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PAULKORENKIEWIC1-Visitor
1-Visitor
February 9, 2010
Question

Quad Cores...

  • February 9, 2010
  • 12 replies
  • 2058 views
Anyone heard anything about the status of Pro/E and quad cores vs. core
2 duos? We are coming to the end of our workstation leases and I need
to spec out replacements. I am wondering if there is any word as to
when the software would be written to take advantage of the multi-core
systems. Last I had heard was this was still being delayed; at one
point it was supposed to be with WF5? So is it now, WF6? 😉

Also, I'm seeing i7's up at the top of the OCUS benchmark; am I correct
in assuming that this is probably MORE indicative of the 64 byte OS as
compared to the multi-cores?

Thanks...

Paul Korenkiewicz
FEV, Inc.
4554 Glenmeade
Auburn Hills, MI., 48326

    12 replies

    R
    rrich1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    February 9, 2010
    Yes the OCUS mark with i7s is only telling of one core. Multi core are
    great if you are doing FEA. Our FEA box is a quad core and it will run all
    day computing a large CFD while I am still running Pro without any
    interference and Office and intrallink and web browsing. Other than that a
    good dual core on a non FEA box will get you the same results.



    Ron


    I
    iturner1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    February 9, 2010
    We have pro/e 64 bit OSes with xeon 5130 and core i7. The core i7
    benchmarks 25% faster than the xeon but I did buy the i7s 6 months after
    the 5130s.

    The xeons and i7 use similar technology - although pro/e doesn't use
    multicore directly other apps will run on different cores. There is some
    free?ware at sourceforge.net that allows you to force apps to run on
    different cores, e.g pro/e on core 1 , outlook on core 2 etc.

    There is a lot of info on intel.com that compares the different
    processor models and featuers.



    Ian Turner

    CAD Manager

    Cobham Mission Equipment
    P
    PAULKORENKIEWIC1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    February 9, 2010
    Lots of good replies... here's a couple that didn't make the exploder:
    The Core i7 is next-in-line after Core 2 Duo.
    Therefore, Core i7 is a safe bet, and the OCUS scores validate such.

    Although PTC is slowly implementing/improving multi-thread support in
    Pro/E, you don't have to worry about how or when.
    The reason that the Core series CPU's are so fast is because they can
    apply multiple cores on a single thread.
    I still do not understand how this is achieved, but it was confirmed in
    our own tests (of Core 2 Duo) using the OCUS benchmark.

    Last year I got some Dells with i7s with 32 bit OS. They run Pro/E
    faster than the core 2 duos that I got the year before. It was a
    noticeable difference. On Olaf's benchmark my Dell is 10th on the
    regular list and I ran it back in May '09. My time was >30% faster with
    <10% increase in CPU speed. I think the biggest boost came in the speed
    of the RAM, which was 1333mhz on the new machine.

    Thanks...



    P
    PAULKORENKIEWIC1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    February 9, 2010
    Lots of good replies... here's a couple that didn't make the exploder:
    The Core i7 is next-in-line after Core 2 Duo.
    Therefore, Core i7 is a safe bet, and the OCUS scores validate such.

    Although PTC is slowly implementing/improving multi-thread support in
    Pro/E, you don't have to worry about how or when.
    The reason that the Core series CPU's are so fast is because they can
    apply multiple cores on a single thread.
    I still do not understand how this is achieved, but it was confirmed in
    our own tests (of Core 2 Duo) using the OCUS benchmark.

    Last year I got some Dells with i7s with 32 bit OS. They run Pro/E
    faster than the core 2 duos that I got the year before. It was a
    noticeable difference. On Olaf's benchmark my Dell is 10th on the
    regular list and I ran it back in May '09. My time was >30% faster with
    <10% increase in CPU speed. I think the biggest boost came in the speed
    of the RAM, which was 1333mhz on the new machine.

    We just had an AE from PTC here last week. Multi-threaded isn't all the
    way though pro even in 6. 5 has it in a few more places, the file
    retrieve, regen, and I think there was some other obscure corner case
    where it was used.

    As for the i7, I'm guessing the high benchmark has more to do with the
    fact the i7 chip can overclock on the fly. The 64 bit really only
    allows more ram, so you can open bigger models



    Thanks...



    E
    EricVidra1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    February 9, 2010
    We tested a new Quad Xeon W5580 3200MHz vs. our 3 year old Dual Core Xeon
    5160 3000MHz only about 25-30% faster in Pro for non FEA box.

    Eric Vidra
    Manufacturing Engineer
    TRD U.S.A., Inc.
    Telephone: (714) 444-1188; Fax: (714) 444-2217

    M
    msteffke15-Moonstone
    15-Moonstone
    February 9, 2010
    I just spec'd Dell workstations recently. The i7's were only
    available in the t1500 series, which is an entry level machine. I like
    the processor but he graphics cards and hard drives offered by the Dell
    configurator were entry level or gaming type cards. We ended up going
    with the xeon quad core because you could select a 10,000 rpm drives and
    fx3800 or fx4800 graphics.

    Mark Steffke
    Engineering System Administrator
    The Delfield Company
    Manitowoc Foodservice
    T 989.775.9215
    Integrity, Commitment to Stakeholders, and Passion for Excellence

    B
    BrianToussaint19-Tanzanite
    19-Tanzanite
    February 10, 2010
    After asking my Dell rep, he said that they are still the i7 chip but are called Xeon because they are enterprise level. He said that the t1500 are the i5 and the t3500 are the i7. So I'm guessing that the ones above that are also the i7. I kind of wondered with the way the bus speed was called out for each chip, thought I've only seen that with the i5/7 series. Curious as to why you wouldn't get the 15,000 rpm drives?

    Sincerely,
    Brian Toussaint
    CAD Administrator

    These views are mine and not necessarily those of my employer.
    Hoshizaki America, Inc.
    618 Hwy. 74 S., Peachtree City, GA 30269
    R
    rrich1-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    February 10, 2010
    More Curious why not get Solid State drives if its speed your after?


    M
    msteffke15-Moonstone
    15-Moonstone
    February 10, 2010
    I had seen some reports that some people performance did not improve, or
    even went the other way with solid state drives. Second reason, they
    are new to the market, and I feel they are not road tested enough yet.
    I was told that they have a limited write cycle, all be it a long one.
    And finally, cost. I had to get the best value I could given the
    current financial conditions. It was difficult to get approval for
    spending as it was. Perhaps I will try the solid state in a year or
    two.

    Mark Steffke
    Engineering System Administrator
    The Delfield Company
    Manitowoc Foodservice
    T 989.775.9215
    Integrity, Commitment to Stakeholders, and Passion for Excellence

    B
    BrianToussaint19-Tanzanite
    19-Tanzanite
    February 10, 2010
    Those are not an option on the configurator. Aren't they still pretty expensive for the amount of storage space that you get?

    Sincerely,
    Brian Toussaint
    CAD Administrator

    These views are mine and not necessarily those of my employer.
    Hoshizaki America, Inc.
    618 Hwy. 74 S., Peachtree City, GA 30269
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