Upgrading computers to boost engineering design productivity is a controversial topic as there are many options to choose from. Computer hardware should not be the limiting factor keeping SolidWorks from operating at its full potential. Factors that cause large assemblies to be slow or even crash, such as network speed, part feature details, hardware setup, or even SolidWorks assembly settings. For this blog, the focus is on hardware setup and the best pieces of equipment to ensure optimal performance at each price point depending on your budget.

Solidworks does offer hardware certification recommendations on their website which can be found HERE: https://www.solidworks.com/support/hardware-certification It lists out all the certified hardwar for using SolidWorks and it lists other previously certified graphics cards. The website link can also be used on your current hardware to see if you have the proper setup if the system is running slow.

In searching for the top-performing, budget, or practical CAD computer components, Table 1 below filters though the price points of various SolidWorks components.

Table 1: SolidWorks Workstation Pricing Options (Prices from newegg.com)*

• CPU/Processor: To effectively pick out the right processor, a brief understanding is needed to ensure proper performance. The PC processor interacts with all the programs and applications on your computer. The ideal central processing unit completes the user input task quickly, and if it runs slow then design productivity will be inefficient.

• Graphics Card:   The image quality produced on the monitor is affected by the graphics. If the image on your screen is stuttering or freezing it may not be a slow computer but a bad or outdated graphics card.

• System Model: How calculations, predictions, and software data navigate to the processors and other computer hardware is based on what system model is chosen. Some models are better at large assembly modeling while others can render more efficiently.  If the system does not have a Solid-State Drive, it is highly recommended to use an SSD for your SolidWorks Workstation.

For many SolidWorks users, there is a single location to see the current top-performing components. As mentioned in the previous blog, How to Benchmark Your PC for SolidWorks, the top-performing computer systems, graphic cards, and CPU’s are all in one place with data showing SolidWorks performance.

Table 2: SolidWorks Hardware Benchmark

The results shown in Table 2 should only be used as a reference as each computer component was evaluated only on rankings located in the SolidWorks Benchmark test. In looking at the results, the system does not affect SolidWorks assemblies as much as graphics cards or CPUs. As a rough guideline, the SolidWorks performance rankings will be a good start in evaluating which upgrades to purchase. Gaming hardware is not a good substitute for CAD components as functional requirements. This is shown in table 2 above with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics card. 

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