Hello, Quadro. What do you do?

[savagemachines]

Not a lot written about acceleration of the software. Got some quick questions about that. Well I have been working on a large file for a bit. I bought a GTX980Ti hoping to improve my experience. 3D rotation and such is smooth and crisp, similar moving around in verify seems okay as well. I am looking at the compute of paths, verify smoothing and the like. Have not sped up.

Does Quadro do anything for these aspects of am I dreaming?

Not a lot is written about these aspects of the program, and the techs just say yes Quadro better with out explanation.

Jon

[Colin Gilchrist]

Your graphics card is really only used for graphics with Mastercam. All tool path calculations use the CPU, not the graphics card for tool path processing. Yes, a Quadro card is much better for rotating, panning, and zooming in Mastercam.

 

If you want to crunch tool paths faster, then get a faster CPU, more RAM, and a faster Motherboard (Bus speed). Also, when looking a new CPU, cache (cash) is king! I would take a CPU with more cache, over a faster clock speed.

 

Also, what tool paths are you using? The new (Surface High Speed) tool paths are multi-threaded, which results in faster calculation times. The "legacy" surface roughing and finishing paths are limited to a single thread (the tool path will "lock" Mastercam while the path calculates.)

[savagemachines]

So a Dual Socket Xeon would be better investment then a Quadro card?

[Colin Gilchrist]

I prefer to look at the entire system as a whole, rather than focus on one specific component. If you buy a high-end CPU, but neglect the other components, then you are doing yourself a disservice.

 

My preference is to look at the Dell factory outlet store, and buy a refurbished system. I think you'll get the best "bang for the buck" going that route.

 

All of the components need to work together. I just priced a decent system from Dell:

 

•     Processor: Intel Core 4th Generation i7-4790 processor (8M Cache, up to 4.0 GHz)
•     Windows 8 Pro (Free Windows 10 Upgrade)
•     512 GB Solid State Drive
•     32GB Quad Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz
•     16X DVD +/- RW Drive
•     Nvidia Quadro K620 2GB (DP, DL-DVI-I) (1 DP to SL-DVI adapter)
•     Dell Outlet Precision T1700 Mini Tower

For that system, the price was $1,499.00

 

Note that the important things about this system are:

 

• Four core processor - this allows you to run 4 separate threads with a "multi-threaded" tool path.
• 8Mb Cache - better than 6Mb. I did see a system with 12Mb cache, but it was "low RAM"
• Solid State Hard Drive - This is crucial for data read/write access.
• 32 Mb RAM - Seriously, 16Mb is probably "minimum" these days, and 32 Mb is excellent
• Nvidia Quadro graphics

[Colin Gilchrist]

One of the reasons I prefer to buy a whole system is due to all the extra work that Dell puts into creating their BIOS for a particular setup. When I buy a system, I know that the BIOS is setup correctly to run all of the components together.

 

Just buying a new CPU doesn't address the underlying architecture of the system. You need to make sure the Memory, Graphics Card, and CPU are all designed to use the same Bus Speed (this is the North Bridge).

 

Besides a decent graphics card (you need this no matter what), the biggest performance increases I've seen have come from going to a Solid State Hard Drive. The SSD has a much faster read/write speed, which reduces the performance bottleneck. Just going from a regular platter HD to a SSD can reduce the boot time for Mastercam by a factor of ten. (Going from 30 seconds to 3 seconds is not uncommon.)

 

I see a lot of people that think buying a new CPU or Graphics Card is going to solve all their issues, when in reality, it just fixes a single link in a complex chain of components. I'd hate to see you try and buy a new CPU, and then have your IT guy struggle all day to get it setup on your system. Typically, it will still be limited by another weak point on your system. That could be Bus Speed, the amount (and type/speed) of RAM, the Hard Disk I/O speed, and so forth.

[jeff]

So a Dual Socket Xeon would be better investment then a Quadro card?

In order to benefit from a Xeon over something like the i7 6700K for $420, you'd have to buy the ones that are $2,000 and up which have 30mb L3 cache. IMO

Otherwise I think you'd see very minimal performance gain if you went with something like the E5 2640 for $1,000

 

my new rig is the i7 6700 (couldn't get the K version, it's sold out everywhere in the entire world)

32gb RAM

GTX980Ti

SSD

 

I couldn't be happier, although I don't do some of the massive files that some people here do with thousands of surfaces.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

 

 

my new rig is the i7 6700 (couldn't get the K version, it's sold out everywhere in the entire world)

 

Gah!  Was just about to be buying one!  Well I'm getting a laptop too; maybe I can make do for a bit until 6700K's are available again.  That extra 20% or so from overclocking is a big ROI.

[jeff]

That extra 20% or so from overclocking is a big ROI.

It definitely is! But I couldn't wait , I needed a new cad pc fast.

[savagemachines]

I will not buy a pre build system be it a Apple or Dell or others. I have build computers for a very long time.

Previous System

I7 4790

Z97-K

8GB Ram

R9 270x

Dual OCZ 128gb in Raid 1

 

 

Other items of course but that is the nuts and bolts

Last Week Upgrades taken into account

I7 4790

32GB Kingston 1866 Ram

EVGA 980 TI

Dual 850 Samsung 128s in Raid 1 (Fixed problem with drives dropping out of raid and the storage space is fine. I have network storage that is backup and stored offsite as to our requirements.)

 

 

Yes, I know expensive bad.

I was considering a Quadro M5000 which is over 2k cdn pasos but if the program does not pass the work load to it using one of the many methods. I thought it may of worked like video editing software that can offload. No point.

I am choking on a file with about 600-1000 surfaces in it.

I Feel as tho the 6700 would be a side grade.

I have a original Titan on my gaming computer at home. I was considering doing a swap to take the 980 home and the titan to work.

So I could consider a dual xeon setup using E5-2470 v2 or some variant.

Compute of tool paths and sharpening in verify are the main time syncs.

[mkd]

i worked on a dual xeon Dell system. it was laughably slow. i7 would run circles around it.

 

also worked on a better Dell system with a quadro (2000???). I was not impressed at all. I'll be keeping my gtx580 for a long time.

[Matthew Hajicek - Singularity]

I'd advise Quadro for Solidworks.  There are a number of functions there that require the Quadro.

[savagemachines]

I'd advise Quadro for Solidworks.  There are a number of functions there that require the Quadro.

I am running X9 standalone on Win 7 64.

[The Cathedral]

I think two big things (and scouring the internet seems to agree with me) come into play with a Quadro card: first, it's tested in a much more specific environment for a specific end use, so the drivers tend to be much more stable. Second, since most CAD systems spec Quadro as a minimum spec, if you run into problems using a different card they are less likely to be able to offer any kind of support.

[gcode]

I'm been running an overclocked Boxx at work for nearly a year

I like it so much I bought one for my contract work at home (see my siggy)

My work machine is running a Quadro K4200

My home machine, the new Quadro M4000...other that that the machines are identical

My home machine is much faster.

I don't know whether it's the 8gig vs 4gig video card

or just that my home machine doesn't have all the overhead that IT loads in our machines.

[jeff]

i worked on a dual xeon Dell system. it was laughably slow. i7 would run circles around it.

 

That's why in order to get a Xeon that's an upgrade you need to drop at least $2k or more.

In my opinion it's not worth the money, but then again my files aren't nearly as massive as some of you on here.