Comments on: SolidWorks Performance Blitz! (Part 1: /3GB Switch) http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50 Any and all SolidWorks topics! Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:27:07 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Adrian Bowlus http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50&cpage=1#comment-4366 Adrian Bowlus Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:41:55 +0000 http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50#comment-4366 The answer is emphatically YES. Solidworks is one of those few programs that will take advantage of more virtual memory space and the performance with large files is greatly impoved. Actually with large files, Solidworks will not operate at all with only 2GB of Virtual Memory Space, the "3GB" switch is the only way that Solidworks will not run out of memory resources for the large assemblies! Adrian The answer is emphatically YES. Solidworks is one of those few programs that will take advantage of more virtual memory space and the performance with large files is greatly impoved. Actually with large files, Solidworks will not operate at all with only 2GB of Virtual Memory Space, the “3GB” switch is the only way that Solidworks will not run out of memory resources for the large assemblies!
Adrian

]]> By: Kelvin Lamport http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50&cpage=1#comment-3576 Kelvin Lamport Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:41:00 +0000 http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50#comment-3576 @solidworks ... I have successfully used the /3GB switch (with SolidWorks) on systems with only 1GB of RAM. @solidworks … I have successfully used the /3GB switch (with SolidWorks) on systems with only 1GB of RAM.

]]> By: solidworks http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50&cpage=1#comment-3575 solidworks Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:30:22 +0000 http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50#comment-3575 The biggest omission from the above explanation is: DOES SOLIDWORKS BENEFIT FROM THE 3GB SWITCH on a 32 bit system with 4GB of physical RAM? The biggest omission from the above explanation is: DOES SOLIDWORKS BENEFIT FROM THE 3GB SWITCH on a 32 bit system with 4GB of physical RAM?

]]> By: Larry Miller http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50&cpage=1#comment-2846 Larry Miller Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:33:52 +0000 http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50#comment-2846 There seems to be some confusion here about what this switch does. This switch has nothing to do with RAM usage. By default every process has a 4GB virtual memory space, 2GB for it's private use, with 2GB reserved for the system. Note: this is virtual memory space and has nothing to do with how much RAM is in the system. The /3GB switch changes the division to 3GB for application use with 1GB for the system. Applications use virtual memory exclusively - no exceptions. All references to memory go through the virtual address translation system of the processor. Also note, the term "virtual memory" as used here has absolutely nothing to do with the pagefile. Many uninformed sources have confused virtual memory with the pagefile. The switch has major system implications. Few applications will be able to use a 3GB address space. Only those applications that explicitly indicate that they are compatible will be given the larger address space. With the restricted space allowed for system use the file cache will be severely reduced, thus impairing overall system performance. In general the /3GB swith should only be used when an application REQUIRES the larger virtual space. There are very few, and most of these are server applications. One last time, the swith has NOTHING to do with RAM usage. References: http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2007/03/23/memory-management-demystifying-3gb.aspx Larry Miller Microsoft MCSA There seems to be some confusion here about what this switch does. This switch has nothing to do with RAM usage. By default every process has a 4GB virtual memory space, 2GB for it’s private use, with 2GB reserved for the system. Note: this is virtual memory space and has nothing to do with how much RAM is in the system. The /3GB switch changes the division to 3GB for application use with 1GB for the system.

Applications use virtual memory exclusively – no exceptions. All references to memory go through the virtual address translation system of the processor. Also note, the term “virtual memory” as used here has absolutely nothing to do with the pagefile. Many uninformed sources have confused virtual memory with the pagefile.

The switch has major system implications. Few applications will be able to use a 3GB address space. Only those applications that explicitly indicate that they are compatible will be given the larger address space. With the restricted space allowed for system use the file cache will be severely reduced, thus impairing overall system performance.

In general the /3GB swith should only be used when an application REQUIRES the larger virtual space. There are very few, and most of these are server applications.

One last time, the swith has NOTHING to do with RAM usage.

References:
http://blogs.technet.com/askperf/archive/2007/03/23/memory-management-demystifying-3gb.aspx

Larry Miller
Microsoft MCSA

]]> By: SolidWorks Legion » SWW09: CAD Management Bootcamp http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50&cpage=1#comment-2832 SolidWorks Legion » SWW09: CAD Management Bootcamp Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:50:24 +0000 http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50#comment-2832 [...] other comment that might turn some heads is his stern statement to not use the /3GB switch to give applications access to more of the computer’s RAM.  There are risks associated with [...] [...] other comment that might turn some heads is his stern statement to not use the /3GB switch to give applications access to more of the computer’s RAM.  There are risks associated with [...]

]]> By: Devlin http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50&cpage=1#comment-2720 Devlin Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:07:00 +0000 http://www.fcsuper.com/swblog/?p=50#comment-2720 I enabled the 3GB switch and it certainly does work. It also started crashing my computer. Particularly if I even breathed on my video card settings. Win XP 32 Bit SP 3.0 Nvidia FX1400 Quadro card I enabled the 3GB switch and it certainly does work. It also started crashing my computer. Particularly if I even breathed on my video card settings.
Win XP 32 Bit SP 3.0
Nvidia FX1400 Quadro card

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