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Ask the Reader: SolidWorks on Vista 64 bit. Best System Setup? What’s Important?

Published
by
Josh
on October 8, 2008
in SolidWorks Tips
. Tags: , .

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cool vista wallpaper backgroundWhat’s the last thing you’re thinking of when you wander into a den of wild asps? …What system is best for running SolidWorks on 64 bit Vista. That does absolutely nothing for your survivability quotient.

It’s a common misconception that SolidWorks doesn’t run very well on 64 bit Vista. If you look into installing Microsoft Vista the experience can be quite the opposite. Now, people are using laptops and desktops loaded with Vista that kick the pants off XP systems.

However, it may help to know exactly what systems works best. So I turn it over to you, the reader.

Have you upgraded? What system do you use? What did you look for when upgrading your hardware? What programs didn’t work? What did you pay? Tell us what your experience in the comments and I’ll repost the findings.


Vista wallpaper image from Brajeshwar

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Viewing 16 Comments

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    I wish! I hope to hear some good feedback, especially the usage of >4GB of memory and multiple cores. I need reasons to push for newer computers (ours >2 yrs), 64Bit and Vista, maybe. Resond people! Thanks.
    • ^
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    I don't know how many companies are going to invest in upgrading to vista when it seems microsoft is going to keep stretching out XP's life (http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2...)
    and they are talking about their next OS already.

    sadly tho i have no experience to reveal the mysteries of 64 vista craziness
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    It was reported at the SW Tech Summit in St Louis that WinXP will be unsupported next Oct, and thus SW2010 will be the last to work on WinXP.
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    thanks Charles, that is interesting. seems solidworks is moving ahead (which I think is good in some regards) even though a lot of users will undoubtedly still be using XP. I'm sure their are big plans with Microsoft 7. Maybe a post should be written on preparing for Microsoft7/Solidworks2010/11/12 :)
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    As mentioned above, Microsoft is stretching XP's life cycle.

    I don't plan on upgrading my OS until windows 7.
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    Windows Vista 64-bit
    Hi all,

    My system consists of the following:
    E6850 @ 3.00 GHz
    6.00 GB RAM
    NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600

    I installed SolidWorks 2008 SP4.0 64bit, 3 months ago. In the start everything was chaos and our reseller couldn’t tell us why, and SolidWorks crashed very often. It turned out it was our PDMWorks’s addin which caused the trouble. Of cause I searched the net for people with similar problems since our reseller was a n00b regarding the issue. As it turned out I had to add a new path in windows environment variables “C:\Program Files\PDMWorks Enterprise” Ever since I’ve had no trouble at all. Every little nice visual feature is turned on, I can load huge assemblies (for me 1600 parts) with realview materials and the mirror effect. It runs smoothly! A guy from the SolidWorks support center told me “Vista is a nice looking way to make SolidWorks unstable” sure when you don’t know that you have to add a new variable to the system. Other than that he couldn’t be further from the truth! SolidWorks is now running more smoothly then every.
    So don’t be afraid to upgrade to Windows Vista 64-bit. It’s the best thing ever happened, in this office!

    /Dennis Hvam - Denmark
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    Thanks Dennis, for the report and listing your specs. seems like it's always one little fly that can ruin the whole batch huh.
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    I have tried to install SW2008 SP4 and SW2009 SP0 (both x64 versions) on my Lenovo 3000 N200 notebook(core2duo 2 gh, 4 gig mem) running on Vista Ultimate X64. Both versions didn't get any further than the startup-screen. My reseller doesnt have any experiens with Vista X64 so they cant help me... :-(...since this installation is for a "home-activation" it doesnt get priority. I will perhaps give it a try later

    Anyway, I hope to hear some positive feedback as well!!!!
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    Try disabling the user Access Control (UAC) - go to User Accounts in the Control Panel and select "Change security settings" and then unselect "Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer" - this has been one major problem with installing programs, drivers, scripts and getting things to work. UAC is awful. turn it off.
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    I use SW 2008 for Vista on my laptop. I was concerned initially after reading horror stories but my experience has been uneventful. The software works just fine. My XP office network installation of the software has been more problematic, but I think that relates more to the overloaded network in our office than Solidworks software itself.

    I think network installations are in general more troublesome and its very hard to pin down problems when they occur.
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    yep, another reason that companies are not moving to Vista is because of the work IT will have to do to get everyone updated, which to me is partly an excuse, because I've talked to IT people that have not had problems with it. Of course they are also use to keeping their company up to date, so they know how to do it.
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    I'm running Vista 64 (business) with 4 GB RAM on my SW desktop. E8500, fx1700. I haven't had any problems exclusive to that machine, other than some missing SW interface pieces due to to Vista. I've got to say that its a lot faster than my xp box, but it;s also 2.5 years newer than my XP box. Rebuilds take half the time. The main thing with Vista is the eye candy. I haven't turned it all off. Those expanding dialogs get a bit dizzying after a while.

    It's kind of a pain maintaining 32 and 64 bit systems simultaneously for 1 user. Especially when the SW downloads are all named the same regardless of release, service pack, 32/64, etc.

    The only thing I've done to mess with the Vista OS to make it more livable is to turn off the User Interference Module. No problems aside from drivers that are unavailable for Vista 64 for some of my hardware.

    SW installation worked well, but I admit, I shortcut the SWIM, and just do manual downloads. Also have to admit that I'm a bit anal about keeping this box clean. I don't access the internet through it or do emails or even ftp. Haven't even used MS Office on it, although its installed. It's a stripped down one-purpose box with dual processor. I think for straight SW use, duals are the best choice right now. Quads sacrifice clock speed, and don't replace that with multithreaded bonus (except for rendering or FEA, which I don't do much of).

    If you're getting a new system and you want to use Vista with SW, I think the only way to go is 64 bit. Vista requires and ADDITIONAL gig of ram on top of whatever you would normally use, and if you;re already 3 gig switching it in XP, you're going to go over that 32 bit 4 gig limit easily with Vista.
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    Thanks Matt, I agree totally that 64bit is the only way to go. 32bit just is not worth it, since the main reason to move to the new platform in the first place is to use extra RAM. Thanks for listing your box specs!
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    This may be the most perfect system to run 64-bit Solidworks! About 2 months ago, I customized a new HP d5000t. PROCESSOR: Intel (R) Core(TM) 2 Quad CPU Q9450 @ 2.67 GHz; MEMORY: 8.00 GB RAM; SYSTEM TYPE: 64-BIT OS; NVIDIA GRAPHICS CARD: GeForce 9800 GT w/1 MB RAM. Oh, and yes, I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate!

    Let me tell you...I have had ZERO PROBLEMS with this setup. I'm running SolidWorks Office Premium 2008 and PDMWorks Workgroup VaultAdmin and everything is operating at optimal performance. I've tested every aspect of both programs with no complaints. Hey, even the RENDERING on the GeForce card does an excellent job! Matter of fact, I actually think it out performs my more expensive NVIDIA QUADRO FX 3700 at the office!

    I have used DELL for many years and began to get frustrated with it's performance and decided to make a switch to HP. I'm totally glad I did.

    So if you're looking for a kick-ass system, you might want to look into this particular setup. The cost was about $2,300. But for that price, your worries and perfomance problems will be over!

    Hope this helps. And If anyone has questions, they can reach me at jptuttle@swbell.net.
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    Guys,
    for all who are searchering the interweb for some insight on how the heck to get swx2009 vista 64 on your puters, here is what i had to do. From a fresh install of Vista 64 Business i used my 2008 xp 64 dvd to start the install, let it take me to swx to get 2008 64 sp5 and install, then reinstalled 2009 vista 64 sp0. i am not saying this is the only way to get it it there or that anyone else was having any issues. it is just what worked for me and i still have }{ this much hair left on my head! and it only took 20 hours to get it done!!!!!! good luck
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    Thanks Jon, this sounds like just the right approach if you haven't gotten a CD yet. In fact, it sounds like the approach I'd use anyway. Installing 2008 would allow me to use my Options setting saved in 2008. THey would get ported over automatically during the upgrade. Great comment, thanks!!
 

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