The right hardware boosts the performance of CAD applications. NVIDIA's ROI calculator lets users easily find out how many hours they will save on each project or see how short the payback period is on upgrades. For example, say you are a design engineer making $55,000 a year and you use your Dell workstation about 50% of your time on the job, which is 240 days a year and 8 hours a day. Assume that the workstation will be upgraded in three years and that you mostly design large assemblies. The existing GPU is a Quadro FX 4600 (high end), but you decide to update to a Quadro 5000, which brings your total workstation cost to $4,950. Results show: Percentage time saving — 24%; Annual man-hour saving (hours) — 235; Payback period (days) — 175; ROI — 412% and Returns per user over workstation lifespan — $20,194, among other data.

A common question is why should I choose a professional graphics card such as NVIDIA Quadro over gaming cards such as GeForce? For one thing, professional users such as CAD designers and engineers have more stringent hardware requirements than those of average users or gamers. The primary concern of workstation professionals is stability and reliability. Professional graphics, such as NVIDIA Quadro, are designed to meet those needs by working closely with the software companies such as Autodesk, Dassault Systems, PTC and Siemens PLM to certify that both the Quadro hardware and drivers are optimized specifically for those applications and can handle the workload. For the CAD user, this can mean greater performance and, more importantly, rock solid stability. Because, as we all know, sitting in front of a non-responsive screen can be very frustrating.

Professional cards can often also expand the range of options available within applications. For example, in SolildWorks, gaming cards do not offer the ability to enable a high performance ultra-realistic viewing mode called RealView. This allows designers to view models with detailed shadows and reflections to show a more realistic representation of the design. Additional advantages of using a professional card in SolidWorks include expanded full scene anti-aliasing (FSAA) modes and performance, and enhanced performance displaying solid models with visible edges (Shaded with Edges).

Unlike consumer gaming cards which are designed by a wide range of board vendors, all Quadro graphics products are manufactured exclusively by NVIDIA and have a planned product availability of at least 18 months. This allows companies who standardize on a Quadro solution to be comfortable with the knowledge that units will continue to be available for an extended time period. Since NVIDIA controls both the board design and production as well as the drivers, it simplifies product support inquiries should they ever be necessary.

Additionally, Quadro boards support all the same functions available on consumer gaming products. While Quadro boards are designed for demanding professional applications, they are equally capable of providing afterhours fun by allowing users to play today’s top PC games.

How would it impact design if it were possible to completely eliminate off-lining rendering to a centralized cluster or an outsourced-company? NVIDIA Maximus lets users design and simulate or render at the same time on the same workstation. The technology features intelligent GPU job allocation; a single unified driver; full independent software vendor (ISV) application certification; and it works with a range of OEM workstations, including Dell. The technology uses the 3D graphics capability of NVIDIA Quadro® GPUs combined with the high-performance computing power of NVIDIA® Telsa™ GPUs The Telsa co-processors automatically perform the heavy lifting of rendering or CAE computations, freeing the Quadro GPUs to enable interactive graphics.

In this scenario, designers will have the capacity to work with and interact with components and assemblies with real-time feedback on the structural dynamics acting on the components or assemblies. Consider this: An automotive stylist can make important decisions based on how things look but traditionally they have not been able to understand the impact the decisions will have on the airflow over or around the car and what the resulting drag or wind noise results will be until much later in the vehicle development. In contrast, Maximus computational horsepower lets accurate fluid dynamics simulation be calculated and visualized in real time. This lets designers make educated decisions that affect the look of the vehicle and its performance in an intuitive, visual way. In addition, Maximus is enabling reality based design with its powered interactive raytracing. Users of CAD applications like SolidWorks or Inventor can remain interactive while performing photorealistic renders on the same system. And applications such as Dassault's CATIA V6 with its integrated GPU-powered Live Rendering feature provide interactive raytracing that lets users work through design revisions and drive to a final design in less time, so core engineering can begin sooner.

The TurboViewer app for the Android includes fast native 2D and 3D DWG and DXF viewing, the capability to navigate full-screen preview during file load, and smooth multi-touch navigation while panning, zooming, and orbiting. The app also lets users restore saved AutoCAD views to quickly display the best vision of their designs. It does not require Internet connection for remote field work. IMSI/Design LLC, 25 Leveroni Court, Novato, CA 94949, (415) 483-8000, www.IMSIdesign.com

3DPartFinder is a geometry-based search engine that works inside of SolidWorks. It lets users search by shape and then finds and displays similar parts. Besides SolidWorks, the software works with Workgroup PDM and Enterprise PDM, making it easier to find parts and their related information.
3DSemantix, 249 Saint-Jacques, Suite 300, Montreal, Québec, (514)746-2690, www.3dpartfinder.com

New High Temperature Material from Objet is available for use on Objet Connex500 and Eden500V 3D printers. The new material simulates the thermal performance of engineering plastics while maintaining dimensional stability, so it allows for the genuine thermal functional testing of 3D printed parts and prototypes. For instance, the material’s temperature resistance makes it highly beneficial for thermal testing of static parts such as hot air-flow or hot water-flow in taps and faucets. Watch a videio of the new material

Quadro 2000, 4000, and 5000 graphics cards for workstations or 2000M, 4000M, and 5010M for mobile devices are certified and tested by all major CAD applications, including SolidWorks and Autodesk Inventor and found to reliably deliver impressive performance. Unlike consumer gaming cards, Quadro is certified and tested by SolidWorks and NVIDIA to work perfectly from day one for maximum system uptime and is backed by a three year warranty. In addition, for remarkably, life-like models in a fraction of the time of other graphics cards, only Quadro professional solutions support Bunkspeed – an interactive ray-tracing application that harnesses the processing power of the NVIDIA GPU.

NVIDIA's Quadro and 3D Vision Pro solutions, users can view designs in more detailed stereoscopic 3D. Also, in the commonly used SolidWorks add-in, eDrawings — which is for sharing CAD files or marketing reviews — users can see models in life-like 3D to give managers and customers a better representation of the design.

The Nucleus Server is a small pedestal server for full-scale deployments that require a mix of virtualization, high-speed networking, and enterprise-level storage. The Nucleus Server takes up only half the space of traditional servers, while offering performance on par with much larger computers. The Nucleus Server includes a convenient handle for easy portage. This is useful for companies that need to run to use high-end software away from the office, such as those conducting sales demonstrations or proof-of-concept installations. The Nucleus Server is a good alternative when many virtual machines must be used as compared to under-performing laptops or shipping bulky servers to a customer site.
NextComputing, 4 Townsend West, Unit 17, Nashua, NH 03063, (603) 886-3874, www.nextcomputing.com

The Nucleus Server is a small pedestal server for full-scale server deployments that require a mix of virtualization, high-speed networking, and enterprise-level storage. Unlike traditional servers, the Nucleus Server takes up only half the space, while offering performance on par with much larger computers. The Nucleus Server includes a convenient handle for easy portage. This is useful for companies that need to run high-end software away from the office, such as those conducting sales demonstrations or proof-of-concept installations. The Nucleus Server is the ideal alternative when many virtual machines must be used as compared to under-performing laptops or shipping bulky servers to a customer site.
NextComputing, 4 Townsend West, Unit 17, Nashua, NH 03063, (603) 886-3874, www.nextcomputing.com