What makes a good TopSolid computer?

Proposals and Suggestions for new features in TopSolid.

Moderators: remi77, jacs, Daniel

Russell Hogley
Private
Private
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2008 9:32 am

What makes a good TopSolid computer?

Unread post by Russell Hogley »

I'm looking to buy a Dell Precision desktop workstation. I'd like to know which areas would my money be best spent? I'm currently using a Dell Precision M90 laptop, which has proved too slow, especially with 3d work.
User avatar
olaio
Second Officer Cadet
Second Officer Cadet
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:42 am
Answers: 2
Location: Leiria

Unread post by olaio »

Hi Russel,

Processor:
Choose an Intel processor Core 2 Duo (do NOT go to quad cores!!!).
The processor needs to have maximum cache (you can find processors with 6MB cache).
The FSB (Bus speed) needs to be the maximum (you can find processors with 1066 Mhz for notebooks and 1333 Mhz for desktops).

Hard Drive:
Choose a hard drive with best RPM

Memory:
Choose a DDR3 1066 Mhz memory type

Graphic card:
Choose a nvidia quadro card

The money should go first for the processor, then for the Hard Drive, after for the memory and finally to the graphic card.

About the processor, i have no feedback about the i7 processors

I hope this can help you :wink:
Top'Noob
First Officer Cadet
First Officer Cadet
Posts: 245
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:05 pm

Unread post by Top'Noob »

This is what I am using now. I have had it since January 2009 and absolutely LOVE it. No probs with TS Design or TS Mold. It was purchased from http://www.cyberpowerpc.com

Pricing from Cyberpower easily beats Dell every time.

P.S. If you're looking for new equipment and you don't have a Space Pilot yet you really ought to look into it. Can be found on ebay for $150 or so...

http://www.3dconnexion.com/3dmouse/spacepilot.php
CAS: CoolerMaster Centurion 590 RC-590 Mid-Tower
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-965 Extreme Edition 3.2 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366 [+796]
CD: (Special Price) LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
CABLE: Round Cable Upgrade for Optical Drive [+19]
FAN: Asetek Liquid CPU Cooling System (Extreme Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) [+54]
HDD: Extreme Performance (RAID-0) with 2 Identical Hard Drives [+29] (300GB (150GBx2) Gaming Western Digital VelociRaptor 10,000RPM SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache WD1500HLFS [+302])
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P6T Deluxe Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard SAS Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA,Dual GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394a,&7.1Audio [+80]
MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1800MHz Triple Channel Memory Module [+264] (Corsair or Major Brand)
NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Ultimate w/ Service Pack 1 [+105] (64-bit Edition)
PRO_WIRING: Professional Wiring for All WIRINGs Inside The System Chasis with High Performance Thermal Compound on CPU [+19]
POWERSUPPLY: 750 Watts Power Supplies [+39] (Corsair CMPSU-750TX - Quad SLI Ready [+90])
RUSH: *SAME DAY SHIP OUT GUARANTEE*
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
TEMP: Xion XON-MTR002B Color LCD Thermal Control Panel Display [+39]
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX295 X2 1.7GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+419] (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA [+5])
_PRICE: (+3325) -5% discount + shipping = $3250 delivered
User avatar
olaio
Second Officer Cadet
Second Officer Cadet
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:42 am
Answers: 2
Location: Leiria

Unread post by olaio »

Hi Top'Noob

Amazing PC :shock:
Top'Noob
First Officer Cadet
First Officer Cadet
Posts: 245
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:05 pm

Unread post by Top'Noob »

Thanks. I picked it out myself for a particular job we did including a 500MB TopSolid mold design and a Mastercam X4 electrode which ended up being 1.4GB :shock: when fully toolpathed. The .nc file for that electrode was 512MB and took about 140 hours to run a single electrode. We made 4 of those electrodes... That's over 3 weeks of spindle time. Won't miss that job.

Even this computer was gagging on those toolpaths.
User avatar
olaio
Second Officer Cadet
Second Officer Cadet
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:42 am
Answers: 2
Location: Leiria

Unread post by olaio »

Let me guess... it was for a speaker with thousands and thousands of holes to machine...
Top'Noob
First Officer Cadet
First Officer Cadet
Posts: 245
Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2007 3:05 pm

Unread post by Top'Noob »

Good guess but no....

It was one part (of many) which assemble to create a large drum filter for the prescription drug industry. I am told that the liquids being filtered cost over $2000 per liter to produce.

The plate with the cylinders measures 44 inches by 32 inches

The molded part is over 18 inch diameter and 2 inches thick.

The electrodes I mentioned burned the entire molding area at once.
Attachments
1.jpg
User avatar
olaio
Second Officer Cadet
Second Officer Cadet
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:42 am
Answers: 2
Location: Leiria

Unread post by olaio »

OK, it was a big part, but i only realize that when i convert your inches to my mm, because for me it was not possible to visualize 44 or 32 or 18 inches, only the 2 inches were familiar :wink:
User avatar
jehronimo
Major
Major
Posts: 149
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:05 pm

Unread post by jehronimo »

Hello TopNoob,

Very nice PC :wink: and of course, very nice job...and :shock: nice plate dimensions...

Thanks for your sharing

jehronimo
User avatar
TopSolid2007
Master Chief
Master Chief
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 4:28 pm
Location: São Bernardo do Campo - SP
Contact:

Unread post by TopSolid2007 »

Why the quad cores are not a good idea??????
TopSolid Users!!!!
User avatar
olaio
Second Officer Cadet
Second Officer Cadet
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:42 am
Answers: 2
Location: Leiria

Unread post by olaio »

The quad cores are not a good idea (yet), because TS is not taking advantage of multi-cores. Only the new TopSolid 7 is build to work to use multi-cores.
The other problem is that the cache memory in quad cores (at least the first ones) is that this memory is shared by 2 cores, it means that the quad cores are in fact more or less two dual cores.

Now intel is working with another kind of cache memory for the quad cores, so maybe now the speed of the news quad cores can be better than the dual cores.
User avatar
TopSolid2007
Master Chief
Master Chief
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 4:28 pm
Location: São Bernardo do Campo - SP
Contact:

Unread post by TopSolid2007 »

The problem is that TopSolid 7 does not achive my requiriments to work, because its impossible to work with contourn, only sketch is available.
I will be working with TopSolid 6.xxx until this feature become available on TopSolid 7.

I think the Missler Programmers must du a Better job on TopSolid 6, allowing it to work with multi cores, better RAM management, etc.... It would help to avoid the Runtime erros, and fatal errors, in 32 bits...

Sometimes I read in this posts that some people work with 200GB files... Its impossible to do here... if I need to make one complex 2,5D CAM file, with lots of features, I must cut it in some files, because TopSolid Crashs every time due to the RAM utilization, or in other cases in the design, I have the same problem......
TopSolid Users!!!!
User avatar
olaio
Second Officer Cadet
Second Officer Cadet
Posts: 194
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 11:42 am
Answers: 2
Location: Leiria

Unread post by olaio »

Hi,

Why don't you use the 64 Bits option?
User avatar
TopSolid2007
Master Chief
Master Chief
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu May 10, 2007 4:28 pm
Location: São Bernardo do Campo - SP
Contact:

Unread post by TopSolid2007 »

I have 8 programmers using TopSolidCAM, and my reseller told us a few time ago that ws not a good idea to buy 64 bits computer to work with topsoolid cam due to several problems. I recently bought 8 computers from Dell (Optiplex 760) and now it will be a little hard to change these computers again.

Other problem is that the 64 bits Vista, does not work well with the other softwares we have running here.
TopSolid Users!!!!
Post Reply