A GUIDE TO IMPROVING YOUR WORKSTATION EXPERIENCE - Produced by - SPONSOREDBYAMDFIREPRO | OnePLM
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SPONSORED BY AMD FIREPRO | OnePLM
fireprographics.com | oneplm.com
A GUIDE TO
IMPROVING
YOUR
WORKSTATION
EXPERIENCE
ILLUSTRATION: @ROBBIDDULPH
Produced by
WWW.DEVELOP3D.COM
SPONSORED BY AMD FIREPRO | OnePLM
fireprographics.com | oneplm.com
OPTIMIS
Tune your workstation for free
Just like a kettle, workstations get furred up over time. Regular maintenance files, use the built in Windows tool. Defragmenting your HDD on a
can help them perform to their true potential. Here are twelve simple steps Right click on your drive, select regular basis can help with this as it
you can take to improve performance for free. properties and disk Clean-up. moves all the files back together.
6
Here’s the disclaimer — proceed with caution and, before you start, make sure Third party tools can also help.
all of your data is backed up and that you have a system repair disk! Try Auslogics’ Duplicate File INSTALL THE
Finder or for a deeper clean of your LATEST DRIVERS
1
drive Piriform’s CCleaner. Hardware drivers are
4
UNINSTALL UNNECESSARY your screen will not display! Search important. Windows
APPLICATIONS the web for details of each process. REBOOT REGULARLY comes with a base set of drivers
3
The simplest, most When applications and but you can still benefit from ones
effective way to improve DELETE datasets load they take that are more up to date. For 3D
performance is to uninstall UNNECESSARY FILES up valuable memory. apps, graphics drivers, then chipset
unnecessary applications as these Hard drives soon fill up, Over time this memory can drivers are the most important.
take up memory and clog up which can slow down become full, as resources are not For graphics, first visit your CAD
startup sequences. Make sure you performance. Capacity can be a always freed up when things are application’s certification page
do this in the correct way, through particular challenge with Solid closed. This can slow down your e.g. Siemens NX (tinyurl.com/
Start > Settings > Control Panel > State Drives (SSDs) as price per GB workstation, as new applications NX-graphics). These are updated
Add/Remove Programs. is high so drives tend to be smaller. will then push some data to a periodically but graphics card
2
To start, delete any installation swap file on the hard drive, which vendors might have a more recent
TURN OFF UNWANTED files you have downloaded. CAD is a lot slower. Restarting your one. e.g. AMD FirePro
STARTUP APPS software and service packs can workstation periodically can clear (tinyurl.com/cert-firepro).
Some applications can’t soon add up to tens of GBs. Many up these minor memory leaks, Over the life of a pro graphics card,
be uninstalled in the installers also store temp files in helping ensure you have all of your updating to the latest drivers can
traditional way. To overcome the root of the C drive. Once the memory available. improve performance dramatically
5
this, click Start > Run and type application is installed it won’t so be sure to check back regularly.
MSCONFIG. Click the STARTUP need them. Delete these files, but DEFRAG YOUR There are utilities that can do
tab and you will see all the before emptying the recycle bin HARD DRIVE this for you. The Dell Precision
processes that run at startup before run the application to check it Defragmentation can be Optimizer (tinyurl.com/Dell-
the OS is ready to be used. Here’s works OK. If it does, it’s safe to a great way to increase DPO), which comes free with
the WARNING! Be very careful permanently delete. the performance of a mechanical Dell Precision workstations, will
what you turn off. For example, To get rid of other unwanted SATA hard disk drive (HDD). help you keep on top of all driver,
if you take out ATI.dll, on restart files, including temporary Internet (N.B. do not do this with a Solid firmware and BIOS updates.
7
State Drive (SSD) as it there is no
Fig.1 AUTOMATIC PROGRAM UPDATES, SUCH AS ADOBE’S benefit and it can actually reduce TURN OFF ENCRYPTION
PDF UPDATE UTILITY, CAN BE REMOVED FROM STARTUP
the life-span of the drive). AND COMPRESSION
HDDs are spinning platters On NTFS disks save space
with heads that read/write data. and increase security
The disks spin at a constant rate by compressing and encrypting
so the outside edge read/writes files. However, for maximum
more data per revolution than the performance always turn these off.
8
inside. This difference can be as
much as 20%. SET TO MAXIMUM
As you add and delete data, files PERFORMANCE
can get spread over the disk with By default, the power
one part in the middle and one profile in Windows is set
part at the end. This decreases to ‘balanced’, giving a combination
performance because the head of performance and reduced
needs to physically move from one energy consumption. To set these
part of the disc to another and over to maximum performance click
a period of time your system can Start > Settings > Control Panel >
start to feel slower. Power Options. Then click ‘show
Page 2SE
11
additional plans’ and set to ‘high ENABLE / DISABLE
performance’. HYPER-THREADING
9
Intel Hyper-
DISABLE INTEL SPEED Threading
STEP AND C-STATE technology creates two virtual cores
Intel Speed Step cuts out of each physical CPU core with a
the processor speed if it view to increasing performance when
thinks the system is idle or running possible. It can be enabled or disabled
a lightweight application. However, in the BIOS.
sometimes the GPU might be doing Enabling it can boost performance
the work and Speed Step might not in multi-threaded applications (e.g.
realise. It can be turned off in the ray trace rendering) but for single
workstation’s BIOS. You can also threaded applications (e.g. CAD) it
turn off Intel C-State, which adds is usually best to disable it as it can
additional “wait states” if the CPU slow things down.
thinks nothing is happening. If you are unsure, check with
Disabling both will make the CPU your software supplier or
run at full speed all of the time but use a utility like the Dell
12
will likely use more electricity. Precision Optimizer
10
(tinyurl.com/Dell-DPO), SPRING CLEAN
SET CPU to automatically YOUR MACHINE
AFFINITY adjusts settings Over time, a
Hardcore for each app. build up of dust
compute can clog up fans, which are used to
operations like rendering can hog cool CPUs and GPUs. This makes
CPU resources, making it almost them less effective, and in some
impossible to work on other cases causes processors to slow
tasks. However, by setting specific down to stop them overheating.
processes to run on specific cores Cleaning inside the machine
you will be able to manage your can help this, but be very careful.
CPU resources and multi-task Workstations are delicate and
much more efficiently. sensitive to static so this should be
Start Task Manager done by hand using an anti-static
(CTRL, ALT, DEL), cloth or compressed air, not with
select the processes a vacuum cleaner or cleaning
tab, right-click on products!
the process you
want to change
and ‘set affinity’.
You will then be
able to select which
processors (cores)
are used for that
particular process.
ILLUSTRATION: @ROBBIDDULPH
Note that this change is only
temporary. Once you close an
application, the affinity settings will
return to default.
PRACTICAL TIP For an 8 core CPU try
assigning 6 cores to a rendering app.SPONSORED BY AMD FIREPRO | OnePLM
fireprographics.com | oneplm.com
UPGRADInvest in new components
Your workstation can be improved further by upgrading key components. Buffer Objects (VBOs), such as MEMORY (RAM) REQUIREMENTS
As machines get older, compatible components come down in price, and Siemens NX, need more to run to FOR TYPICAL CAD MODELS
there are some great second hand bargains, so upgrading can be a very cost their full potential.
effective way of getting a lot out of a small budget. VBOs allow 3D geometry to
be directly stored and modified
MODEL
1
in the graphics card’s dedicated
TYPE
PROFESSIONAL they don’t support the latest APIs, memory, rather than in system
GRAPHICS (GPU) such as OpenGL 4.4 and DirectX memory. This reduces latencies
Upgrading to a new 12, which are used by modern 3D by essentially shortening the ENGINE CHASSIS BODY
graphics card can applications. data path to the GPU. It can also
# OF COMPONENTS
help improve 3D performance Those that currently use a reduce CPU cycles allowing
IN ASSEMBLY
when models increase in size gaming card, such as AMD Radeon, the workstation to stay more
and complexity or when using may be missing out on features that responsive. 655 706 6625
advanced real time rendering are only supported on professional To find out how much memory
effects. graphics cards, such as AMD your graphics card uses AMD offers
For example, the AMD FirePro FirePro. In addition, gaming cards a free memory viewer tool. Simply
W5100 and W7100 GPUs feature do not benefit from the rigorous load up your key applications and
TYPICAL RAM
CONSUMED
AMD Graphics Core Next (GCN) testing process that AMD FirePro datasets, then run the utility.
architecture which is designed to cards undergo when drivers are (tinyurl.com/AMD-memory). 7.5GB 10GB 23.5GB
make optimal use of GPU resources optimised for performance, quality
for maximum performance. This is and stability in a variety of 3D CAD PRACTICAL TIP #1 Make sure your new
particularly important when using applications. graphics card is fully compatible
features that improve image quality The amount of Graphics with your workstation. PCIe 3.0
such as Full Scene Anti Aliasing Processing Unit (GPU) memory cards will not work to their true Investing in a faster CPU can also
(FSAA), and True Shading mode in is also an important factor when potential in PCIe 1.0 workstations. benefit 3D graphics. Increasing the
Siemens NX. considering an upgrade. 512MB GHz of the CPU will almost always
A new graphics card can also or 1GB is common in some older PRACTICAL TIP #2 Make sure you have improve 3D performance.
help maintain full support with generation cards, but modern 3D sufficient power (watts) and the
new software. Older graphics applications, particularly those appropriate AUX power connector PRACTICAL TIP #1 Make sure the CPU
cards can become out of date if that have implemented Vertex (if required). Some PSUs simply is compatible with the socket on
don’t output enough power for the motherboard.
high-end graphics cards.
RENDERING TIME IN RELATION TO CPU CAD SOFTWARE PERFORMANCE IN
2
CORES (SMALLER IS BETTER) RELATION TO CPU SPEED (BIGGER IS BETTER)
PRACTICAL TIP #2 Make sure you
CPU (CENTRAL have the correct heat sink and
PROCESSING UNIT) use a good quality thermal
Those considering an paste to ‘bond’ the CPU to the
1.2
4
upgrade to a new CPU motherboard.
3.5
3
should concentrate on two main
1.15
areas – GHz and CPU cores. MEMORY (RAM)
3
All applications will benefit Multi-application
1.1
from a CPU with a higher GHz so workflows and highly
2.5
this is a good way to boost general complex datasets mean
1.05
performance. Increasing the workstations need more RAM than
2
amount of CPU cores will have a ever before. When a workstation
1.5
major benefit for multi-threaded runs out of memory, the system can
1
processes such as rendering and slow down completely due to hard
1
simulation, but will also boost drive caching. Here, adding more
0.95
performance for certain CAD tasks memory can be a very cost effective
0.5
and increase potential for multi- way of improving performance,
0.9
tasking. Four CPU cores is a good but make sure you have a 64-bit
0
2 CPU 4 CPU 8 CPU 3.0 3.2 3.4
CORES CORES CORES GHz GHz GHz
amount for mainstream CAD. operating system.
Page 4DE
ILLUSTRATION: @ROBBIDDULPH
PRACTICAL TIP #1 To check how
much memory you are using press
CTRL, ALT, DEL and click the
performance tab. Memory usage
in Dell Precision workstations can
be tracked and analysed over time
using the Dell Precision Optimizer
(tinyurl.com/Dell-DPO).
PRACTICAL TIP #2To get the best
performance, make sure new RAM
is matched to existing RAM and
added in pairs or quads (depending
on the CPU architecture).
4
DISPLAYS
A new display can
give many benefits. In
general, IPS panels are
best for 3D CAD, featuring more
vivid colours and wider viewing
angles than TN panels.
Resolutions are greater. FHD
(1,920 x 1,080) is now standard
while new 4K (3,840 x 2,160) and
5
5K (5,120 x 2,880) displays deliver
incredible detail, which is great STORAGE
for visualising complex designs There are two main reasons to
without having to zoom in. upgrade storage. 1) to increase
Modern graphics cards can performance 2) to increase capacity.
support multiple displays, which For performance, moving to a Solid State
can either be used for individual Drive (SSD) can give your workstation a
applications or positioned side by whole new lease of life. Boasting significantly
side for an extended desktop. faster access times than mechanical hard disk
drives (HDDs), an SSD will instantly make a
PRACTICAL TIP #1 Don’t throw out workstation feel more responsive. Faster read/
your current display. Use it for a write performance also means the operating
complementary process, such as system and applications should load quicker.
email or document management. While the price of SSDs is falling, the cost
per GB is still high compared to HDDs so
PRACTICAL TIP #2 Don’t stop at two. mechanical disks remain important for data.
AMD Eyefinity technology can Capacities are also significantly higher.
support three or more displays. PRACTICAL TIP #1 Buy an SSD for operating system
and applications and use your existing HDD for
PRACTICAL TIP #3 4K and 5K displays storing the bulk of your CAD data.
have significantly more pixels than PRACTICAL TIP #2 Use a dedicated migration
FHD, which places more load on software tool to transfer data to your SSD
the GPU. You may need a more quickly and effectively e.g. Paragon Drive Copy
powerful GPU to maintain the or Samsung Data Migration Software (free
same levels of 3D performance. with Samsung SSDs).SPONSORED BY AMD FIREPRO | OnePLM
fireprographics.com | oneplm.com
INVEST Buy a brand new workstation
Investing in a brand new workstation can deliver huge productivity RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF WORKSTATION HARD OPERATING SYSTEM MODEL
benefits, enabling new workflows that are simply not possible with DRIVES (SMALLER IS BETTER) BOOT UP TIME LOADING TIME
aging hardware. But where do you spend your money? We look at
the key components and what they all mean. 6:00
5:30
1
GRAPHICS PROCESSING not be able to express its true 5:00
UNIT (GPU) performance if matched with a 4:30
Professional GPUs, low GHz CPU. 4:00
such as AMD FirePro, Higher end graphics cards can 3:30
are a good choice for designers also offer additional benefits.
3:00
and engineers as they are tested, A single AMD FirePro W7100,
optimised and certified to work for example, can span a CAD 2:30
with all the leading CAD/CAM/ model across four 4K displays for 2:00
CAE applications. incredibly detailed visualisation. 1:30
For CAD, an entry-level or This is made possible by 1:00
mid-range card with 2GB or AMD Eyefinity multi-display
0:30
more of memory is a good choice. technology.
However, when working with AMD Eyefinity multi-display 0:00
exceptionally large models a more technology is also available in SATA-2 SSD SAS
powerful card with more memory other graphics cards. The AMD
can help ensure smooth model FirePro W5100, for example, (cores). When there was only one rendering or simulation. While ray
manipulation, particularly when features four discrete display core per chip you had the choice trace rendering software works
using advanced visualisation outputs, while the AMD FirePro of a single or dual processor incredibly efficiently, taking full
features. W9100 features six. workstation. Now things are advantage of thirty-six cores, not
When buying a workstation it is GPUs can also be used to measured in single or dual all simulation software scales
important to find a good balance accelerate compute intensive sockets and the number of so well across multiple cores.
between CPU and graphics card. operations such as Finite Element cores per socket. On a single However, multi core workstations
A high-end graphics card will Analysis (FEA), Computational socket workstation four cores can be put to good use when
Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and ray are common, but two, six, eight, solving multiple simulations at
GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT (GPU) MEMORY trace rendering — tasks that are even 14 core processors are the same time as long as disk and
REQUIREMENTS FOR TYPICAL CAD MODELS
traditionally carried out by CPUs. also available. On a dual socket memory I/O can keep up.
3
With Siemens NX Nastran, for workstation the number of cores
example, support for OpenCL can go all the way up to 36. STORAGE
means professional GPUs can In general for 3D software There are three main
MODEL
TYPE
be used for modal frequency the speed of the CPU is more types of hard drives
response calculations to optimise important for performance than in workstations today.
ENGINE CHASSIS BODY designs for weight and strength the number of cores. This is Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), Solid
characteristics, or to minimise measured in GHz. For CAD, two State Drives (SSDs) and Serial
# OF COMPONENTS
noise or vibrations. cores should be a minimum, as Attached SCSI (SAS).
IN ASSEMBLY
For ray trace rendering, the one core looks after the memory SSDs are an excellent choice
655 706 6625 new AMD FireRender plug-in allocation while the other takes for workstations. Read/write
delivers interactive photorealistic care of interface/modelling. speeds are superior to HDDs,
rendering functionality in major Certain elements of CAD software, which means the operating
software applications using AMD such as assembly loading and system, applications and some
FirePro W-Series GPUs. boolean operations, can also take datasets should load faster.
TYPICAL GPU
2
advantage of multiple CPU cores Most importantly, however, the
CONSUMED
MEMORY
370MB 1GB 1.2GB CENTRAL PROCESSING as can drivers for graphics cards. workstation as a whole will feel
UNIT (CPU) Today, in order to benefit from a much more responsive. This is
Modern CPUs comprise larger number of cores, you will due to SSDs having much lower
multiple processors need to use specialist software for latency (the time taken to respond
Page 6ILLUSTRATION: @ROBBIDDULPH
to a read/write request).
SSDs typically support one of
two interfaces. SATA is the most
common but PCIe SSDs are now
becoming more widely available.
PCIe SSDs offer faster transfer
speeds when reading / writing
large files (typically 2 to 3 times
faster than SATA SSDs), but
this won’t necessarily benefit all
workflows, including CAD, which
feature smaller compressed files in
a part and assembly structure.
The downside of SSDs is that
the cost per GB is still high and
capacities aren’t a large as HDDs.
As a result, a popular choice for
workstations is to use an SSD for
operating system, applications and
current datasets and a HDD for the
bulk of the data.
HDDs feature read/write heads
that move across platters that
typically rotate at 7,200RPM. This
is why access times can be slow.
SAS drives offer excellent read/
4
write performance. Like HDDs
MEMORY Memory requirements are growing in CAD/
drives they feature read/write
CAM/CAE workstations and 16GB is now considered
heads that move across rotating
‘entry-level’ with 32GB or more often needed to run
platters, but rotation speeds are
multiple applications at the same time or load up
typically from 10,000RPM to
complex datasets.
15,000RPM. As the cost per GB is
Additional memory is required for compute intensive
also high, a combination of SAS
operations such as simulation, rendering, and CAM.
(for performance) and HDD (for
To improve system stability Error Correcting Code (ECC)
storage) is also typical.
memory is often recommended and this is standard in high-end
Disks can also be combined in
workstations. Non-ECC memory is more common in entry-
multiple ways with a hardware
level machines. In addition, Dell’s patented Reliable Memory
solution called RAID. This comes in
Technology (RMT) can increase reliability and reduce crashes
many forms, but here are two of the
due to memory errors.
most popular.
To get the best performance it is also important to match your
RAID 0 is where you take two
memory to the processor. Configure in pairs for dual channel
disks and stripe the data across
memory architectures and in fours for quad channel memory.
both. You get better performance
When buying a new workstation it is also good practice to
than a single drive and the full
ensure there are spare DIMM slots reserved for future upgrades.
capacity of both drives, but if one
However, don’t break the bank doing this by having to buy
drive fails you lose all your data.
expensive high capacity modules. The price of memory always
RAID 1 is where the drives are
comes down over time, so in the long run it could be more cost
mirrored. If one drive fails your
effective to replace the entire memory in the workstation.
data is backed up on the other,
but you only get the capacity of
one drive.SPONSORED BY AMD FIREPRO | OnePLM
fireprographics.com | oneplm.com
TAILOR
Match a workstation to a specific workflow
The hardware requirements for design visualisation
software are very different to those for 3D CAD. Here are
some guidelines to help you choose the most appropriate
workstation for the software that dominates your workflow.
1
e.g. Dell Precision Tower 5810
I USE SIEMENS NX FOR DESIGN. A single high GHz processor with four CPU
cores • AMD FirePro W5100 or FirePro
WHAT SPEC WORKSTATION W7100 GPU • SSD for OS and apps with
a HDD for data • 16GB or 32GB RAM •
IS BEST FOR ME? Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
2
e.g. Dell Precision Tower 7810
I USE SIEMENS NX RAY TRACED Two medium to high GHz processors each
with 8 to 12 CPU cores • AMD FirePro
STUDIO. WHAT SPEC WORKSTATION W7100 GPU • SSD for OS and apps with a
HDD for data • 32GB or 64GB RAM
IS BEST FOR ME? • Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
3
e.g. Dell Precision Tower 7810
I USE SIEMENS NX FOR Two medium to high GHz processors each
with 4 to 12 CPU cores • AMD FirePro
SIMULATION. WHAT SPEC W5100 GPU (W8100 or W9100 if solver
supports OpenCL) • SSD (PCIe optional)
WORKSTATION IS BEST FOR ME? and HDD • 32GB or 64GB RAM
• Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
4
e.g. Dell Precision Tower 5810 or 7810
I USE SIEMENS NX FOR One or two medium to high GHz processors
each with 6 or 8 CPU cores • AMD FirePro
MANUFACTURING. WHAT SPEC W5100 GPU • SSD for OS and apps and HDD
for data • 16GB RAM or more
WORKSTATION IS BEST FOR ME? • Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
Produced by
SolidThinking 8.0 P32 Siemens NX 7.0 P40P36
SpaceClaim2009+ modo 401 P38
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