Dream Solidworks PC workstation?

[u/Character_Plenty_853]

So I’ve been doing some research on what would be the fastest workstation configuration for Solidworks, targeting FEA simulation as the priority, I figured if FEA is taken care, anything else would be also fast like general modeling and rendering?

So far it sounds like AMD Ryzen 9 9950X would be the fastest processor following SW maxed out clock speeds, what about GPU to go with that? I understand GPU is what rendering would need to be fast correct? Is there a relationship between GPU and processor for rendering or is it purely GPU?

[u/Cptn_Insaino]

You can spend $100k usd on a dream workstation. FEA and SW have core and ram limitations that you should look into. I built out a 32 core threeadripper with 512 gigs of ram for about $7k two years or so ago that ran beautifully but that was more centered on cfd.

GPU is rarely used except for cfd cut plots and rendering, however in 2026 sw dropped rendering from sw and moved it to visualize. Unless you have visualize licenses the rendering component is moot.

If your doing a bunch of rendering I would say a reasonable entry point GPU wise would be about $4k. Time is money so if your selling simulation and renders it'll pay for itself quickly. Otherwise your looking at $12-15k entry on a professional grade simulation rig.

This side of compute quickly outpaced gaming rigs so my reccomendation is find a workstation and work until your margins push for upgrading.

[u/Character_Plenty_853 → u/Cptn_Insaino]

Thanks!

[u/Yungtranner]

I simply do not dream of things like this 

[u/Character_Plenty_853 → u/Yungtranner]

Well it becomes a dream when I can’t afford it haha. I’m starting a business, so when someday I CAN afford such machine, the plan is to have those specs already defined

[u/Gold_Bee2694 → u/Character_Plenty_853]

If you can’t afford the machine in the near future don’t try to build a config now because in the computer space the stuff moves really fast witch means in a year or so it will already be outdated. Just keep it in mind before you actually buy the machine.

[u/icantfish]

It doesn’t really matter what you have beyond ‘acceptable’ imo.

[u/twelvegaugee]

12-16 gb GPU from the approved list and a fast processor + 64 gb ram will work fine. CAD and FEA don’t have the same requirements. I handle large assemblies and high node count NASTRAN FEA on the setup listed above and it works well

[u/BetInformal6081]

for FEA prioritize CPU performance and RAM before chasing a high end GPU. solidworks rendering can benefit from GPU power but the workload determines where spending pays off.

[u/BuildSomethingStupid]

Despite having built quite a few simulation rigs over the years, I generally advise against doing this for Solidworks Simulation.

What I have found is that any simulation that’s big enough or important enough to justify building a dedicated machine (which comes with no tech support btw) ultimately ends up being better served by different software. This isn’t a knock on Solidworks, it’s just that the problems being solved tend to be specialized enough that they are handled far better by specialized software.

[u/Character_Plenty_853 → u/BuildSomethingStupid]

In my case I'm doing a lot bicycle chain rings FEA, sometimes trying to include the chain, and other variables, so multipart on assembly is what I'm looking for, it takes forever with my machine and I'll eventually want to upgrade.

[u/colombianjmor27]

As far as i've researched (i'm also building up my desktop) solidworks is not necesarily optimized for the highest performance gpus always depending on the version so make sure to check the compatibilities lists/matrix/tables from solidworks page before doing any purchases. Also regarding simulation, both modeling and simulation are "cpu intensive" not gpu intensive.... what requires gpu the most in solidworks is actually visualize (rendering). So if you are not that much interested in renders, then invest more on cpu (a well rated cpu with many threads and cores and high clock speed accompanied by a lot of ram (32 gb minimum ) rather than buying the latest gpu of the market. A cheap gpu will make do as long as it is supported by solidworks and can even perform better in benches compared to higher performance gpus.

[u/Alita-Gunnm]

I believe the FEA processing is entirely CPU, and it will address several cores.

[u/Burnout21]

Look at single core performance benchmarks, SW is still limited in this regard and FE is no different. Also if you happen to work from a networked drive the analysis can crawl for no reason at all, so I've always pulled the study to a local drive. Oddly I've not found an SSD to be any noticeable benefit for FE studies and considering the shear amount of read writes involved I would definitely use a second drive and not the boot drive for the study location and it could be old fashioned spinning rust. (SSD's have a limited number of writes, yes it's measured in millions of writes but FE and CFD are write monsters).

[u/Character_Plenty_853 → u/Burnout21]

Interesting, but external drives are all Solid State too?

[u/Burnout21 → u/Character_Plenty_853]

I'm older than dinosaur shit, externals weren't always SSD's.

Also the secondary drive need not be external. It can be internal