Alignex Blog

Lots of changes in the hardware and software fronts in the last couple of years. Let’s take a look at the latest!

Customers frequently ask us for some guidelines on the best hardware to run SOLIDWORKS on. Luckily, there are some simple guidelines on configuration to help you pick the right type of workstation for your needs. In this post, we will list each of the major types of components and describe how each of the characteristics affect SOLIDWORKS performance.

Microsoft released Windows 10 on July 29, 2015.  Here’s the SOLIDWORKS plan for supporting Windows 10.

Windows 10 SOLIDWORKS Supported Editions
• Windows 10 Pro (64 bit only)
• Windows 10 Enterprise (64 bit only)

Windows 10 SOLIDWORKS Support Schedule (All Products)
• SOLIDWORKS 2015: SP5 (Released November 18, 2015)
• SOLIDWORKS 2016: SP0 (SOLIDWORKS 2016 Beta 2 and SOLIDWORKS PDM Beta 3 will include Beta level support for Windows 10)

Thinking of upgrading your OS? Take a look at this SOLIDWORKS compatibility chart:

Customers frequently ask us for some guidelines on the best hardware to run SOLIDWORKS on. Luckily, there are some simple guidelines on configuration to help you pick the right type of workstation for your needs. In this post, we will list each of the major types of components and describe how each of the characteristics affect SOLIDWORKS performance.

I get asked frequently about hardware in regards to SOLIDWORKS. Sometimes it's people getting ready to buy their first license and asking about, “What would a good computer be for me to run it on?” Sometimes it’s a big engineering department head asking,“What should we look at for hardware upgrades this year?” You get the idea. I’m the guy most of these questions come to at Alignex.  

Collaboration is an important part of the design process, but it’s not always as good as it could be. Sometimes we see this situation with teams that work on products with embedded electrical content – where the workflow between mechanical and electrical engineers is critical. One way we’ve seen customers improve in this area is by streamlining their processes with SOLIDWORKS Electrical.

Customers frequently ask us for some guidelines on the best hardware to run SOLIDWORKS on. Luckily, there are some simple guidelines on configuration to help you pick the right type of workstation for your needs. In this post, we will list each of the major types of components and describe how each of the characteristics affect SOLIDWORKS performance.

Ensuring hole alignment between mating components in your assembly designs, prior to manufacturing, can accelerate the overall product development process, save you time and help you to avoid rework costs. 

The SOLIDWORKS Collision Detection command allows designers to quickly find and fix colliding components when moving or rotating a component. This command can be used to detect collisions in an entire assembly or you can narrow down your focus and just look at a selected group of components that you are interested in.

Learn how to find problems and errors in your product definitions or assemblies with the Interference Detection tool. It helps you easily see where two parts interfere with each other, and even highlights issues throughout an assembly’s range of motion.

Sometimes a really great feature (no pun intended) gets lost in the shuffle of hundreds of new things that come out every year, thanks to the hard work of the good folks at SOLIDWORKS. FilletXpert is one of those gems that long time SOLIDWORKS users may have never even known about.   FilletXpert in SOLIDWORKS is just one part of a larger idea called “SWIFT” (SOLIDWORKS Intelligent Feature Technology). Other parts of SWIFT are DraftXpert, SketchXpert, & MateXpert (if any of you reading this would like an intro to those capabilities, please leave a note in the comments section and we will consider doing a future post on them as well).