FAQS
1. Which versions of SOLIDWORKS are supported by the latest workstations?
Since January 2024 all new systems must be supplied with Windows 11, Windows 10 support from Microsoft and SOLIDWORKS is ending in 2025 SOLIDWORKS 2022 or newer is required for compatibility with Windows 11. Active SOLIDWORKS subscription and term license customers can upgrade to newer releases at no cost, if your license is not on subscription get in touch for options to upgrade.
If you are currently unable to use Windows 11 in your business, Microsoft "Downgrade Rights" allow end users to install Windows 10 professional, until support ends in 2025.
2. What are the key differences between a regular consumer PC and a Dell Workstation?
There are many reasons to choose a workstation rather than a consumer level or custom built workstation. Below are our top 3.
Testing & Certification
Dell Workstation desktops and laptops are based on a tightly controlled set of components which undergo extensive internal tests to ensure they can run intensive workloads for sustained periods. Dell then send workstations to software vendors such as SOLIDWORKS & Dassault Systemes for certification testing with their various software products giving peace of mind that they have been tested and certified by the software developers. Your time is better spent on design rather than diagnosing issues with component, driver compatibility of PC's built from off the shelf components.
Professional Graphics
For CAD use desktops and laptops should also feature professional graphics cards which are the only supported options for applications such as SOLIDWORKS & CATIA. Running an unsupported card often results in performance & stability issues for which we cannot get assistance from the developers to resolve. We recommend NVIDIA Professional graphics for best performance and compatibility, previously known as Quadro the latest cards are now branded NVIDIA RTX Ada Generation graphics cards e.g. RTX 2000 Ada Generation, RTX 4000 Ada Generation etc. GeForce RTX graphics cards are intended for gaming/consumer use and are not supported.
Warranty & Support
Dell Precision workstations we provide are backed up by Dell Pro Support with next business day onsite service. This is a expert team of remote support engineers to diagnose any hardware issue you may encounter, if they cannot resolve it remotely an engineer will be onsite the next business day to replace any required components free of charge; subject to part availability/ time of call. This keeps you or your team productive rather than losing engineering time returning the system to the supplier and waiting for a resolution.
3. Why don't you recommended workstations with Intel Xeon CPU's anymore?
Key to specifying a CAD workstation is an in depth understanding the requirements of the software in use. We carry out extensive benchmarking for various different software and workflows so that we can recommend the best options for you. In this case the simple answer is we found the latest "Sapphire Rapids" Intel Xeon CPU's significantly slower for CAD work, which favours CPU speed over number of cores, these Xeon CPU's have a lower maximum "turbo boost" speed and therefore complete tasks slower.
Added to this in 2022 Intel simplified their range and supported workstation features such as Error Correction Code (EEC) RAM on their i5, i7 and i9 CPU's for increased stability when used in combination with a workstation chipset while also offering up to 24 cores for more multi-threaded tasks.
Intel now only produce Xeon CPU's in more expensive workstations where users may require more than 128GB of RAM or multiple graphics cards, for the vast majority of CAD users this is not required.
4. What happened to NVIDIA Quadro Graphics Cards?
NVIDIA Quadro was the brand used for professional graphics cards supported by SOLIDWORKS. NVIDIA changed the branding in 2021 with the release of their "Ampere" generation graphics cards. The professional cards supported by software such as SOLIDWORKS & CATIA were branded NVIDIA RTX Professional Graphics with an A prefix before the model number. Examples include NVIDIA RTX A2000, A4000 etc.
This was followed in 2023 by the "Ada Lovelace" generation of graphics cards, the professional cards now feature a suffix for "Ada Generation" Examples include NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation, NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada generation etc.
The NVIDIA GeForce gaming/consumer range are still not supported for SOLIDWORKS & CATIA and can cause software glitches, instability and performance issues especially with more complex data sets. These may be named similarly e.g. the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is an unsupported gaming card, where as the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation is a supported processional graphics card certified by SOLIDWORKS and Dassault Systemes.
5. How fast can you Deliver?
We can deliver most items next business day in UK and Northern Ireland for orders paid/processed before 12 Noon Monday-Friday, subject to stock.
For Republic of Ireland orders we have limited models in stock for delivery in 1-2 business days.
Please ensure all goods are checked upon receipt and any issues reported as soon as possible.
