Hardware Issues and Recommendations
First, compare your system with the recommended system requirements.
If the problems are video-related, see Graphics
Adapters and Drivers.
System Requirements
Ensure that your system meets the requirements.
This includes:
To access current system requirements:
http://solidworks.com/System_Requirements.
SolidWorks is tested only with Microsoft's
Windows Networking and Active Directory networks.
Listed below are some potential solutions to basic, hardware-related
issues.
Slow or Unstable System
System is slow or unstable.
Ensure there is adequate free disk space.
The Operating System (OS) requires sufficient space to store system
and temporary files. If you have enabled auto-recover (recommended),
this SolidWorks function also requires disk space.
At a minimum, you should have 250-500MB of free space on any local drive.
If you use partitions, allocate a good proportion of the free space to
the drive where your OS is installed.
If the system exceeds the physical RAM, virtual
memory is accessed, making the system slow and unstable.
Low Memory Messages
Low memory messages appear while running SolidWorks.
Increase the amount of RAM on your machine, especially
if you run SolidWorks along with a Microsoft Office application such as
Excel with Bill
of Materials or Design
Tables.
Allocate more virtual memory on your system to
accommodate for current usage. See Windows help for more information.
Enable the 3GB switch if you are running Windows
XP Professional and SolidWorks 2004 (or higher). For details, see memory allocation.
Slow Pointer Movement
Pointer movement is slow.
If you use a 3D motion controller, and pointer movement slows down over
the SolidWorks window, try replacing the 3D motion controller with a three
button mouse.