Part VIII: Appendixes
Windows versions
For Windows XP Professional:l (^) Intel and AMD processors, single dual or quad cores.
l 1GB RAM minimum (2GB recommended).
l (^) Virtual memory twice the amount of RAM (recommended).
l A certified OpenGL workstation graphics card and driver. (Check the SolidWorks Web
site for details; http://www.solidworks.com.))
l A mouse or other pointing device.
l (^) Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 minimum (IE 7 recommended).
l A CD drive minimum (DVD drive recommended).
For Vista/Windows 7:
l 1GB RAM minimum (2GB recommended).
l (^) Other minimum requirements are the same as for Windows XP Professional.
For more details about the system requirements for SolidWorks 2010 and a list of certified graph-
ics cards and drivers, visit http://www.solidworks.com.
Some older systems that run Windows XP Professional may not be compatible with Vista. Any
hardware that runs Vista and most hardware that runs Windows XP should be able to work with
Windows 7. For the latest information on system compatibility with Microsoft operating systems,
visit http://www.microsoft.com. At this time, SolidWorks does not run on any non-Windows operat-
ing systems such as OS X, Linux, or Google Chrome OS.
Realistically, you will never be satisfied with minimum requirements. If you are using PhotoWorks,
PhotoView 360, or any simulation (Finite Element Analysis, or FEA) software, multiple processors
or multiple cores are advantageous. Multi-body modeling makes use of multiple cores but also
takes advantage of higher processor clock speeds. Maximum clock speeds are usually higher for a
lower number of cores, so higher speeds take precedence over number of cores for general solid
modeling. You may get better performance per dollar with dual core processors than with quad
core processors for functionality other than rendering and FEA.
You can only take advantage of more RAM up to the limit needed by your data sets. You can check
your Windows Task Manager to see how much memory your largest or most complex models con-
sume. For example, if your largest models use 3GB of RAM, you should have at least 4GB of RAM,
but will probably not see a benefit from 16GB. You should use 64-bit operating systems if you
intend to use more than 3GB of RAM.
All hardware produced in the last several years is 64-bit capable, but in order to take advantage of
it, you have to have a 64-bit operating system installed. XP, Vista, and Windows 7 all have 64-bit
versions, but you need to have installed the 64-bit version to take advantage of the huge memory
advantages of 64 bit. 32-bit systems can handle a little over 3GB of RAM. To handle more than that
you need a 64-bit operating system.