The old adage about getting a hard drive at least twice as big as you think you’ll need still holds true.
Hard drives, and SA-SCSI drives especially, face growing competition from a new breed of storage device: the solid-state drive (SSD).
Apr 9, 2013 12:45:36 PM
Hard drives, and SA-SCSI drives especially, face growing competition from a new breed of storage device: the solid-state drive (SSD).
Topics: Workstations, Hardware, Hard Drive, SSD Drive, CAD
Jul 25, 2012 2:22:39 PM
Reality capture is a boom business for the building industry. With roughly 5 million existing commercial buildings in the United States alone, it’s easy to understand why. Laser-scanner-based reality capture is the dominant methodology used today to accurately capture the 3D state of an existing building. However, the typical laser-scan-based point cloud is in the hundreds of millions of 3D points, sometimes even going into the billions of points. With this additional data overhead on top of an already dense Building Information Model, it’s important to optimize your workstation hardware to deliver a productive user experience.
Topics: Workstations, Autodesk, RAM, Hardware, Graphics Card, Hard Drive, Processors, Revit, SSD Drive, GPU, Memory, Graphics Cards, Connectivity, Backup System, Video Cards, CAD
Jan 6, 2012 12:30:44 AM
RAID is an option you'll likely want to consider for a new workstation, depending on the model you choose. The acronym stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, and refers to the redundancy that provides reliability and data security. By far, the most common options offered in workstations are RAID modes 0 and 1.
Topics: Workstations, Hardware, Hard Drive, SSD Drive, RAID, CAD
Dec 8, 2011 3:44:32 PM
This series is comparing hard disk drives (HDD) versus solid state drives (SSD) for CAD workstation storage. Read part 1 here.
Topics: Workstations, Hardware, Hard Drive, SSD Drive, CAD
Dec 6, 2011 3:31:31 PM
When it comes to thinking about what should go in our workstations, we — both hardware suppliers and users— too often dwell on the glitzier technology inside, the "speeds and feeds." How many CPU cores or GPU shaders there are, what frequencies they're clocked at, and how many polygons/second or texels/second the GPU can churn through.
Topics: Workstations, Hardware, Hard Drive, SSD Drive, CAD
Nov 10, 2011 3:55:05 PM
Optimizing hardware for SolidWorks is essential for getting the most out of this heavy-hitting CAD application, as we've discussed on CADspeed previously. So we were thrilled when the SolidWorks forum addressed this very issue recently on their forums.
Topics: Workstations, RAM, SolidWorks, Hardware, Graphics Card, Multi-Threading, Hard Drive, Processors, SSD Drive, GPU, Memory, Graphics Cards, Backup System, Video Cards, CAD
Oct 27, 2011 1:10:21 PM
In September we announced the release of the 2012 version of Vectorworks® software. The release contains more than 100 performance and usability improvements to help users save time and increase their productivity. If you’re thinking about trying one of the Vectorworks design series programs, or if you’re ready for an upgrade, you may have some questions about hardware selection. Here is a brief overview to get you started.
Topics: RAM, Hardware, Hard Drive, Processors, SSD Drive, Memory, Video Cards, Vectorworks, CAD
Aug 23, 2011 4:52:40 PM
One of the most common questions our tech staff gets from customers is “What is the best hardware config for ArchiCAD?” It’s easy to go overboard and buy the most expensive of everything, but many times less expensive components are almost just as good. The “optimal” configuration is almost as fast as the “best” configuration, with a more attractive price tag.
Topics: Workstations, RAM, ArchiCAD, Hardware, Displays, Graphics Card, Multi-Threading, Hard Drive, Processors, Operating Systems, SSD Drive, GPU, Memory, Graphics Cards, Video Cards, Operating System, 64-Bit, Display, CAD
May 10, 2011 1:52:35 PM
Whether you are an individual user upgrading to AutoCAD 2012 design and documentation software or a CAD manager/IT professional upgrading the entire company, selecting the right system configuration is essential. The wrong decisions can cause years of frustration for the user. To build a system with greater longevity and better performance, use the recommended system requirements over the minimum requirements. In addition, when buying new hardware, consider certified hardware from Autodesk hardware partners. This is the hardware used in the development of the product.
Topics: Dell Business Workstation, Workstations, Autodesk, RAM, Hardware, Hard Drive, AutoCAD, Processors, Operating Systems, SSD Drive, Memory, Video Cards, Operating System, Windows
Apr 19, 2011 4:46:44 PM
In part 1 of Hardware for the CAD Professional, we reviewed the basics of system requirements. In part 2, we defined some commonly used terms. In part 3, we talked about processors and how they can affect your workflow. Part 4 helped you calculate how much RAM you need. Now, let's talk about hard drives.
Topics: Workstations, Hard Drive, SSD Drive, RAID
