Hardware to speed things up ?

[Gutty]

Hey guys,

 

I'd like to reduce my cutter path calculation times, as more and more i find myself under the pump at work and waiting on Mastercan to give me a program.

 

My current system:

Windows 7 64bit

8GB RAM

64GB solid state HDD

Core 2 Quad 2.83GHz CPU

G-Force GTX 460 (1GB ??)

X5 MU1, Mill level 3 + Solids

 

Almost 100% of my work is mould core/cavities, but quite detailed. It's been a while since i've run the benchmark and don't really have to time to run it right now as i'm currently waiting on a program and have been for the last 4 hours(apologies if this should be in the benchmark thread).

 

Any advice on what will get my calc times down would be much appreciated.

I'm thinking a Quadro 4000, but will my CPU also be holding me back ?

 

Thanks

Matt

[gcode]

The Quadro 4000 will do nothing to improve toolpath calculation times

 

 

You need a more powerful proccessor and more RAM.

 

Are you using the new high speed toolpaths??

If yes, do you have multithreading enabled??

 

 

The upcoming release of X6 will sopport X64 and that will spped things up as well

[Gutty]

Ok thanks for that Gcode, no, using surface finish contour, not really up to speed with the new high speed toolpaths(don't have time to play around and my reseller is no help). Guess it's time i bit the bullet and made time to get my head around them ey ?

 

Currently 6 hours and counting....

 

I'm sure someone had told me a better graphics card would speed things up. Never really understood how.

 

Thanks

Matt

[Guest CNC Apps Guy 1]

Graphics help verify speed.

 

What's your benchmark time?

[jeff]

The GTX460 is a damn good card, and I'd put it up against the Quadro 4000... it will be on par more or less.

the 5000 would be a better card, but it ain't cheap.

 

The thing is, if you get a better card, the bottleneck is still your CPU.

I would get the i7 2600K and hit the BIOS to overclock it to 4.4GHZ (EXTREMELY easily done with this cpu by the way)

Of course that requires a different motherboard, since the 2600k won't fit your current motherboard.

[jeff]

After looking further into your setup, I assume that you have the Q9550?

That is a socket LGA775, and the best CPU you can get for that motherboard is the Q9650 which still costs $340 minimum.

The i7 2600k will run SO much faster than that it's not even funny. ($314.00)

If money is an issue, you can get the i5 2500k for $215 and a motherboard for about another $100 (depending on model).

You will still be WAY faster than the Q9650.

 

EDIT:

If you go this route, you will need new RAM also, just make sure that the motherboard you decide on accepts that brand and model of RAM.

8GB ram will run you around $75

[JBowman]

I was tired of waiting for Verify so I replaced my Quadro 2000 with a GTX 560Ti and barley gained 5%! In my case the CPU is the bottleneck with Verify. Verify uses only 1 core and my W3550 has one core maxed with either card. I ran times several different ways and the best score I got was setting Mastercam's priority to realtime and that put the time from 20-22 min to about 17 on both cards. I’m hopeful that X6 will help…if not then I’ll try to convince the boss to get me a 2600K.

[jeff]

Quadro's are essentially the same as the gaming cards.

Pretty much the only difference is the drivers,and that's what turns the GTX 590 into the Quadro 5000 (more or less)

 

There used to be a way to buy a gaming card and "hack it" to install the Quadro drivers.

Nvidia has fixed that unfortunately.

[JBowman]

I put the Quadro back in the case because I couldn't stand the flickering from solid surfaces from the GeForce drivers. There wasnt enough gain from the Quadro 2000 to the GTX 560Ti to put up with it.

[Gutty]

I put the Quadro back in the case because I couldn't stand the flickering from solid surfaces from the GeForce drivers. There wasnt enough gain from the Quadro 2000 to the GTX 560Ti to put up with it.

 

That is another issue i have, whenever i backplot or shade with outline my dynamic rotation goes out the window. I use a Space navigator and it's pretty much useless at times.

 

Thanks for the input fella's. I've spoken to my PC builder and think i may look at upgrading the motherboard/CPU/RAM.

 

Will run the benchmark file today some time and post my results in the benchmark thread.

 

Thanks again

Matt

[Jayson Kramer]

I run the I7 these days in my desktop and my Laptop and I see a big improment in cruch times in the surfaceing for sure. even more with the X6 64 bit.

go with a new motherboard Ram and CPU you should be able to tranfer the old out unless it is a pre built like a Dell or HP and so on.

[Gutty]

Graphics help verify speed.

 

What's your benchmark time?

 

1m 19.692s

[MotorCityMinion]

"1m 19.692s" That's actually a decent time.

 

If you do actually have a Q9550 CPU in that machine, I'd leave it alone and wait for X6, 64 bit and see what happens. That's not a crappy CPU by any means and should do a good job in a true multi core, 64 bit environment..

 

 

[Gutty]

"1m 19.692s" That's actually a decent time.

 

If you do actually have a Q9550 CPU in that machine, I'd leave it alone and wait for X6, 64 bit and see what happens. That's not a crappy CPU by any means and should do a good job in a true multi core, 64 bit environment..

 

Yeah, would be nice to be in the under 50seconds range, but i'm not too unhappy with it. And yes, just checked and it is a Q9550.

 

Guess i need to spend less money on hardware and more time on getting my head around the new high speed toolpaths ey ?!

 

Thanks again everyone. Much appreciated

Matt