How fast is your Inventor PC really?

[Raider_71]

Hi guys,

We have had to do some testing on a bunch of Inventor PC's recently to determine which of the PC's needs to be replaced. Obviously we needed to find out which of the PC's are the worst eprformers as there was only budget to replace 50% of the design PC's. So we thought the Darwin theory will come in handy right... 🙂

Anyways I started searching on the net for toppics on how to benchmark an Inventor PC. Then I thought whats the point of using gaming benchmark tools because Inventor is not a game and there are more aspects than just graphics performance when it comes to percieved performance on an Inventor PC right.

So we decided to create our own Inventor benchmark tool which tests various aspects of an Inventor PC to give us an overview of our PC's performance. This then helped us make a decision as to whcih pc's to replace.

We have made the tool available free of charge to anyone interested in checking how their PC stacks up to their peers or friends. 🙂

Please download it here and post your results here as well if you want. Would be interesting to see what beast workstations are out there.

I would like to say thanks to Kirk #karthur1, for helping in testing the app.

Please feel free to send any suggestions our way. There is an email link in the app.

Download and Install

The application will work with Inventor 2014 to 2016 only.

IMPORTANT: After installation there will be an Inventor Bench icon on your desktop that looks like this: 

My resluts:

HP Elitebook 8560w with an SSD upgrade.

[doug.johnston]

Neil

I am still researching / spec'ing my build and I haven't purchased the CPU or motherboard yet (just on my Amazon wishlist), so I can make changes. 

I forgot about that video, thanks for posting it again.  Now it's time to review my choices.

[Neil_Cross]

Super.

The build video is obviously just a guide, a lot of the parts can be swapped out for other things dependent on budget.  At this point I'd probably look to review the GPU as there's been a lot of new cards out since then, but other things like the mobo/RAM/PSU/case etc can be changed to suit personal preference or upgrade if there's some cash spare.

[doug.johnston]

I appreciate your feedback, Neil.

My goal at this stage is to spend money on parts now that will be a little bit more difficult to replace later (eg. motherboard, CPU, CPU cooler).

I can always add more RAM, upgrade the GPU and add cooling options later on as my budget allows.  So, spending more money on the main items at the beginning is my first choice.

I'm not expecting to build the "ultimate workstation" right now, but whatever I build is obviously going to be better than what I have now.

[AdrianC]

3600x and MSI B450 tomahawk - on a budget I'd start with that and upgrade down the road.

[leowarren34]

@AdrianC Solid recommendations and that USB bios flash will be extremely useful if the board isn't up to date with it's bios.

@doug.johnston What kind of cooler are you thinking? Noctua are really solid, very industrial looking but do a good job.

[doug.johnston]

Leo,

I'm going to start with the CPU cooler that comes with the Ryzen 5 3600x (Wraith Stealth cooler),  but I am also considering an NZXT Kraken X62 280mm 2-fan AIO.

I might overclock the CPU a little to squeeze more GHZ from it for Inventor and it will add a touch of RGB to my side glass case for some "bling-bling".

[tgregory3G7FA]

The Stealth cooler is plenty fine. I have the 9 3900x. I've overclocked it a bit and stress tested all 12 cores to 100% for two minutes.  Temperature raised to 78c over 1:30 then held steady for the last 30 seconds.  Of course, Inventor will never max out a single core, let alone 12.

If I run Stress Analysis it'll use all 12 cores but only at 10-15%. The temperature spikes to 70c but mostly runs in the upper 50's and 60's.

For InventorBench it spikes to 64c but mostly runs in the upper 50's and 60's.

Nothing I can do in Inventor will get the temperature to run steady over 60c.  My video editing software will utilize all 12 cores at around 30-50%. Even that doesn't get the temperature to run steady over 65c. 

[leowarren34]

@doug.johnston I forgot AMD actually includes a viable cooler with the CPU compared to Intel where they're like if your paying for it to be overclockable you can also pay for your own cooler.

The Kraken is also a great cooler, just make sure you have room for later!

@tgregory3G7FA The hottest I've had Inventor was at 90c doing a many hour render for an animation. But normal use case is rarely if ever over 60c

[Neil_Cross]

@Anonymous Why would you disable hyperthreading?

[tom_vierling]

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We use a method called direct die and custom coolers to achieve 5.2GHz all core clock speeds. 

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Are you referring to delidding the CPU and applying liquid metal? That's not as easy to do on the 9000 series of intel chips since (on the high end) they're soldered instead of using normal TIM between the CPU die and the IHS. Props to you and your team if you're doing it consistently without issues! 

[Neil_Cross]

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@Anonymous wrote:

By removing hyper threading there is a higher cache/core ratio which enhances the performance. 

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Disabling HT does not make Inventor run any faster.  Not sure if you're suggesting if enhances other stuff, sure, but there is absolutely zero gain to Inventor from disabling HT.

[Neil_Cross]

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@Anonymous wrote:

We would have to agree to disagree. It increases the performance of several ADSK solutions. We do extensive testing on all these solutions to optimize our workstation accordingly. Our IPI of 16.69 is a point higher than other systems with the same processor with hyper-threading on. We are a production builder and all of our Stryker II systems run Inventor with an IPI over 16. 

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See below.  HT enabled, 9900K.  Bear in mind the difference between 16.69 and 16.52 is absolutely negligible, it's well within margin of error. 

If you feel like you have a credible testing methodology laid out with charted results that prove HT tangibly impedes performance, please feel free to publish it here.

I've done my own tests previously and concluded that HT enabled was no issue, I have a rather large platform to publish that on so I'll go ahead and do that.

[leowarren34]

Looking forward to the results and let this rest with the gpu question: Well researched and sorted with a definite answer.

I'd like to add that cache to core ratio is unaffected with HT on or off since threads are different to cores, hyperthreading is really an optimisation that is worth having as it can help other background tasks.

[Neil_Cross]

Here's another 9900K test from 2 pages back, this guy's system (with HT enabled) modelled the part faster than yours, started up Inventor faster than yours, saved the part faster than yours, finished all 3 graphics tests faster than yours, in fact out of 9 tests... yours was only better in 3 out of 9 tests.  

Look none of this matters, you have a great system, it looks really good too, but really it is consistent with what we'd expect a 9900K at 5.1 or 5.2GHz to hit. 

If you see benchmarks from similar systems running much lower scores, that's one of the purposes of this test, the original creator made this to diagnose system issues... if you have two identical systems and one submits a significantly lower score then you know you have a problem to solve somewhere.  Or if your score is generally very low, you know you need to start looking to replace.

Either way, your systems are very impressive and well specified and that can't be played down.  

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[Neil_Cross]

Intel Xeon E-2176G 6C 12T @4.7GHz (3.7GHz Base)

32GB RAM

Quadro P5000

This is a clean vanilla Windows Workstation build with no applications installed other than Inventor.

First test with Hyperthreading enabled, 10 cycles.  IPI 13.35

Hyperthreading disabled, reboot, test re-run 10 cycles.  IPI 13.52

Hyperthreading re-enabled, reboot, test re-run, 10 cycles IPI 13.61

I think that closes the book on that one.

Obviously I know the guys on the Inventor performance team, I've put an email in as the team lead collaborated with me for the AU class and he'll be able to definitively confirm if there's any mileage in HT for downstream heavier workflows... I highly doubt it, but I figured that'll be validation for the video I'll put together on this.

[doug.johnston]

Niel & others,

I am looking at the Rysen 5 3600 CPU, but there is also a 3600X. 

Is there a significant difference between the 3600 & 3600X that I would notice using Inventor ??

It appears that the stock GHz speed and overclocked GHz speed is slightly higher in the 3600X, but I don't think it would be noticed using Inventor.

I would appreciate any comments …. 

[leowarren34]

@doug.johnston

Straight comparison: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/3WYLrH,9nm323/

The fact the 3600x costs 20% more for ~6% more speed indicates it's not the best value for money which means the money saved IMO would be better allocated elsewhere (Just examples: 500GB NVME SSD, Increase the RAM to 32GB if you haven't already - if required)

However if you have enough money and everything is crackers then by all means go for the 3600x

[doug.johnston]

I just finished my new tower build ... and I'm very impressed with the results using Niel_Cross' latest "Workstation Slayer" specs as a starting point.

CPU - Ryzen 5 - 3600x,  3.8 GHz base clock - 4.3 GHz factory overclock

MOBO - MSI B450 Tomahawk Max

GPU - MSI Radeon RX580 OC, 8 GB

RAM - Patriot - 8 GB, 2400

PSU - Corsair 850X, 850W

CPU Cooler - NZXT X52 AIO

Operating Storage - Crucial M500x SATA SSD - 500 GB

External Storage - Seagate SSD - 2 TB

Case - NZXT - H510i

- The RAM was purchased just to get the computer up and running, but plans are to increase it (using Corsair Vengence LPX 32 gb, 3200) after this global issue settles down and my job is a little more secure than it currently is.

- The PSU I bought for the same price as a 650W I was looking at.

- The External Storage, I purchased last summer for all my work related Inventor files.

I am extremely impressed at this system, especially the CPU, and even with the 8 gb ram, the system still screams.  

A big THANK YOU to Niel_Cross for all your videos and everything you do for our community !!!!

Inventor Benchmark results ....

JDESIGN-TOWER

[Neil_Cross]

@doug.johnston You're welcome, it's very rewarding to see the years of my hard work and testing to be in a position to recommend the optimal system is finally paying off.

For anyone else looking at this, the shopping list is here:

Workstation Slayer 2019/2020 

Currently the parts list is roughly around $700 for the 16GB RAM version, but you can swap out parts and brands as and how you see fit but obviously leave the CPU and motherboard alone.

[michaelackermann1187]

Hello,

I got my new PC. Should'nt performance be better?

Thanks for your Tips in advance.