i3 540 & 4GB DDR3 - Solidworks?

James_p · 28 Dec 2010 at 22:49

Hi,

My brother needs a new PC and he's going to working with Solidworks. Will an i3 540 & 4GB DDR3 be sufficient? I wasn't sure if he would require a dedicated GPU as well.

Thanks

daver · 29 Dec 2010 at 01:13

Pretty sure you need a dedicated GPU to run solidworks, how much you have to spend depends on the complexities you are modelling. Had to spec up a possible replacement one for someone at work and it wasn't cheap (obviously this was for a decent but not over the top one - entry level Xeon and low-mid Quadro FX).

Not sure what Solidworks is like running on mainstream GPUs, but I've heard it runs ok, but obviously is not supported and some features might not work (eg. realview) without a supported card like a quadro or a firegl.

M1k3H · 29 Dec 2010 at 02:17

In the university labs while using Solidworks on a Core 2 Duo and an nVidia 9xxx card, and using my i7 @ 3.8 and 9800gt at the time at home there was no difference. So I guess it is dependable on the GFX, so dont skimp on that.

James_p · 14 Jan 2011 at 15:45

In terms of a mainstream GFX card, any suggestions for what should I be be looking at? He wants to be able to play games but from what I've read the cards supported for solidworks aren't very good for that?