Upgrade help needed

G

Geeovana

New Member
Current system specs :

Intel Pentium G2120 3.1 GHz
MoBo: Gigabyte GA-H61M-DS2
Ram: 8 GB 1333
HDD: 1 TB 7200 WD

I have started using my desktop for Solidworks and it is struggling somewhat. Loads up fine but is slow in selecting things once parts become bigger.

Works fine on my laptop - i5 3210m and ssd

I want to upgrade the desktop so it runs better but what would be the best thing to upgrade. I have been thinking SSD but is that the bottleneck as opposed to the ram or the processor?? Is it worth upgrading to better processor or will the hdd hold it back? I know 8gb is the minimum ram requirement really for solidworks but my laptop has 8 aswell and it runs fine.

So SSD or processor?

can my MOBO handle a AMD? if so I may get a cheap SSD such as:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/...al/solidstate/upto120gb/oczssd2-2vtx100g.html

I know it's not the best but will be heaps better than the HDD and then a new processor such as :

http://www.ebuyer.com/507066-amd-at...cket-fm2-4mb-cache-retail-boxed-ad760kwohlbox

which is heaps better than the processor at present and just overclock it???

any help much appreciated
 
They don't make mobos for both intel and amd, so no your mobo can't handle amd. Secondly getting an ssd to improve performance in solid works will do nothing. It will make the system boot up faster and files will open more quickly but solid works will still lag. What you most likely need is a video card. Since you didn't list which one you have right now I'm assuming that you're usng the one integrated in your cpu. Instead of spending money on an ssd I would get something like a gt640/gtx650 depending on your budget. That should make solid works run nice and smoothly. Later on down the line you can upgrade your cpu to something like an i3. Make sure your psu can support your video card if you choose to get one, if not get something like a 430/500 w corsair and you should be good.
 
Thanks for the reply.

Do I need a graphic's card that expensive or would a cheaper one suffice. It wouldn't be for gaming just solid works. What differentiates a good graphics card from a worthless one?

Also how will I know if I need a bigger PSU? the one in there atm is 300 Watt

Thanks for any help
 
You could get a cheaper one like a gt630 cause even though it's not very powerful it should still do the job for you and 300w should be fine for it although I would advise a psu upgrade.
 
Does it benefit from NVIDIA only? For gaming, which is often a good indication of how powerful a video card is, the HD 6570 or 6670 (same chip) offers great price/performance - and should be cheaper than those GPUs.
AMD HD 6570 1GB: $25 after MIB and discount
Cheapest HD 6670: $ 45
Cheapest GT 640: $80

You can overclock the HD 6570 1GB in 1 click through the driver to near 6670 performance.
But this is only relevant if SolidWorks work with AMD cards though. Not sure.
 
How much memory have you allocated to your video? You can change it in the BIOS and go for the max.
 
OK thanks for all the reply's really helping, sorry i'm a complete noob at this just getting into it find it really interesting.

I will have a look at how much memory is allocated to my video and get back to you (when I find out how)

Can I run AMD and Nvidia cards on my MOBO?
 
The memory that was allocated was 64m. Minimum is 32m and maxium is 1024m so I have set it to 1024m.

I take it this will improve things somewhat?

Cheers
 
I have just loaded the same assembly that was struggling in solidworks and it is so much better. Thanks for all the help.

I will still look into getting a graphics card as I will need one when the assembly's get larger but for the time being it's far better.

would the onboard graphics effect the loading times of solidworks itself and the files as I swear it was about half the time for both??

Thanks for all your help really appreciated
 
You will find that video cards are always better than the onboards. The cards have their own memory and are usually faster than the PC's ram.
 
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