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OrCAD X Cost versus Benefit Considerations

Published Date
Author OrCAD PCB Solutions

Key Takeaways

  • Cadence’s OrCAD X platform provides automation for every designer at a variety of proficiency levels, connectivity to simulation, manufacturing, and data management, and cloud-enabled collaboration.

  • The OrCAD X tool streamlines the system design process and empowers designers through cloud scalability and AI-powered placement automation technology.

  • Tools like OrCAD X PCB Editor and OrCAD X Capture accelerate board design, enabling users to innovate faster and more cost effectively.

Factors that must be assessed for an accurate PCBA software tool cost analysis.

Factors that must be assessed for an accurate PCBA software tool cost analysis.

Cadence’s OrCAD X platform enables PCB designers, irrespective of proficiency level, to optimize their creativity and innovate at their pace. This is achieved by redesigning the industry leading OrCAD design software into a simpler, more intuitive integrated development environment (IDE), OrCAD X. The result is improved quality, efficiency, and speed and lower overall PCBA development costs. The value of this new environment is best appreciated by reviewing the many advanced features that impact the overall OrCAD X cost versus benefit analysis.

OrCAD X Cost versus Benefit and Features Summary

In order to maximize innovation and efficiency, engineers and circuit board designers require PCB design software that allows them to optimize their PCB design and development process. As exhibited by the many features and cost benefits, listed below, the OrCAD X platform delivers on the important attributes that make achieving this objective possible.

OrCAD X  Features and Cost Benefits

Design Attribute

OrCAD X Feature

Cost Benefit

UI/UX

Integrated panel architecture that prevents wasted time rotating between different screens.

Simpler navigation and faster schematic design, PCB layout and design verification.

Component Library Selection

OrCAD X Capture provides unified search/component explorer capabilities, where users have access to symbols, footprints, models from PSpice and third party vendors. 

Avoid wasting time searching for components and CAD models and avoid choosing parts that are unavailable or in obsolescence.  

Schematic Design

OrCAD X Presto PCB Editor brings simplicity and flexibility, while still delivering the power of hierarchical design, design variants and unified search with integrated component vendors.

The ability to customize your design environment allows you to maximize productivity and minimize man-hours on setup, training and duplicate–schematic and layout–design changes. 

PCB Layout Design

Advanced interactive PCB layout; including AI-driven component placement, automatic routing  and real-time collaborative design changes. 

OrCAD X allows you to place parts and route traces faster, as well as parallelize many actions that are typically sequential like component changes, which can shave days or weeks from your development cycle depending on design complexity.  

Documentation and Data Management

Live DOC enables engineers to efficiently create fabrication and assembly documentation that accurately represents your design data.  Data management helps with version control, BOM updates and library authoring  in real-time.  

Real-time data management prevents data loss and ensures documentation consistency that causes manufacturing delays and unnecessary respins due to board docs not being up to date.

Team Collaboration

OrCAD X enables more efficient team design with multiuser design review and markup and enhanced ECAD/MCAD collaboration.

Co-design among engineering teams, whether local or remote, significantly reduces design and development time and costs.

Simulation and Signal Integrity Analysis

PSpice, the industry leading comprehensive simulation tool is integrated for easy design operation and functionality verification.

Efficient PCBA design and development is impossible without simulation and industry leading simulation tool, PSpice, is natively integrated in OrCAD X Capture.

Electromagnetic Interference/Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMI/EMC) Analysis

Integrated signal integrity (SI) simulation and power integrity (PI) analysis to ensure your design meets performance objectives and complies with industry standards before manufacturing. 

EMI problems are one of the major causes of time consuming and costly redesign and respins. OrCAD X includes the integrated capability to avoid these contingencies.

As shown above, OrCAD X significantly raises the bar for PCBA design with a focus on simplifying the process; such that engineers can devote their time to innovation; instead of mundane and time-draining activities that ultimately increase your product development costs.

The OrCAD X Capabilities: A Deeper Dive

OrCAD X includes standard features such as:

  • Realtime PCB editing

  • Differential pair routing

  • Real-time design rule check (DRC)

  • 3D engine

  • Allegro X constraint engine

  • On-demand ECAD/MCAD collaboration

  • CAD library management that can scale

  • Cloud workspace

  • New layout user interface

  • PSpice simulation tool

  • Live DOC automated documentation tool

With OrCAD X, designers can tackle PCB design challenges at any stage. This intuitive platform provides flexibility, personalization, and connectivity to enable fast, accurate, and connected design.

In addition, OrCAD X advanced features include:

  • Advanced interactive PCB editing

  • Automated rigid-flex design

  • Design reuse and replication

  • Advanced differential pair routing

  • Advanced physical, spacing, and electrical rules

  • X-net support

  • Pre-Post layout SI analysis

  • Auto-routing with SPECCTRA

  • Live BOM

  • Cloud-based collaboration

  • Pre- and post-layout signal integrity analysis

The OrCAD X platform streamlines the system design process and empowers designers through cloud scalability and AI-powered placement automation technology. The platform also supports Cadence’s Intelligent System Design strategy, which enables designers to accelerate system innovation.

Cadence Has the Tools You Need for PCB Design

When cost comparing ECAD software, base price is one of the important issues to consider. However, the true cost of a PCB design software can only be derived by evaluating all features and factors that define the quality, efficiency and speed of your design and development process. For an accurate OrCAD X cost versus benefit evaluation, cost saving features; such as an intuitive, simple to navigate UX, an Allegro engine and all the advanced design capabilities of OrCAD X that reduce design time and minimize manufacturing spins must be considered. 

To learn more, sign up for a free 30-day trial of OrCAD X and explore the other PCB Design and Analysis Software available from Cadence.

Leading electronics providers rely on Cadence products to optimize power, space, and energy needs for a wide variety of market applications. To learn more about our innovative solutions, talk to our team of experts or subscribe to our YouTube channel.