The new version tests NX 6 or 7 on 64-bit Windows 7.The benchmark is available at no charge from the SPEC website.

SPEC, the non-profit group that creates performance evaluation benchmarking software for the technical graphics industry has released a new benchmark for Siemens PLM Software’s NX 3D CAD software.

SPECapc for Siemens NX 6 runs on 64-bit Windows 7. SPEC says it can be used to measure performance on systems running various versions of NX 6 and 7, but results have been validated for NX 6.0 only.

The benchmark includes six models ranging in size from 56 MB to 521 MB in both wireframe and fully shaded modes. It tests performance for operations such as loading parts, booleans, rotations, zooms, pans, front and back clipping, modifying perspective parameters, full-view generation, different edge modes, translucency and hidden-surface removal.

The benchmark is run five times to ensure consistent results. It records results for graphics, CPU and disk I/O operations, as well as a composite number for total system performance.

“Our thanks to Siemens for helping us bring this benchmark to closure,” says Allen Jensen, SPECapc chair. “We look forward to a much faster development cycle in the future, with a new benchmark for NX 8 planned for Q3 2012.”

SPECapc for Siemens NX 6 is now available for free downloading from the SPEC website. The SPECapc group also provides free benchmarks for systems running Autodesk 3ds Max 2011, Lightwave 3D 9.6, Autodesk Maya 2009, PTC Pro/Engineer Wildfire 2.0, and Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks 2007. New and updated benchmarks are currently underway for Maya, SolidWorks and PTC Creo applications.