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Patriot_1776
Patriot_177622-Sapphire II
22-Sapphire II
March 18, 2020
Question

Dell PC for Creo 4 (My first PC purchase).

  • March 18, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 5310 views

Well, with all the absurd, media-driven panic over this  coronavirus (which originated in China), my work has been telling people to work from home and my boss gave me the ok yesterday.  My problem was, I don't have a PC at home!  Seriously, I have a flip phone as my personal cell and I use my (not so) "smart" TV for surfing.  So, I had to research and purchase a PC yesterday to be able to work from home because I was told my work wasn't going to be able to get me a laptop.  Worse, I'm not knowledgeable about the specs of PC's (doesn't interest me), so I had to try and find out what mattered and what to get because even though I'm going to remote in and use my PC basically as a dumb terminal for now and use my work PC as the processor, I wanted a powerful PC that would run Creo since I plan to start my own CAD-based business soon.  I remembered that Creo needed a good graphics card and a pretty decent processor.  Turns out, "gaming" computers work typically well as Creo computers from what I've read online here and other places.  And so, I ordered this yesterday and pick it up this Saturday so I can start working from home this coming Monday (2020-03-23):  https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-g5-gaming-desktop-intel-core-i7-9700-16gb-memory-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1660-1tb-hdd-256gb-ssd-abyss-gray/6382652.p?skuId=6382652

 

I'm going to use a wireless keyboard and mouse, while I recline on my couch, and I'll be using my 55" 4k Sony Bravia TV (part of my home theater) as my monitor.  I've run a laptop thru my theater before for streaming MotoGP and World Superbike racing from their websites, and it worked awesome, so, I think running Creo thru it should too.

 

Those that are FAR more PC knowledgeable than I am (i.e. EVERYBODY!) please feel free to chime in on my choice!  I picked a Dell because I'm almost exclusively used Dells at work after Pro/E went from Unix (I MISS my Silicon Graphics Indy workstation!) to PC-based (nothing but troubles...) and feel comfortable with them and have never even HEARD of some of the other brands now.  I'll give feedback here on how it's working out and especially when I get my personal copy of Creo loaded on it and running.  I think I'll get Creo 3 M180 since I hate the Creo 4 interface...unless they've fixed that garbage in version 5 on up.  But the way they've been going, I have a feeling it's even worse than Creo 4...

 

Thx, and Y'all stay coronavirus free!

2 replies

R
rreifsnyder15-Moonstone
15-Moonstone
March 18, 2020

The only real issue I have with your computer specs is the graphics card.The GeForce cards are not supported for Creo Parametric. It has been true in the past that at times gaming type cards might work well, and even really faster than the "supported" cards but it is also true that they have cause numerous crashes. Also you might very well find a limitation on how many windows you can open at once. If you are the type that might try to open a drawing, the assembly, a sub-assembly, and 5 part windows then you may find issues. 

 

Good luck and stay healthy.

Patriot_1776
Patriot_177622-Sapphire IIAuthor
22-Sapphire II
March 18, 2020

That's good to know, I'll keep an eye out for it!  Thanks!  In some cases here at work I WILL have 6 or more windows open, but for my home use it should only be a couple at a time.  And, one of the reasons I bought a desktop instead of a laptop, is that it'll be far easier and cheaper to pull the graphics card and put whatever I want in there.  Contacting Dell or Best Buy was no real help when it came to trying to spec it out. I was especially disappointed with Dell.  They couldn't get me a PC anywhere near fast enough (need it before Monday), and for a PTC "partner", the techs were useless as to getting one for Creo use.  They were as clueless as I was.  Thank God I had help here at work to decide what was important!

 

Thanks again!

B
23-Emerald III
BenLoosli23-Emerald III
23-Emerald III
March 18, 2020

The name itself would have raised a flag with me!

Dell - G5 Gaming Desktop

 

We just bought some new Dell workstations that work great with PTC Creo and Windchill.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/workstations-isv-certified/precision-7920-tower-workstation/spd/precision-7920-workstation

 

 

 

 

tbraxton
22-Sapphire II
tbraxton22-Sapphire II
22-Sapphire II
March 18, 2020

I have had multiple component failures (fans, video cards) in Dell Laptops. I abandoned them in the late 90s maybe they are better now.

 

You want the fastest base clock speed you can get for the CPU, # of cores is not helpful for Creo modeling. You can check the OCUS benchmarks or CPU benchmark web sites for data on relative performance. The single thread performance is what you want as high as possible.

 

Unless you need a laptop I would consider a desktop as you will get better performance for less money. I recently purchased a Lenovo P330 desktop workstation with i9-9900 CPU and Nvidia Quadro P2200 graphics card and 32 GB RAM. I also have a laptop but work on the desktop unless I am out of the office.Do not buy a bleeding edge video card, it does not make much of a difference in normal modeling tasks and adds tremendous costs.  Same applies to the Xeon processors, they are not going to speed up Creo modeling.

 

If you want a laptop you should consider Lenovo and HP workstation class machines with i9 cpu with the fastest clock speed. Obviously you want to confirm the video output is compatible with your display.

    Patriot_1776
    Patriot_177622-Sapphire IIAuthor
    22-Sapphire II
    March 18, 2020

    Hmmm, from '96-'98 I used a SGI Indy, then I was on a PC of some type, not sure the brand, but I've been using Dells since maybe the mid-2000's and have had really good luck with them.

     

    Did the specs on the "gaming" PC I linked look ok though?

     

    If the card doesn't work out, I can get an NVIDEA M4000-PB for another $675 if I have to.  https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Video-Graphics-Cards-VCQM4000-PB/dp/B014J7QXS2/?tag=akshatblog198-20

     

    Patriot_1776
    Patriot_177622-Sapphire IIAuthor
    22-Sapphire II
    March 18, 2020

    LOVED my Indy!  We had an Octane, and oddly enough, the Indy's outperformed it.  Maybe they were spec'd higher or something.

     

    Yeah, I'm HOPING all will be well with the card it's coming with, and it's good that Creo won't actually be running ON my machine as I'm remoting in from mine to my work desktop.  It'll be a while until I can afford to buy or lease a seat of Creo, so, I guess I'll know then if the gaming graphics card is a real issue.  As mentioned, the cure is not exactly cheap, but certainly easily doable.  And, honestly, what I plan to use Creo for at my home business is art models I'll have 3D printed in wax and cast in bronze/brass/stainless, and another more ambitious large plastic part or 2.  No large assemblies or anything, just maybe some really complex surfaces on one part at a time.

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