Cad Workstations, Cad Computers And Computer Workstations

Cad Workstations / CAD Computers /Computer Workstations

Cad Workstations Guide - What is the difference between Cad Workstations and a Standard Pc?

It can be argued that Cad workstations or a computer workstation is no different than a standard Pc or personal computer, however while this is indeed true to the uninitiated and at first glance, it is far from the truth when you start to compare an off the shelf or clone unit with a proper CAD workstation.

The problem here is that unless your are familiar cad workstations and the requirements of the software that runs on them, it is very easy to make a costly mistake and buy totally the wrong system.

It is a bit like comparing a sports car with a standard family saloon i.e. they both have a 2.0 litre engine, they both have suspension, they both have 4 wheels and of course 4 tyres and brakes, so it is easy to assume they are the same.

We all understand however that this is not the case! A sports car will be tuned better performance, it will have better and more robust components, it will have better cooling and better airflow and the engine will produce more power.

Modern formula one cars are restricted currently for example to 2.4 litre but I doubt if anyone would argue that a 4.6 litre Jaguar would perform better.

Cad Computer v Personal Computer - What's The Difference?

Exactly the same analogy applies to comparing cad workstations to a clone or standard Pc, or a generic laptop with a mobile workstation, and without getting too technical here you need to go down to component level and configuration to really understand the difference.

In brief, in a workstation computer typical component differences will be the quality of the motherboard and chipset, the performance and specification of the processor (engine). Memory is often different as well having error checking and correcting capabilities to maintain the stability of the cad geometry or a complex calculation.

In addition cad workstations will need to work at an order of magnitude harder than an office Pc during its life time, so will be stressed much harder and will perform hotter requiring better cooling.

Hard drive speeds for Cad workstations and Cad computers need to be much quicker (with a larger cache) than an office machines, as there is a world of difference between opening a word document and even a small cad file that may compose of a hundred parts or in the case of large Cad files tens of thousands of separate files.

Typically Cad workstations are also optimised to run different applications as each commercial apllication will have it's own unique configuration requirements in order to give the best return on investments and increases in user productivity. Typical set ups can include:

Mobile Workstations
Cad Workstations
Graphics Workstations
3D Workstations

Autodesk software that would require to be run on a respectable CAD workstation would include AutoCad, AutoCad Inventor, 3D studio max, Maya, Revit and any other Autodesk based 3D applications.

Other common software would also include, Solidworks, Solid Edge, Catia, Pro-e and also computational software such as Ansys FEA or computational fluid dynamics applications. The above list is not exhaustive but merely a guide to typical applications that shoiuld be run on workstation computers. If in doubt consult you software resellers.

CAD Graphics Cards

Graphics requirements will also be different and Cad graphics cards will have specially optimised drivers designed to work specifically with specialist applications in most cases.

Cad Workstation Graphics Card Other important considerations will also be the amount of physical computer memory the application will need and equally do you need two core processors, quad core processors or multiple quad core processor or even a 64 – bit operating system?

Different specialist software applications will have different requirements for the hardware that will help them run their best and to ignore these needs is like putting diesel in a performance petrol engine, it will stifle the performance of the software without question.

Unless you are an expert about the specialist software in use in your business or the business you are supporting, the best advice we can possibly give (we won’t be the ones that benefit from it) is to make sure you engage, have discussions with and take advice from the software reseller.

This software can cost up to tens of thousands of pounds, and in many cases training the operator will have required a further investment often running into the thousands.

To then try to run it on inappropriate hardware just to save £300- or £400 a year in hardware costs compared to a cad workstation is both foolhardy and can cost a business tens of thousands or more in lost productivity and profitability in reality.