Application Performance Benchmarking by SPEC’s GWPG
The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC®) is a non-profit corporation which was founded to “establish, maintain and endorse standardized benchmarks and tools to evaluate performance and energy efficiency for the latest workstations.”
Among its six different groups is the Graphics and Workstation Performance Group (GWPG). Founded in 1986, the GWPG produces a variety of graphics and workstation benchmarks and performance reporting procedures. SPEC GWPG benchmarks are the worldwide standard for evaluating performance for popular software applications, and accurately reflect real-world user experiences.
The GWPG is comprised of three committees. One of which is the SPEC Application Performance Characterization (SPECapc®) committee founded in 1997. SPECapc “develops benchmarks that span popular CAD/CAM, digital content creation and visualization applications.”
The group’s benchmarking work is defined by a clear set of goals:
- Develop standardized performance evaluation tools that are unambiguous, vendor-neutral measures for product evaluation and comparison.
- Provide mechanisms that enable vendors, customers and others to perform their own performance measurement and evaluations.
- Provide software releases to the public based on current graphics and workstation-class applications in a timely fashion.
SOLIDWORKS’s Enhanced Graphics Performance
Pay close attention to that second bullet point. All benchmarks are run within the application, so those wishing to run the SPEC benchmarks on top of the application being tested must first have a specific license for the application. As you’ve likely gleaned from the title of this blog, the application in focus is SOLIDWORKS 2024, which BOXX most certainly possesses as our engineers design our custom, all-aluminum chassis using this popular CAD/CAM software. We also manufacture SOLIDWORKS-Certified workstations.
Performance Testing on Rendering Complex Models
On May 14, 2024, The SPECapc® for Solidworks® 2024 benchmark was released, including 60 tests that exercise “a full range of graphics and CPU functionality.” From SPECapc:
- 48 graphics-oriented tests use four SOLIDWORKS view settings – RealView, Ambient Occlusion and shadows – in combination with shaded and shaded-with-edges display styles and hidden line removal. Drawing mode is also measured.
- 12 CPU tests within the benchmark perform rebuild, simulation, conversion and visualize CPU rendering.
Model sizes range from 392 MB to 2.3 GB in memory. The following 10 models are included in the benchmark:
- Audi R8 (car) — 715 MB in memory, exercising graphics and Visualize CPU ray tracing
- Black owl (desktop computer) — 1.15 GB in memory, exercising graphics and Visualize CPU ray tracing
- Digger (backhoe) — 464 MB in memory, exercising graphics and Visualize CPU ray tracing
- Ferrari (car) — 533 MB in memory, exercising graphics and Visualize CPU ray tracing
- Jet engine — 665 MB in memory, exercising graphics and Visualize CPU ray tracing
- Menjac (motor assembly) — 514 MB in memory, exercising graphics
- Motor — 392 MB in memory, exercising graphics
- SpaceShipCrawler (NASA Crawler Transporter Model) — 2.3 GB in memory, exercising graphics
- Super car (gullwing door) — 822 MB in memory, exercising graphics
- Tesla tower — 495 MB in memory, exercising graphics
APEXX A3 SOLIDWORKS Workstation Specs
On Nov. 5, armed with the SPECapc® for Solidworks® 2024 benchmark, BOXXLabs went to work running it on the following configuration of our APEXX A3 workstation:
- 16-core AMD® Ryzen™ 9000 Series 9950X processor
- NVIDIA RTX™ 5000 Ada Generation GPU
- 192GB of RAM
- 2TB M.2 Gen5
- 24H2 configured
- Closed loop liquid cooling
- Windows® 11 Pro for Workstations
- Unparalleled Performance Advantages
The higher the score, the faster the speed. The result was a CPU composite of 3.29 and GPU composite of 5.98. When looking at the then posted top score from a well-known commodity PC manufacturer, ours was higher so we knew the title belonged to APEXX A3. In the interest of time, I’ll dispense with listing all the detailed APEXX A3 SOLIDWORKS 2024 benchmarks results here, but I highly encourage you to read them if full.
Our benchmarks were then submitted to SPEC.org for validation. This is where that first bullet point comes in, especially, “performance evaluation tools that are unambiguous, vendor-neutral measures for product evaluation and comparison.” SPEC does not name you the world’s fastest, the grand champion, or anything of the sort. They don’t endorse your product.
To use a sports analogy, it’s not like a figure skating competition where a panel of judges post their score cards to determine the winner. It’s more akin to hockey where the team who scores the most goals wins. Period. The BOXX APEXX A3 scored the most goals. SPEC is just the referee, the neutral scorekeeper who evaluates, validates, and publishes the results. In this case, those results were published on November 26, 2024.
So we’re number one.* If you’re looking to outpace your competition and put your engineering firm in first place, it begins by optimizing SOLIDWORKS and other CAD/CAM applications. Accelerate 3D modeling, rendering, visualization, and simulation in order to complete you projects faster than ever before. The new, record-setting APEXX A3 is your solution. Whether it’s CAD/CAM, FEA, or CFD, BOXX is home to the world’s fastest SOLIDWORKS workstation. It’s all in the numbers.
To learn more about SPEC/GWPG membership or other forms of participation in the SPECapc project group, contact the SPEC office at info@spec.org.
* Comparison based on best performing systems using the Windows operating system published at www.spec.org as of 05 November 2024. SPEC® and the benchmark name SPECapc® for SolidWorks® 2024 are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. For more information about the SPECapc® for SolidWorks® 2024 benchmark, see https://www.spec.org/gwpg/apc.data/specapc_sw2024_summary.html
Testing by BOXX engineering using the following hardware: BOXX APEXX A3.06 Motherboard with AMD Ryzen 9000 Series 9950X, RTX5000 ADA, 192GB RAM, 2TB M.2 Gen5, 24H2 configured with APEXX 3 Series chassis with closed loop liquid cooling for CPU, NVIDIA RTX5000 Ada (production branch driver 553.24) and Windows® 11 26100.2033. Results may vary.”