Designing the "ultimate" Creo Parametric workstation for 2023/2024, especially one with no budget constraints and aiming for peak performance, involves considering several key components. Here are some things to consider…
CPU
- **High-End Option:** Intel Core i9-14900K is a strong choice for its high single-thread performance, crucial for CAD software like Creo Parametric.
- **Alternative:** High-end Xeon or AMD Ryzen Threadripper might offer advantages in multi-threaded tasks and larger memory support. This could be beneficial for handling extremely large assemblies with over 15,000 unique parts and 1,000,000 instances, as the increased memory support (up to 2TB) can significantly improve performance in these scenarios.
GPU
- **Primary Choice:** NVIDIA RTX A6000 with 48 GB GDDR6 and ECC. It's a professional-grade card designed for workstations, offering reliability and performance in 3D rendering and computational tasks.
- **Alternative:** NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, although primarily aimed at gaming, can still offer superior performance in some scenarios. However, the A6000's ECC memory is a significant advantage for professional workloads, ensuring data integrity.
RAM
- **Maximum Capacity:** For the ultimate build, consider maximizing the RAM beyond 192 GB, especially if the chosen CPU supports it. ECC (Error-Correcting Code) memory is preferred for its ability to prevent data corruption.
Storage
- **Primary Storage:** PCIe Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs, offering read/write speeds over 10,000 MB/s, will significantly enhance data transfer rates, improving overall system responsiveness and reducing load times for large files.
Additional Considerations
1. **Cooling System:** A high-end liquid cooling system to maintain optimal temperatures under heavy loads.
2. **Power Supply:** A robust power supply unit (PSU) to support these high-end components reliably.
3. **Motherboard:** A motherboard that supports all these components, including sufficient PCIe lanes, RAM slots, and M.2 slots.
4. **Chassis:** A spacious, well-ventilated chassis to accommodate these components and ensure good airflow.
Real-World Usage Insights
- It would be invaluable to hear from the community about their experiences with high-end workstations in actual Creo Parametric usage scenarios.
- Specific use-cases, like handling large assemblies or complex rendering tasks, can provide insights into which components offer the most tangible performance benefits.
- Many parts of the application and not multithreaded
- There is a big shift to move towards Voxel based simulations. Which will require lots of GPU power
The ultimate Creo Parametric workstation should balance between high single-thread performance (for CAD operations) and multi-thread capabilities (for simulations and rendering).
- High memory capacity and fast storage are crucial for handling large datasets.
- Real-world usage data from similarly specced systems would offer invaluable insights into the practicality and performance gains of such a setup.
Michael P Bourque
Boston Regional User Group
