Wave Issue 2001 1/10/00 Article 10-01

***SPECapc Group Releases Benchmarks for Pro/ENGINEER 2000i and
SolidWorks 99
(December 23)

SPEC/GPC's Application Performance Characterization (SPECapc)
project group has posted performance results for graphics
application benchmarks based on Pro/ENGINEER 2000i and SolidWorks
99 CAD/CAM software.

SPECapc for Pro/ENGINEER 2000i concentrates on the graphics-
intensive aspects of the solids modeling software. Developed by
the SPECapc project group and Parametric Technology, maker of
Pro/ENGINEER, the benchmark is designed to reflect user
experiences in dealing with large models and a typical range of
graphics operations within the application.

SPECapc for Pro/ENGINEER 2000i uses a complete model of a
photocopy machine. The model contains approximately 370,000
polygons. The benchmark runs 17 tests to measure performance for
different rendering modes, features and CPU operations. Scores
are recorded for each of the 17 tests, composite numbers are
calculated for four areas of graphics performance, and there is a
final composite score for overall graphics/CPU performance.
Start-up and initiation time is also recorded, but not included
as part of the composite number. Users of the benchmark must have
a fully licensed, released version of Pro/ENGINEER 2000i.

SPECapc for SolidWorks 99 reflects updates in the latest version
of this solids modeling package. The benchmark was developed by
SolidWorks and enhanced by the SPECapc project group. It is
written in Visual Basic and C, and runs on Windows NT and Windows
95/98 platforms. SPECapc for SolidWorks 99 uses CAD/CAM solid
models of different sizes, the largest of which is a line
assembly model with 276,000 polygons.

Updates to previous SPECapc for SolidWorks benchmarks include new
user interface features, increasing the display resolution
requirement to 1280x1024 and the color depth to 24 bits per
pixel, and upgrading the reference machine from a 3Dlabs Permedia
2 to a 3Dlabs Oxygen VX1.

Results from SPECapc for Pro/ENGINEER 2000i and SPECapc for
SolidWorks 99 should not be compared to previous SPECapc
benchmarks for these two applications. Results from previous
versions of the benchmarks will remain on the SPEC/GPC web site
until it is decided to phase out the older benchmarks.

Initial performance results and free downloads for the two
benchmarks are available at the gpc web site.

www.spec.org/gpc