Mastercam CPU usage with quad core CPU

[Rotary Ninja]

I was verifying a program when I got a message stating Mastercam X5 was using 99% of at least one CPU. When we opened the task manager we noticed Mastercam was using 100% of CPU2. The others were barely registering. Process affinity is set to use ALL Processors. Is there a way to force Mastercam to actually use the other processors?

 

I guess I should mention the PC I am using has the following specs...

 

Mastercam X5 MU1

Dell Optiplex 790

Intel Core i5 CPU running at 3.10 GHz

4GB memory

Windows 7 Professional

 

As of right now we are using the integrated graphics processor.

[Marshal]

I believe there's only the regeneration/calculation of certain toolpaths that use multiple cores. The rest of the program is entirely single core.

[Rotary Ninja]

If we added a dedicated graphics card would that take some of the load off of the CPU when verifying a program?

[CJep]

An integrated graphics processor is not recommended for use with the software.

Here are the minimum graphics requirements from the Mastercam.com website:

 

Graphics Configuration

 

* 256MB OpenGL-compatible graphics card (minimum)

* Professional-level graphics card designed for CAD/CAM applications required, NVidia Quadro or AMD FirePro series recommended

* Integrated graphics controllers are not supported

* 1280 x 1024 pixel resolution (minimum)

* Full hardware acceleration display setting is recommended

 

If your looking for a specific card do a search here on the forum for graphics cards (the subject has been discussed from here till Tues)

[Rotary Ninja]

I understand that we should have a dedicated GPU. Would it speed up the verify process?

[CJep]

yes,....

 

It is going to depend on the toolpaths you're running, the more information associated to the toolpath the longer it will take Verify to regenerate. A simple contour or drilling toolpath should verify rather quickly, a surfacing toolpath is going to take a bit longer, the highspeed toolpaths verify the slowest. If I write a pocket routine with a morph spiral it will take longer to verify than if the method was parallel spiral.

 

Verify is heavily graphics dependent, "hog tying" it with an integrated graphics chip makes it work harder. I've seen instances were trying to run Verify has actually closed Mcam down, crashing the program.

[jesse@desemco]

Nvidia seems to be the norm.

[Rotary Ninja]

Thanks for the info. I was pretty sure about everything but needed our IT guy to see your responses before he would believe me.

 

Maybe he will get me a dual core GTX590 =)

[BenK]

I have an Quadro FX1700 at home and it works great. For surfacing toolpaths its not the fastest but for the price it works for me.

[Jayson Kramer]

Thanks for the info. I was pretty sure about everything but needed our IT guy to see your responses before he would believe me.

 

Maybe he will get me a dual core GTX590 =)

 

You want a Quadro not a gamming card unless you plane on gamming on that computer.

[Rotary Ninja]

Really? A Quadro? What makes them a better choice? I never really looked at any of the nVidia cards as strictly gaming cards.

[Tyler Robertson]

I really haven't noticed anyone having a problem with a so-called 'gaming' cards and mastercam. Doing some quick googling reveals a few features that quaddro has through separate driver features, things like different anti-aliasing and lighting support both of which aren't of much consequence to using mastercam. There can be different memory and hardware tweaks but you pay a premium

 

On the same token my Quaddro card also works great for gaming

[Rotary Ninja]

I have an old Dell Precision M90 with a Quadro FX1500 GPU. It did fine with Mastercam X3. It also played games well too at the time. I didn't even realize the Quadro's were the professional cards. So if the budget for a new video card is $200, what one would you recommend? Yeah, that's being extremely cheap. My only other option is to buy the card myself.

[John@WMM]

I have an old Dell Precision M90 with a Quadro FX1500 GPU. It did fine with Mastercam X3. It also played games well too at the time. I didn't even realize the Quadro's were the professional cards. So if the budget for a new video card is $200, what one would you recommend? Yeah, that's being extremely cheap. My only other option is to buy the card myself.

 

 

NVIDIA QUADRO 600

[JBowman]

Peon posted verify times for a GTX 460 that smoked a FX1800. Makes me wonder if it would be worth wile to switch from a 2000 to a GTX 570...

 

GTX times

[Rotary Ninja]

That's interesting. Thanks for the link.