64 bit computer

[BojLap]

Our company is buying new computers for ProE WF2. Do anyone have any experience with 64 bit computers, Win X64, and ProE supported them? Is it jet time to switch to 64 bit? As I read next release of ProE will be prepared for 64 bit technology. Difference in price is not very high, but benefits should be great.<?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />
Thanks everyone for opinion.
Have a nice day!

 

[chrisbutler]

Check out this link:





[url]http://www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/forms/index.jsp?im_dbkey=2 9205&icg_dbkey=482[/url]

 

[wskunz]

We participated in the PTC Beta test of the 64 bit software.


HP loaned us a x8200 with Beta XP64 Pro. The system had 2 - 3.6GHz Xeon processors, 6 GB RAM with an nVidia FX3400 graphics card.


This machine ran very well on our large assemblies and really flew on Mechanica analysis problems.


When XP64 Pro became generally available we loaded it on our standard Dell Precision 370 workstations with 3.4GHz P4 processors and 2 GB of RAM and saw performance that was just a little slower than the HP box on medium sized assemblies. These workstations cost us about $2500 with an nVidia FX3400 card.


We also purchased a Dell Precision 670 with 2 - 3.6GHz Xeon processors,6GB RAM and an FX3400 card. About $5,000 our cost.


The Dell 670 outperformed the HP box by a small margin and the cost was much less.


We are running WF2 64 on the 670 tied into our PDMLink system. Performance is outstanding. We can't use it with our Ilink system because there is no 64 bit compatible version of Ilink available. PTC says next maintenance release will have it, but we will have migrated to PDMLink by then.


The 64 bit operating system makes quite a difference on CPU intensive operations.


As an example:


On the 32 bit Dell 370, Mechanica analysis took 2 hour 30 minutes.


On the 64 bit Dell 370, Mechanica analysis took 35 minutes.


On the 64 bit HP x8200, Mechanica analysis took25 minutes.


On the 64 bit Dell 670, Mechanica analysis took 20 minutes.


Bill
Edited by: wskunz

 

[Indusign]

We have here large assemblies, up to 1.7-1.8 gig memory use. We have windows2000 on our 32bit workstations and this just can't deal with over 1.9gig for one program. How much kan be used by one ProE session on a 64bit machine ?

 

[wskunz]

The amount of memory you can use is theoretically unlimited. Since the memory problem on 32 bit systems is not the amount of RAM but the total memory allowed including virtual disk memory. With 64 bit there is no limitation, so if you have enough virtual memory allocated, also known as swap space, the is no limit.





Bill
Edited by: wskunz

 

[Indusign]

The memory isn't a problem, now using a HP XW4100 workstation with 3gig of ram, so no need to swap. But once reached about 1.95gig of mem used by ProE, I get a visual C++ error and are kicked out of ProE.

 

[dr_gallup]

In the 32-bit Windows world, each application has its own

 

[wskunz]

dr_gallup is correct, in the 32 bit world it wouldn't matter if you had 8GB RAM Pro/E would still run out of available total memory at about 2 GB or 3 GB if you have the switch set.


We have been running with the 3 GB switch set for about 6 months with no sign of instability.





Bill

 

[AHA-D]

Whatever version of OS and/or program you are using, there is no harm in having a 64-bit motherboard and -processor. I swapped my computer's internals for an Athlon-64 3200 with appropriate ASUS motherboard because of a crash and it is running fine with the existing applications. Even dumped in the old harddisks without rebuilding Windows and have no stability issues.


Alex

 

[Isair]

We have triedmachine withAthlon 64 3500+ with 2Gb of memory and nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra, on Win XP 64 and Pro/E 64. The test machine was doing some great results and it was wonderful to work with it, especial with large asm. (I was able to spin and rotate large asm, with over 60 000 parts in master rep with no problems), andwe have runOcus benchmark it was about 724 sec to finish it.


About what Dr_gallup said it is true, I have tired using the /3GB boot.ini switch and got no problems with stability but I was able to open large asm with over 2 Gb of RAM usage.