Free SolidWorks from Performance Constraints (FSWPC-13-#9)

(Modeling Methodology - OS Visual and User Settings)

This test we can put in the category of "every little bit counts". In this category falls the visual settings from the operating system. This is one of Adrian's favorite settings and it proves that for us as engineers we should not let Microsoft control anything.

For WIN 7, these are set in the Visual Effects tab of the Performance Options Window (See instructions at bottom of article). There are four settings in this tab; Let Windows choose...., Adjust for best appearance Adjust for best performance, and custom. By default, Let Windows choose... is set and if we look at the screen shots for that and Best Appearance you can see there is no real difference between the two so what we can gather from this is that Microsoft thinks an aesthetically pleasing work environment is what is best for us. To achieve better performance, all of these options should be turned off and that is exactly what we get when we choose Adjust for best performance.

You can by looking at our deltas see that on our Practical machine where we have enough hardware to support our model we gained only 0.2% total improvement. If we look at the Typical machine we can see that the overall improvement is a respectable 16.0% performance gain and took over 45min off of our benchmark time.

Please
check back to the CATI blog as we will continue posting our
series of articles that goes further into the details of each of our tests. All
of these articles will be stored in the category of Free SolidWorks from Performance
Constraints and links to each with their
release date are listed below:

• FSWPC-13-#1 Introduction (3/19/13)


• FSWPC-13-#2 RAM (3/21/13)


• FSWPC-13-#3 Processor Cores (3/26/13)


• FSWPC-13-#4 Processor Cores for Simulation
  and PhotoView360 (3/28/13)


• FSWPC-13-#5 Processor Clock Speed (4/2/13)


• FSWPC-13-#6 Hard Drives (4/4/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7a Graphics Cards-SolidWorks
  Functionality (4/9/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7b Graphics Cards-Hardware
  Comparison (4/11/13)


• FSWPC-13-#7c Graphics Cards-Model Complexity (4/16/13)


• FSWPC-13-#8 Files stored in an older version
  (4/18/13)


• FSWPC-13-#9 OS Visual and User Settings (4/23/13)


• FSWPC-13-#10
  SolidWorks Options (4/25/13)


• FSWPC-13-#11
  SolidWorks Image Quality (4/30/13)


• FSWPC-13-#12
  SolidWorks RealView Graphics (5/2/13)


• FSWPC-13-#13
  SolidWorks  Level of Detail (5/7/13)


• FSWPC-13-#14
  SolidWorks Mates and Flexible Subassemblies (5/9/13)


• FSWPC-13-#15
  SolidWorks Defeature (5/14/13)


• FSWPC-13-#16
  SolidWorks Envelope (5/16/13)


• FSWPC-13-#17
  SolidWorks
  Large Design Review (5/21/13)


• FSWPC-13-#18
  SolidWorks
  SpeedPak (5/23/13)


• FSWPC-13-#19
  SolidWorks Save as Part (5/28/13)


• FSWPC-13-#20
  SolidWorks Large Assembly Mode (5/30/13)


• FSWPC-13-#21
  Optimal Configuration and Conclusion (6/4/13)

Thanks,

Josh
Altergott, CATI Support Manager

Adrian
Fanjoy, CATI Technical Services Director

 

 

To get to the Performance Options:

First go to Start and Right Click on Computer and select Properties

Next select Advanced system settings

Next Select the Settings in the Performance area.