Thursday November 14, 2013 at 2:23pm
Which is better for SolidWorks: a Windows 7 Basic theme or an Aero Theme?
For my blog post this week I wanted to highlight the importance of not only checking that you are running a supported graphics card driver as you upgrade to the last service pack of 2013 or even the new 2014 release, but also using an appropriate Windows theme.
GRAPHICS CARD DRIVERS:
To check you’re running the latest supported driver for your graphics card look at the RX utility:
START - ALL PROGRAMS - SOLIDWORKS 20XX – SOLIDWORKS TOOLS
In this you will notice a TAB called Diagnostics and here with an active internet connection you will be able to check if the driver is supported for the Version and Service Pack of SolidWorks.
As you can see I've just noticed there is a new driver available for my workstation
SolidWorks recommend that users enable AERO themes in Windows. This is because non-aero and basic themes actually disable 3d acceleration settings to preserve memory and resources (these basic themes are designed for PC’s that do not contain a dedicated GPU in order to help reduce strain on the CPU).
With a CAD Workstation however these machines include dedicated graphics processing unit so if you choose to run a non-aero theme then this will have a negative impact on SolidWorks performance.
by
Simon Beamish
Elite Applications Engineer