suprasurrey Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Are there any Solidworks or Autocad users here that could advise me about the best monitor to look for. I will be buying a new Dell tower after christmas, and am now thinking that my 19 inch, 8 year old crt monitor could be past It`s best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 I believe the highend HP LCD's are some of the best for graphics work. You can pretty much guarantee that you will ideally need to spend big...I'd personally recommend getting a 24" screen for 1920x1200 res it's fantastic size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewen Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 I use an Apple 30" monitor which was a bitch to get running at its max 2560 x 1600 resolution on a PC, but we managed it. Others in my work group use Dell 30" LCDs. 3007WFP IIRR. Again, these run 2560 x 1600. Unlike the Apple screen, these are plug and play depending on the graphics card. They are basically two 21" screens on end side by side. Once you go big, theres no going back. Big money, but fantastic to work on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dann Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 I found not to go wide screen, I use auto cad and tops 100/400 alot and with a wide screen the circles look like elisps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 You should be able to adjust the resolution to compensate for the circle-elipse thing. To be honest, I personally think after 21" you wouldn't actualy utilise any more screen size. If you think about when you actually look at an A0 sheet, I bet you only really concentrate on a section about A3 in size at a time. All that will happen is that you'll zoom in closer to the text that you're modifying! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 I always found a twin monitor setup more useful compared to a single large screen, as you leave the model functions on one screen and have the model itself on a separate screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewen Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 It's interesting how different people find their ideal set-up. I went away from twin screens some time ago. Just couldn't deal with it with the modeling software I use. Having a single larger screen is ideal for me. The pull-downs and fixed menu bars don't really take up a lot of the screen anymore, a separate window can be active without obscuring the model etc etc. Each to his own, like all things in life. I agree with Tony as to 2-D acad to some extent, but then I dont use it much these days, only to reference drawings done years ago before we went full 3-D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendor Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 We use both Solidworks and Inventor for 3D Product Design. We had some great advise from SW when we set up the original systems with Iiyama monitors and Dell workstations. The best advise I can give you is to speak to your authorised SW reseller and tell them what you want the software for. They can spec a machine for you with realview graphics vid card, fast RAM and suitable processor. Dont forget the input device. Consider carefully if you could benefit from a spacemouse or similar from Connexions. They take some getting used to but will save a lot of time and allow for simultaneous drag/pick and zoom. Ref the problems people have with distorted images, this is due to the screen size you set on the graphics card. Change the screen size to suit the monitor and everything will correct itself. Ref configuring your software. It really is worth spending an hour configuring your toolbars so you have the tools you need for each type of job you are working on - part/assy/drawing and then configure your templates and system settings so you optimise the performance. A badly setup CAD package will waste hours and hours of your time. One other bit of advise I will give is do not overload your ops system. Keep your system as clean as you can and switch off any unnecessary apps. Especially (extra microsoft or secondary app based non cad) indexing sevices and optimise your anti virus to exclude SW originated files. If you are ever tempted to run SW and Autodesk on the same machine be prepared for memory conflicts. We have learnt the hard way. Have a system for SW and another for Autodesk if at all possible. The vault indexers for both are a nuisance and IMO do not work at all well together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suprasurrey Posted December 22, 2008 Author Share Posted December 22, 2008 Thanks for all the advice, especially Extendor. Looks like I need to do a little more research here:rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted December 23, 2008 Share Posted December 23, 2008 Lots of good advice already. As far as AutoCAD goes, at work, I use 2x 19" LCD's, one for AutoCAD, one for looking at reference PDF's, notes, etc. If you have got into the customising thing (a lot of people don't bother), then a well set up custom menu with all the buttons you regularly use nicely laid out will make a big difference. I use 2x 24" widescreen LCD's at home and haven't noticed any ellipsing of circles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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