AMD Case Study: SOLIDWORKS Assemblies of 6,500+ Parts Without Compromise

AMD has published a case study on the work of Adi Pandžić, PhD, titled “Dr Adi Pandžić Unlocks SOLIDWORKS® Complexity at Scale”. The topic is simple and very practical for any engineer: how to work on huge SOLIDWORKS assemblies, render them and multitask across applications without hardware becoming a limit on creativity.

Key points from the case study

• The Bosniak is a design study for a 6x6 off-road pick-up truck, created in SOLIDWORKS. Carrying a sports motorcycle, the combined model has more than 6,500 individual parts.
• In December 2025, Adi Pandžić was selected as one of three winners of the SOLIDWORKS 30th Anniversary Competition with the futuristic Black AI Tractor, which has more than 7,000 parts.
• His main machine is the 14-inch HP ZBook Ultra G1a with an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ PRO processor and integrated AMD Radeon PRO graphics: 128 GB of system memory, of which up to 96 GB can be allocated to the GPU.
• His desktop workstation is an HP Z6 G5 A with an AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO processor and an AMD Radeon PRO W7900 GPU with 48 GB of memory.
• When modelling and rendering the Black AI Tractor in SOLIDWORKS Visualize, GPU memory utilisation reached around 30 GB.

The Bosniak: a 6x6 pick-up with over 6,500 parts

The Bosniak was designed as a 6x6 off-road pick-up truck, and one of its main purposes is carrying a sports motorcycle. With the motorcycle on board, the complete model exceeds 6,500 parts, which is why AMD describes it as an excellent real-world stress test for workstation hardware.

According to the case study, the Bosniak is the most challenging project of his career so far, taking between four and five months to design and build. This kind of complexity is a hallmark of his work, and the same approach can be seen in the Black AI Tractor, awarded in the SOLIDWORKS anniversary competition, with over 7,000 parts detailed to an engineering level.

Designing directly in the assembly

The way he works is what makes such models particularly demanding. “My working style involves a lot of designing directly in assembly, so I often need to open a full model to work on some part inside that model,” he explains in the case study. “With the hardware set-up that I have, I don’t need to worry about performance lags or crashes. I don’t even think about them.”

Without good hardware, he says, such a project would have been very difficult. Working in the context of the assembly lets parts be shaped against neighbouring components, but it requires the whole model to stay open and responsive for hours and days.

A 14-inch laptop as the main workstation

The most interesting part of the study is that much of the work is done on an ultra-portable 14-inch laptop, the HP ZBook Ultra G1a. The study notes that it challenges the outdated perception of 14-inch laptops, especially those with integrated graphics, as “entry-level”. Of its 128 GB of system memory, up to 96 GB can be allocated to the integrated AMD Radeon GPU.

“But this little beast is what I use the most,” he says. “It’s really easy to carry around, so I can work from wherever I want. It’s been my main machine for most of 2025 and all of 2026. I really don’t feel any difference in performance terms between this and the [desktop] workstation.”

For the heaviest tasks there is also the HP Z6 G5 A desktop with an AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO processor and AMD Radeon PRO W7900 graphics with 48 GB of memory. The laptop drives two external monitors, one at 4K and one at 5K, alongside its own screen, with no lag even with several 3D applications open.

Rendering in SOLIDWORKS Visualize

Final high-resolution images and videos are produced in SOLIDWORKS Visualize. When modelling and rendering the prize-winning Black AI Tractor, GPU memory utilisation hit around 30 GB, which the study describes as comfortably within the 96 GB available on the HP ZBook Ultra G1a.

That headroom matters. According to the study, most mobile workstations with discrete GPUs top out at 16 GB or 24 GB, and hitting those limits can severely impact performance. “I’ve never hit a limit yet. I never have to worry that a model is too big or too complex, because I know the hardware can handle it,” he says. “I’m multi-tasking and everything is open, and I still don’t have any problems.”

He is confident enough in this set-up to consider a model showing the pick-up truck, the sports motorcycle and the tractor together, probably around 15,000 parts in total. “I think the hardware can handle it,” he says.

From digital models to real-world impact

The study also highlights another side of his work: bringing designs into the physical world. Combining modelling and visualisation in SOLIDWORKS with 3D printing, he works on manufacturing medical devices aimed at real-world health challenges. “The opportunity to address and solve real problems for real people is very interesting to me,” he says.

He concludes that his imagination is not constrained by hardware, and that he knows from experience how hardware issues can limit an engineer’s creativity. “I’ve probably got the best hardware in Bosnia, so I know I’m a lucky guy!”

About Adi Pandžić, PhD

Adi Pandžić is a PhD mechanical engineer, educator, and CAD and 3D printing specialist. He is an assistant professor and material testing coordinator at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, and runs a consultancy focused on CAD and 3D printing for complex mechanical systems and industrial design. On GrabCAD he is known as “DrPax” and, according to the study, ranks among the Top 30 most-followed members of a community of 16 million product designers, engineers and 3D printing specialists, sharing detailed CAD models, renders and educational content.

Read the full case study on the AMD website or download it as a PDF. If you need complex product design or SOLIDWORKS training, see product design services and training and services.

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Author: Adi Pandžić, PhD in Mechanical Engineering

This article summarises a case study published by AMD; please refer to the original case study for details. About the author

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