changes. 1333mhz (667x2) ties into your base clock, which is generally 133 at stock. 160 is easy to achieve (for 1600mhz RAM). If you want the RAM to run at it's speed of 2000mhz, you'll have to up the base clock to 200. If doing that, you might have issues. Chances are it'll run fine if you disable turbo boost, and you might want to manually adjust the voltages rather than leaving on auto. You'll also need an aftermarket cooler to deal with the heat.

There's a lot of guides on overclocking, so you'll have to look into it.

I recommend for now going into the BIOS and trying 160 base clock, auto voltages, and then set your RAM timings as low as you can. Since it's 2000mhz RAM, what is the timing rating? I'll assume CL9 (as in 9-9-9-27), so going down to 1600mhz you can probably get CL7 (7-7-7-21). The speed should be around the same at the slower speed with faster timings. Alternatively, if you don't want to touch the CPU speed, you can probably set the 1333mhz RAM to CL5 or so (5-5-5-15) maybe CL6.

If you do that, make sure to download CoreTemp and/or HWMonitor and Intel Burn Test to check stability. Also Prime95 is a good idea. Make sure your temps aren't too high - if they are, like I said previously, an aftermarket cooler is in order.

To check if you have RAM issues, download Memtest86+. It requires you to put it on a boot disc/usb and then boot off it. This will let you know if you have memory issues (1 pass should be enough, if there's issues they usually crop up fairly fast)

Your freezing issue may or may not be GPU related, I don't know. If possible you can try MSI Afterburner and FurMark testing but I really don't know if a workstation GPU will work with those. If they do, freezing like that sounds like a VRAM issue and lowering the RAM clock can sometimes help. However, a new GPU might be the better fix since I don't have a clue if that card is any good for workstations... it's just not in my area of knowledge.

I hope this helps a bit.

EDIT: About the SATA6, I did a quick search and found this http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=450&Itemid=69
it says:

Revision 3.x SATA 6Gb/s (SATA-III) has also been added onto the X58-Express platform, allowing enthusiasts to enjoy faster top-end bandwidth speeds from capable Solid State Drive storage devices. Instead of waiting for Intel to add SATA-6G support into their upcoming X68-Express platform planned for 2011, ASUS includes support on the P6X58D-Premium X58 motherboard right now by utilizing the Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 SATA-6Gbps controller.

So basically, the "6" refers to the transfer speed, but the devices is a SATA 3 controller. Your HDDs are going to limit it tho, as HDDs cannot saturate that much bandwidth. You'll need SSDs to really utilize it, even then I don't think SSDs can saturate 6gb/s. So, your HDDs should be running at their maximum as it is.

 

[Griffolion]

If you've not been playing around in the BIOS then the memory might not be running at a high enough voltage. The motherboard sometimes doesn't set DDR3 voltage high enough on auto setting and so required manually setting it to the memory's recommended voltage, i think its 1.65v with Corsair?

Also Nvidia Quaddro cards are just the GTX series cards with a 24 hour replacement service incase your card breaks. To be honest, a normal GTX card will accelerate your productivity as much as a Quaddro will.

 

[wolfram23]

Opps, Griffolion raises a good point which I forgot to mention. Make sure the RAM is at the right voltage (and like he says, 1.65V is pretty much the norm)

 

[Griffolion]

It certainly is a prevalent issue, and one that can be fixed so easily and present such drastic improvements!

 

[astrocad]

Thanks Guys. Ill try the recommendations. Everything i have read says get a quadro card. Why would a GTX Card do just as good? The open GL and the cards structure are what i assumed to be the important parts to the card. I have read so many places how to soft mod but in the end is it going to help? I have used the Quadro FX 5800 Before and that thing is a monster. 3 Day photorealistic video renderings in solidworks from a Dual GeForce 8800 GT setup were reduced to 6 hours. But again it was a 4k card.
So with the hard drive. the controller is sata 6. the hard drives are sata 6 so why isn't it showing up as sata 6 on start up? I guess i didn't understand the explaination. At least verification from startup is all im looking for.
With my current comp setup. Any input to what i spent too much money on as an overall package

Prices as follows
Intel i7 975. Clearance for 699.99
Asus P6X58D Premium. Sale for 299.99
Corsair Dominator GT PC3-16000 569.00
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0331485
Hard Drives WD1002FAEX 129.00 Each
Case Cooler Master 250.00
PSU Corsair HX850W. 150.00

Had current graphics Card. but would like to replace.

 

[wolfram23]

Wow so it's 2000mhz CL8, which means all the timings I suggested are off by 1 (you can lower by 1). That's really good RAM lol.

As for the SATA 6, it should show up as SATA 3. As far as I know there is nothing better than SATA 3, the 6 is simply a misnomer, which actually implies the transfer rate is 6 gb/s.

 

[astrocad]

Very well I plan on getting a NVIDIA GTX 480. I cant find what sofmod version this goes to.

Is this a bad choice and not soft mod able. Money is really not a big deal here.

If any suggestions please post. A card that mods to a Nvidia quadro fx 4800 would be wonderful.

What is the best soft mod possible from gtx to quadro?

Thanks you have all been awesome

 

[wolfram23]

Hmm I'm not an expert on the professional GPUs, but my understanding is there is quite a difference between the gaming GPUs and the quadro/professional GPUs for design type work. Hardware wise they might be pretty similar, but they have entirely different drivers which makes a big difference in their performance. I'd definitely try finding out more info before going to a gaming GPU for your Solidworks.

 

[jomofro39]

Definitely get a workstation card for your workstation. I wish I had saved the bookmarks that explain the differences, but for SW I know you can see an almost twice fold increase between the gaming and workstation counterparts. They solder something differently and the drivers take advantage of it, and some applications (SW especially), saw a huge difference. I am not sure WHY you keep on freezing? Are you loading GIGANTIC assemblies?
Your CPU is overkill, IMO.
Your RAM is overkill, IMO. get 12 GB, even if its slower, helps with huge assemblies.
Your video card isn't hideously out of date, why don't you try a software solution and turn off photo-realistic while you are whipping around a gigantic assembly with perforation lines and see if that stops it freezing?
Getting a new $2,000 card when you can crossfire another $500 v5600 seems a little silly to me, Even though it has a 512-bit memory interface. I looked for a while for some benches between the different cards and set-ups, but none are as complete as their gaming counterpart reviews. nVidia has a great line of cards, and if money really is no object, I would be doing what you are doing, and getting the best of every component, but your SW is not freezing because you do NOT have the best components...that is a different issue altogether, albiet impossible to solve from here.

 

[astrocad]

Best answer selected by astrocad.

 

[pcww]

take at look at this comparison

http://www.cgarchitect.com/news/newsfeed.asp?nid=4960

You might also want to wait a few weeks as Nvidia just announced new fermi quadro cards this weekend at Siggraph

 

[astrocad]

Alright.

Got the Quadro FX5800 For under 2k which is cheap when you price out all of the cards on ebay and such.

4800 was 300 less and the other mid range were 1k. So for the extra 1000 i feel like im future proof for at least a week or so. J/K

Of course there is an issue. Windows 7 64 bit doesn't recognize the 4 gigs of video memory. This is an issue currently being worked on by Microsoft.

The source of the Memory reading is CPUID. But is it truely not recognizing it? Also is it not using it?





I have monitored my system during lag with Solidworks on file sizes of around 30 mb. These files generally are sheet metal with perforation patterns.

The lag seems to be in the hard drive. I have huge bursts then nothing. Then more bursts. Hard drive speed capacity never gets over 10%

When working off of the network its worse so i run them off of my computers hard drive.

Seems memory is not sufficient either as stated before.

If the video memory is not reading nor being used im assuming it would use system RAM to assist.

I wish i knew more about this stuff but i hope that someone out there does.

The performance of this card is rediculous. But i know its excessive for what I'm doing.

The thing is, Ill get one chance to get the hardware I need and i don't want to risk getting something that is not going to do the job.

Thanks