Welcome to our site! EDAboard.com is an international Electronics Discussion Forum focused on EDA software, circuits, schematics, books, theory, papers, asic, pld, 8051, DSP, Network, RF, Analog Design, PCB, Service Manuals... and a whole lot more! To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.
that question is a bit like asking "what's the best car". with out knowing its intended use, one really can't say.
Many packages can do very sophisticated designs in the hands of a skilled designer. You don't say what kind of boards are going to be made as well as the skill level of the designer(s).
The internationally used and one of the highest end is Zuken CR-5000 www.zuken.com.
They came out with CR-5000 lighting:
Zuken states:
CR-5000 Lightning*, is a fully integrated high-speed design and analysis environment within the CR-5000 tool suite. This powerful PCB design prototyping software allows you to realize your PCB design faster, while maintaining Signal Integrity (SI) & EMC. It also permits you to carry out simulation and routing according to the applications constraints, while being fully integrated within CR-5000, enabling users to share information through one database directly.
The best and one of the most expensive CADs.
We are a platinum rated Zuken CR 5000 PCB Design Service Bureau in Anaheim, California.
For high-speed applications,Cadence/Allegro and Mentor/PadsPCB are both powerful.
However,Cadence seems to be most popular in US. ProtelDXP is a little complicated to use and functions ok for digital simulation not analog.
Not because I'm using ZUKEN CR-5000 but I think its the most professional software in PCB Design.
I already used a lot of software but the quality of design being produced in CR-5000 are more effetive than other software design.
I just wanted to contribute to this shouting contest
I've been "raised" with Pads PowerPCB and Logic, and in fact the only alternative I've tried is OrCAD. Those two are fundamentally differently built, but being a bit biased like I am, I would say that PowerPCB may just be a little stronger than OrCAD (although also quite a bit more expensive).
The company I work for specialises in PowerPCB, and I don't think we have had an assignment we couldn't solve for at least the last couple of years. Unfortunately it also has a few minor (and sometimes very annoying) bugs, but you can learn to work around them.
This post is not meant as a comparison or a "my program is better than yours" statement, but just a footnote on a tool with which you can do almost anything. It may not be more powerful, user friendly or cheaper than the competitors but its a good, stable PCB-design platform which I would recommend any day.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
