SolidWorks not Utilizing GPU

[Guest]

Hello,

I have a Lenovo y500 that I use for gaming and also to run basic simulations for college. I used it last week to run a couple simulations in SolidWorks for an assignment where we were to demonstrate the benefit of refining meshes, and during the simulation, as I expected, my gpu's got hot during the simulation. Now I am running those simulations again to make Von Mises vs element graphs with the data, and it is taking significantly longer and my gpu's are definitely not taking any of the load. My processor is chugging through it while my graphics cards are only being used at >7%... any idea what is happening?

 

[bambiboom]

Eaust,

If you are running the identical files in the identical application in the identical subprogram, have not changed any settings and the results are different (i.e., the GPU utilization) then this suggests a hardware fault.

You mentioned that the second run was "to make Von Mises vs element graphs with the data", suggesting that in some way you may be comparing two different tasks. The Von Mises stress analyses are (I believe) strictly vector calculations and I would expect these to be 100% CPU- based. However, if you're using (I think) 2012 or newer and have an NVIDIA graphics card- especially a Quadro, you should have some benefits of CUDA acceleration. That factor can be enhanced by using the Solidworks partnered drivers as well.

If this is a concern, you may wish to post on the Solidworks forum for a definitive answer. It would help to know the Solidworks version, driver, and graphics card used.

https/login.solidworks.com/nidp/saml2/sso?id=forums&sid=0&option=credential&sid=0

> That site is packed with genuine experts!

Cheers,

BambiBoom


[ Dell Precision T5400 > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16 GB ECC > Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 / Segt Brcda 500GB > windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks 2010, Sketchup Pro, Corel Technical Designer, Adobe CS4 MC, WordP Office, MS Office ]

Quoted 1 time.

 

[bambiboom]

Eaust,

If you are running the identical files in the identical application in the identical subprogram, have not changed any settings and the results are different (i.e., the GPU utilization) then this suggests a hardware fault.

You mentioned that the second run was "to make Von Mises vs element graphs with the data", suggesting that in some way you may be comparing two different tasks. The Von Mises stress analyses are (I believe) strictly vector calculations and I would expect these to be 100% CPU- based. However, if you're using (I think) 2012 or newer and have an NVIDIA graphics card- especially a Quadro, you should have some benefits of CUDA acceleration. That factor can be enhanced by using the Solidworks partnered drivers as well.

If this is a concern, you may wish to post on the Solidworks forum for a definitive answer. It would help to know the Solidworks version, driver, and graphics card used.

https/login.solidworks.com/nidp/saml2/sso?id=forums&sid=0&option=credential&sid=0

> That site is packed with genuine experts!

Cheers,

BambiBoom


[ Dell Precision T5400 > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16 GB ECC > Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 / Segt Brcda 500GB > windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks 2010, Sketchup Pro, Corel Technical Designer, Adobe CS4 MC, WordP Office, MS Office ]

Quoted 1 time.

 

[Guest]

Eaust,

If you are running the identical files in the identical application in the identical subprogram, have not changed any settings and the results are different (i.e., the GPU utilization) then this suggests a hardware fault.

You mentioned that the second run was "to make Von Mises vs element graphs with the data", suggesting that in some way you may be comparing two different tasks. The Von Mises stress analyses are (I believe) strictly vector calculations and I would expect these to be 100% CPU- based. However, if you're using (I think) 2012 or newer and have an NVIDIA graphics card- especially a Quadro, you should have some benefits of CUDA acceleration. That factor can be enhanced by using the Solidworks partnered drivers as well.

If this is a concern, you may wish to post on the Solidworks forum for a definitive answer. It would help to know the Solidworks version, driver, and graphics card used.

https/login.solidworks.com/nidp/saml2/sso?id=forums&sid=0&option=credential&sid=0

> That site is packed with genuine experts!

Cheers,

BambiBoom


[ Dell Precision T5400 > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16 GB ECC > Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 / Segt Brcda 500GB > windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks 2010, Sketchup Pro, Corel Technical Designer, Adobe CS4 MC, WordP Office, MS Office ]

Quoted 1 time.

Thank you for responding. I did change the study to include P-Adaptive testing which basically is a finite element analysis. If that part is a strictly CPU based calculation as you suggested, that would completely explain it because I have since had no problems with other simulations I have run without p-adaptive.

(The Von-Mises vs element graph was a non-SolidWorks part of the project... I just needed the obtain convergence graphs and use that information with other data in MATLAB)