2. Memory

Memory is a little more straight forward then CPU 's but there a few things which can catch you out. You'll get the most benefit from more memory in Solidworks if you work with really complex parts of really big assemblies. Every time you open a part of an assembly, all your files are loaded into memory so you can work on them. If your working on a massive new tractor design with 10,000 parts you'll need a fair bit of ram to handle. There are no fixed rules on how much memory you need for 'X' amount of parts as the complexity of parts can vary so greatly. A bunch of plain flat washers will take up next to no memory compared to a fully detailed plastic injection molded housing. However, if you notice your system slowing down when working on really big assemblies or parts, extra memory would be the first thing to try to improve performance.

So how much memory do I need?

If you're running a 32Bit OS (operating system), (most installs of windows are) then there is a physical limit of 4Gb of RAM. Its a mathermatical limit of 32Bit architecture and has nothing to do with Windows or Solidworks. If you are running Windows 32Bit you may want to look into tweaking the 4Gb switch as by default Windows will only use 3Gb or RAM. A google search should tell you how its done.

The only way around this 4Gb limit is to move to a 64Bit operating system. 64Bit operating systems can take advantage of more memory. How much more? Lots more, infact its only limited by how much RAM you can fit on the mother board. Most workstations these days are running 64Bit OS as they can use more RAM.

In a nutshell if your system is running slow and complaining about not having enough memory... its time to increase the RAM of move to a 64Bit OS. How much memory you run is totally up to your budget but I would say 4Gb is a minimum these days.

Not all RAM is created equally. There are many different types of RAM with different speeds. DDR1, DDR2, DDR3, 800Mhz, 1333,Mhz 1600Mhz. You are usually confined to a single type of RAM by your motherboard (DDR1 RAM sticks will not fit DDR3 sockets) which makes things easy but they speed of each type can vary. Ram speed can offer a performance increase but you need to make sure your motherboard can handle the faster RAM or your just wasting money.

Keep in mind that you are limited to how much RAM you can install but the amount of available slots. If you motherboard has 4 slots you could put in 4 x 1Gb sticks for a total of 4Gb of RAM or you could put in 2 x 2Gb sticks which gives you 4Gb as well but you still have 2 spare slots for future expansion.

I'd suggest a minimum of 4Gb of RAM for Solidworks use. You'll only benefit from more if you are working on big data sets but RAM is pretty cheap these days so it depends on your budget.