Low end Inventor system: a report

[Anonymous]

Everyone's always interested in how various systems do with Inventor.

Several months back I bought a Dell Dimension 4300 1.7G for home use. I
knew I was going to be doing some casual Inventor stuff on it, but didn't
have the money for a hot setup, so I did what I could, getting XP Pro, but
settling for a less expensive Geforce2 Nvidia card and 256Mb ram. The
little goofing around stuff I did caused no problems.

Suddenly I have a job where I'm working from home and need to push my
machine a little harder, but still can't afford a hot new rig just yet. I
upgraded to a PNY 128MB Geforce4 video card, and loaded up a brand new copy
of R6 and dove in.

After a week I'm pretty happy. The modeling I'm doing isn't horribly
complex, and the assemblies aren't huge, but the Dell is handling the fact
that I have to have apps like CorelDraw and some fairly heavy duty sound
editing software on the same machine. I've had a single crash while in
Inventor, but I had another app open at the same time, so I can hardly
complain. I'll bump the ram pretty quick just on general principal, but
that's all I'll need to do before I can go get a real workstation. I'm
stable and productive here with a very reasonably priced machine.

The first time I have to try a 5000 part assembly, I'll let everyone
know how it goes.

Cheers,
Walt

[Anonymous]

Very interesting!

[Anonymous]

I have recently been doing work "in house" for one of my clients. They had
grossly underpowered systems they bought at auction from Excite@home. A ton
of DELL 600 or 800mhz PIII's. I decided to cut my frustration and have
brought in my spare computer which I usually keep at my cabin. It's a
cheapo ECS MoBo with Athlon 1800+XP processor and 512MB of memory. It has
two older 40GB drives in a RAID0 configuration with a Promise 66 Fastrack
card. I installed my surplus Gloria III from when I upgraded my home
system.

Besides the hard drive working harder than my home system, the box is
working fine.

Mind you, the Mob and CPU were $150 combined! The box is a $60 cheapie from
TigerDirect.com and everything else is surplus hardware.


"Walt Jaquith" wrote in message
news:D568F9F03A421996974428F7F6B794E8@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb...
> Everyone's always interested in how various systems do with Inventor.
>
> Several months back I bought a Dell Dimension 4300 1.7G for home use. I
> knew I was going to be doing some casual Inventor stuff on it, but didn't
> have the money for a hot setup, so I did what I could, getting XP Pro, but
> settling for a less expensive Geforce2 Nvidia card and 256Mb ram. The
> little goofing around stuff I did caused no problems.
>
> Suddenly I have a job where I'm working from home and need to push my
> machine a little harder, but still can't afford a hot new rig just yet. I
> upgraded to a PNY 128MB Geforce4 video card, and loaded up a brand new
copy
> of R6 and dove in.
>
> After a week I'm pretty happy. The modeling I'm doing isn't horribly
> complex, and the assemblies aren't huge, but the Dell is handling the fact
> that I have to have apps like CorelDraw and some fairly heavy duty sound
> editing software on the same machine. I've had a single crash while in
> Inventor, but I had another app open at the same time, so I can hardly
> complain. I'll bump the ram pretty quick just on general principal, but
> that's all I'll need to do before I can go get a real workstation. I'm
> stable and productive here with a very reasonably priced machine.
>
> The first time I have to try a 5000 part assembly, I'll let everyone
> know how it goes.
>
> Cheers,
> Walt
>
>
>
>

[Anonymous]

IMO the true test of a good software is stability on less than greatest computers. If it requires a person or company to constanly buy the latest and greatest system just to run the software its not cost effective.
I am a 1 man Design business, that is a "new" company, I am having to make due with my system until I can justify the purchase of a new system. AMD 1.8, xp pro, 768DDram, GF4 128mb, Bio* MOB, IBM deathstar 40g HDD. I build my own systems and hope to contine becasue of the money I save.

[Anonymous]

Like you, I'm a one-gun show, build my own
systems, but I've always accepted the fact that latest-and-greatest software
needs to be able to take advantage of latest-and-greatest hardware, whether I
have it or not.

~Larry

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"Ltspd" <
href="mailto:ltspdptc@yahoo.com">ltspdptc@yahoo.com> wrote in message

href="news:f139e7e.2@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f139e7e.2@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

IMO
the true test of a good software is stability on less than greatest computers.
If it requires a person or company to constanly buy the latest and greatest
system just to run the software its not cost effective.
I am a 1 man
Design business, that is a "new" company, I am having to make due with my
system until I can justify the purchase of a new system. AMD 1.8, xp pro,
768DDram, GF4 128mb, Bio* MOB, IBM deathstar 40g HDD. I build my own systems
and hope to contine becasue of the money I save.

[Anonymous]

IMHO,  when you are a "one-gun show" and your
livelihood depends on software and hardware,  the expense is easily
justified.   Don't want to pay for reliable tools, your income
won't be reliable. 

In the past during critical downtime, the prospect
of running out to buy a new computer to finish a job that old hardware just
can't handle was a "no-brainer". 

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"Larry Caldwell" <
href="mailto:lc@houston.rr.com">lc@houston.rr.com> wrote in message
href="news:55B928B03D6AC9E92FE140FB6B5B5283@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:55B928B03D6AC9E92FE140FB6B5......

Like you, I'm a one-gun show, build my own
systems, but I've always accepted the fact that latest-and-greatest software
needs to be able to take advantage of latest-and-greatest hardware, whether I
have it or not.

[Anonymous]

Yep ... wan'a play ... got'a pay. <G> Well
... less going back to old technology would be acceptable, I guess.
Couldn't fathom that myself.

~Larry

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"Ron Crain" <
href="mailto:ron@NS-arken.net">ron@NS-arken.net> wrote in message
href="news:F88AB66302EE16839154D05AD0C9C31E@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:F88AB66302EE16839154D05AD0C......

IMHO,  when you are a "one-gun show" and
your livelihood depends on software and hardware,  the expense is easily
justified.   Don't want to pay for reliable tools, your income
won't be reliable. 

In the past during critical downtime, the
prospect of running out to buy a new computer to finish a job that old
hardware just can't handle was a "no-brainer". 

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"Larry Caldwell" <
href="mailto:lc@houston.rr.com">lc@houston.rr.com> wrote in message

href="news:55B928B03D6AC9E92FE140FB6B5B5283@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:55B928B03D6AC9E92FE140FB6......

Like you, I'm a one-gun show, build my
own systems, but I've always accepted the fact that latest-and-greatest
software needs to be able to take advantage of latest-and-greatest hardware,
whether I have it or not.

[Anonymous]

I managed to zap my home machine this July and
ended up replacing it with a Dell 8200 with a 2.4GHz processor, 512MB of ram and
a GeForce 4 MX graphics card. Granted I don't "run" Inventor here at home like
you guys do, but it certainly runs nicely.

G

[Anonymous]

Ron,

1 Man band here also, totally agree. The software
and hardware IS the main tools of my trade other than my (aging) brain. I have
no hesitation to make them the best they can be. If I don't have the tools of
this trade then I guess I won't be in it for long.

Brian

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"Ron Crain" <
href="mailto:ron@NS-arken.net">ron@NS-arken.net> wrote in message
href="news:F88AB66302EE16839154D05AD0C9C31E@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:F88AB66302EE16839154D05AD0C......

IMHO,  when you are a "one-gun show" and
your livelihood depends on software and hardware,  the expense is easily
justified.   Don't want to pay for reliable tools, your income
won't be reliable. 

In the past during critical downtime, the
prospect of running out to buy a new computer to finish a job that old
hardware just can't handle was a "no-brainer". 

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"Larry Caldwell" <
href="mailto:lc@houston.rr.com">lc@houston.rr.com> wrote in message

href="news:55B928B03D6AC9E92FE140FB6B5B5283@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:55B928B03D6AC9E92FE140FB6......

Like you, I'm a one-gun show, build my
own systems, but I've always accepted the fact that latest-and-greatest
software needs to be able to take advantage of latest-and-greatest hardware,
whether I have it or not.

[Anonymous]

But where does that train stop? If its the latest and greatest, IMHO its not so great if only the elite few have a system to run it. Like the cartoon of the guy who bought his comuter and is walking out the door only to see his system on sale in the window and "cira 9:30am" sign stuck on it.
I agree, if I had the $$ I would always upgrade the system. But, being a new business (about 2 months now) and creating this business based on losing my job to company closure money is tight. Whats wrong with my system? or the system that the original poster created? Nothing. They are better that 90% of the systems out there.

[Anonymous]

You can tell the 1 man guys, lol, who else would be working and posting on the weekend 😉

[Anonymous]

Where does it stop?  It stops when you have a
solid working machine.

I tend to get a new machine every 12-18
months  and it's not always the bleeding edge.  When I get a new
machine, it's a processor a couple notches behind the last one released -
looking for a solid price/performance ratio.  My current machine is 12
months old now with a new Quadro4 750 card in the AGP slot.  It's still
running strong and steady.

What I was trying to elude to earlier is that if
you're working on your own and your hardware is causing problems that will
effect your bottom line - it's a drop in the bucket to start replacing hardware
to gain stability. 

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"Ltspd" <
href="mailto:ltspdptc@yahoo.com">ltspdptc@yahoo.com> wrote in message

href="news:f139e7e.8@WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:f139e7e.8@WebX.maYIadrTaRb...

But
where does that train stop? If its the latest and greatest, IMHO its not so
great if only the elite few have a system to run it. Like the cartoon of the
guy who bought his comuter and is walking out the door only to see his system
on sale in the window and "cira 9:30am" sign stuck on it.
I agree, if I
had the $$ I would always upgrade the system. But, being a new business (about
2 months now) and creating this business based on losing my job to company
closure money is tight. Whats wrong with my system? or the system that the
original poster created? Nothing. They are better that 90% of the systems out
there.

[Anonymous]

That's exactly it.  R6 is seemingly not
as forgiving as R5/5.3 about which systems it will run well on, and
I wasn't sure if I would be able to work with my home setup at
all.  I'd build my own machines if I thought I could do it
as good as Dell does, but IMO they're pretty hard to beat.  I was
ready to find the money somewhere rather than live with a system that
crashed once an hour, but it was worth a try.   Add the fact that this
system can't be a dedicated CAD workstation, and I'm feeling pretty lucky to be
up and running.

I guess part of my point was to weigh in on the
ongoing debate about R6's inherant stability.  The last place I worked we
had pretty good machines and (no surprise) R6 ran fine.  But it's running
fine on my mid-range consumer box too.  I could really hardly blame
Inventor if it was crashy on this machine, but it's not.

I still want my hot dual-processor CAD box
though...

Walt

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"Ron Crain" <
href="mailto:ron@NS-arken.net">ron@NS-arken.net> wrote in message
href="news:874EC7EE8E734333B0C4A78DE5B1C64C@in.WebX.maYIadrTaRb">news:874EC7EE8E734333B0C4A78DE5B......

Where does it stop?  It stops when you have
a solid working machine.

[Anonymous]

But the poster and myself both have solid machines. I have a occasinal crash, but who doesnt. We still have machines that 90% of the working world would love to have, but their company wont buy until they squeeze the last drop of blood from the old system. Why should they have to upgrade computers becasue they bought top of the line for IV5.3 and now IV6 comes out. They way the ealier post implied is that you must have the latest and greatest, but your 12 months out of date right now. And IV6 came out in that frame, Doesnt that make it bad for your business? Why havent you upgraded? You say it stops on a solid working machine, I agree. But you also say "IMHO, when you are a "one-gun show" and your livelihood depends on software and hardware, the expense is easily justified. Don't want to pay for reliable tools, your income won't be reliable." I dont mean to be agurmentive, I am just fueling the debate 😉

[Anonymous]

All in all not much has really changed in hardware demand between IV software releases other than the video card. Same motherboard, processor, ram, etc... will still run this version of IV more or less the same as the older versions. Larger, more complex programs may require a bit more horsepower than the versions before it but not typically enough to need a whole new system. Slowness, crashes, lockups, etc...are probably more software related than hardware related.



IV is, IMO, the leading edge of 3D CAD technology. SWX, ProE, MDT, etc...are all making due with older 3D technology and thus may not be quite as demanding on the hardware. I'm not saying IV the most powerful program on the market but it's got the latest technology on which to build more and more cool features off of.



If you want to run a formula 1 race car you sure don't run it with the standard 87 octane gasoline fuel in it.



Another $.02 worth from a passenger on the "1 man band" bus.

MechMan

[Anonymous]

As I said, my 12 month old system is running
great.  Sure I could use a bit more speed every now and then but it's
really not slowing down my day to day work.

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"Ltspd" <
href="mailto:ltspdptc@yahoo.com">ltspdptc@yahoo.com> wrote in message

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<snip>

They way the ealier post implied is that you must have the latest and
greatest, but your 12 months out of date right now. And IV6 came out in that
frame, Doesnt that make it bad for your business? Why havent you upgraded? You
say it stops on a solid working machine, I agree. But you also say "IMHO, when
you are a "one-gun show" and your livelihood depends on software and hardware,
the expense is easily justified. Don't want to pay for reliable tools, your
income won't be reliable." I dont mean to be agurmentive, I am just fueling
the debate 😉

[Anonymous]

Maybe there is a "statement" somewhere in the Iv Manual but would it be a good idea for IV to post a base machine requirment? I know other brands of software I use/have used do such.
Ron, Both our systems and Walt's are stable, which is where the post began. I said "IMO the true test of a good software is stability on less than greatest computers. If it requires a person or company to constanly buy the latest and greatest system just to run the software its not cost effective." Agreed?

There are a lot of 1 man show's here, more than I thought.

[Anonymous]

I've been pushing for a different approach. Instead of getting the latest and greatest and keeping it forever I am recommending buying pretty darn high end and keeping it for a much shorter time period. In other words instead of buying a 6,000 workstation every 30 months I am pushing for us to buy a 4,000 workstation every 18 months. Planned obsolescence.....

Rich Thomas

[Anonymous]

<Maybe there
is a "statement" somewhere in the Iv Manual but would it be a good idea for IV
to post a base machine requirment?>

Check the Readme file, page 5, on the
CD.

Also,
href="http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/index/0,,2280583-123112,00.html">http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/in....

--
Hal Gwin
Mechanical
Designer
Xenogen

[Anonymous]

I could'nt disagree more strongly with your first statement. Inventor has gotten MUCH slower, take a machine at the minimum system requirements level and do drawings in both 5.3 and 6. You will notice a very significant difference. Look at the minimum system requirements for assemblies, a 1GHz processor. When Inventor was released I don't even think you could GET a 1 GHz machine.

Some things are better than earlier releases, the b-rep snapshots made "freaking huge" improvements in editing certain types of features. Drawing annotation has gotten much much slower, feature edits much much much much faster. Performance has changed one way or another from release to release.

Rich Thomas