# SOLIDWORKS PDM AI Assistant Sizing and Value Calculator

> Source: https://netray.co/tools/solidworks-pdm-ai-assistant-sizing-and-value-calculator
> Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems.
> Section: Free Tools

## Short answer

Estimate GPUs, token volume, index size and payback for a small-team private AI assistant on a SOLIDWORKS PDM vault.

## Category

engineering-plm

## Erp

SOLIDWORKS PDM Professional

## Audience

- CAD administrator
- IT manager
- Engineering manager

## Tool

**Kind:** calculator

**Currency:** $

**Inputs:**

#### Named users

**Key:** users

**Type:** number

**Default:** 60

**Min:** 1

**Step:** 5

**Unit:** users

#### Daily active share

**Key:** active_pct

**Type:** slider

**Default:** 40

**Min:** 5

**Max:** 100

**Step:** 5

**Unit:** %

#### Questions per active user per day

**Key:** q_per_user

**Type:** number

**Default:** 10

**Min:** 1

**Step:** 1

#### Prompt plus answer tokens per question

**Key:** tokens_per_q

**Type:** number

**Default:** 2500

**Min:** 200

**Step:** 100

#### Documents to index

**Key:** docs

**Type:** number

**Default:** 80000

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 5000

#### Average pages per document

**Key:** pages_per_doc

**Type:** number

**Default:** 3

**Min:** 1

**Step:** 1

#### Minutes saved per question

**Key:** min_saved

**Type:** number

**Default:** 4

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 1

#### Loaded hourly cost

**Key:** hourly_cost

**Type:** number

**Default:** 55

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 5

**Unit:** $/h

#### GPU monthly cost

**Key:** gpu_cost

**Type:** number

**Default:** 900

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 50

**Unit:** $/GPU/month

**Help:** A 24 to 48 GB workstation or server GPU, depreciated.

#### Aggregate tokens per second per GPU

**Key:** gpu_tps

**Type:** number

**Default:** 600

**Min:** 50

**Step:** 50

#### GPUs needed just to hold the model

**Key:** min_gpus

**Type:** number

**Default:** 1

**Min:** 1

**Step:** 1

#### One-off integration cost

**Key:** integ_cost

**Type:** number

**Default:** 25000

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 2500

**Unit:** $

**Outputs:**

#### Daily active users

**Key:** active_users

**Expr:** users * active_pct / 100

**Format:** integer

#### Questions per day

**Key:** q_day

**Expr:** active_users * q_per_user

**Format:** integer

#### Tokens per day

**Key:** tokens_day

**Expr:** q_day * tokens_per_q

**Format:** number

#### Peak concurrent requests

**Key:** peak_conc

**Expr:** q_day * 0.25 / 3600 * 20

**Format:** decimal

**Description:** 25% of daily questions in the busiest hour, about 20 seconds per answer.

#### GPU estimate

**Key:** gpus

**Expr:** max(min_gpus, ceil(peak_conc * 25 / gpu_tps))

**Format:** integer

**Primary:** true

#### Vector index size

**Key:** idx_gb

**Expr:** docs * pages_per_doc * 2 * 6000 / 1000000000

**Format:** decimal

**Description:** 2 chunks per page and about 6 KB per chunk.

#### Hours saved per month

**Key:** hours_month

**Expr:** q_day * min_saved / 60 * 21

**Format:** hours

#### Monthly value

**Key:** value_month

**Expr:** hours_month * hourly_cost

**Format:** currency

**Primary:** true

#### Monthly GPU cost

**Key:** cost_month

**Expr:** gpus * gpu_cost

**Format:** currency

#### Simple payback

**Key:** payback_months

**Expr:** if(gt(value_month - cost_month, 0), integ_cost / (value_month - cost_month), 0)

**Format:** months

**Chart:**

#### Payback months by minutes saved per question

**Type:** line

**X:** min_saved

**From:** 1

**To:** 15

**Steps:** 15

**Series:**

- payback_months

**Disclaimer:** Planning estimate for small teams. Measure throughput and time saved in a pilot before committing to hardware.

## Content

**Intro:** Small CAD teams do not need a data centre. This calculator shows what a private AI assistant on a SOLIDWORKS PDM vault needs in GPU and index terms, and whether time saved justifies it.

**Sections:**

#### How to use it

**Body:** Put in your named users and the share who use the assistant each day. Questions per user are higher in small teams because the tool replaces vault searches and file opening. The chart sweeps minutes saved per question to show how sensitive payback is to that single number.

#### Formulas and assumptions

**Body:** Daily questions are users times active share times questions per user. Peak concurrency assumes a quarter of the day's questions in the busiest hour at about 20 seconds each. GPUs are the larger of the model floor and the throughput requirement at 25 tokens per second per stream. The index assumes two chunks per page at about 6 KB.

#### Reading the result

**Body:** For most small teams one GPU is enough, so the cost is flat and payback depends on minutes saved and integration effort. If payback exceeds two years, consider simple deterministic search over data cards first, which needs no GPU, and add a language model only for document questions.

#### Common mistakes

**Body:** Sizing for named users rather than concurrent ones, assuming the vault holds only text when most files are CAD binaries that produce no text, and forgetting the one-off effort of cleaning data card variables.

**Cta:** Netray can check these figures against your vault and propose a small pilot. The calculator works independently.

**Faq:**

#### Will one GPU be enough?

**Answer:** For tens of users and a 14B to 32B class model, often yes. Check memory for model weights plus context, and add a second GPU only if you need failover or heavier models.

#### Why count pages if most files are CAD?

**Answer:** Only text-bearing files, such as PDFs, Office documents and exported drawings, add chunks. Enter only those documents, not the total file count of the vault.

#### How reliable is minutes saved?

**Answer:** It is the least certain input. Time two or three realistic tasks with and without the assistant and use a conservative average.

#### Are SQL Server licences included?

**Answer:** No. The AI layer does not require extra SQL Server licences by design, but check your own licensing for any reporting replica you add.

## Search terms

SOLIDWORKS PDM AI sizing, PDM assistant ROI, small team LLM GPU sizing, on-prem AI payback calculator, vault AI cost, RAG index size

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