Computer hardware

[dmunger]

We're running mastercam 8 where I work, on a pentium-III desktop that runs pc133 sd-ram and only supports 512mb of ram. I suggested upgrading the puter to a pentium 4 with double the L2-cache on a 400/533Mhz system board that supports more than 1 Gb of DDR-ram to reduce some of the bottlenecks that make Mastercam run slowly on the present puter. I'm looking for input on this and I'd like to know of any flaws in this idea of mine. Thank you

[crazy^millman]

Well Time is more and money is time so up to them to realize if you spend time waiting on a computer and that holds up the show then is it worth spendign a couple thousand dollars. I give you a thing I gave soemone esle we were in the same boat before I got here and I put it this way. If I have 4 machines wating 10 hours a week on a slow computer it has cost the company $2000 at $50 in lost time but really cost $4000 in real time and money cause that is time we could not put on other jobs. Now in one year that would cost the average comapny $208,000 a year in money and time to not but what ever computer you wanted.

 

Just old crazy thoughts but hey what do I know about business I am just repsonbile for getting everything out the door on time and asked to do so in a way that is suppose to make money.

 

Crazy Millman

 

PS sounds liek to me you know what you need and what would work but I am sure one of the Tech guys on here will tell you if that hardware set-up will work like you want. I have a 3.06 with a 512mb side bus, 1 gig of memory, 40 gig harddrive, and a 256 mb viedo card.

 

[ 10-20-2003, 07:24 PM: Message edited by: Millman^Crazy ]

[gcode]

It depends on the work you are doing.

A P3 is plenty for lathe and simple 2 1/2 axis stuff. The more complex your work gets, the more horsepower you'll need.

I'm currently running a 2.3 P4 with a gig of ram,

a Quadro FX-500 video card and a ramdisk. It does OK most of the time, but it starts wheezing once in a while.

I think the 2 most important requirements for a Mastercam box are lots of ram and a good video

card. It doesn't matter how much horsepower you've got if MC doesn't like your video card.

 

Here's a link to some good info on Mastercam hardware requirements

 

http://www.emastercam.com/info/hardware.php

 

[ 10-20-2003, 10:22 PM: Message edited by: gcode ]

[the1yyz]

IF you are going to buy something get a MB with lots of space for fast ram some can take more than one type of ram, but not mixed. R5 SCSI a good graphics card. 10,000 rpm scsi drives.

All of these will enhance performance and give you a mahcine than will last you a longer time.

Also go with a dual if you can even if you only use on processor at first. Best to be prepared for version X.