Author Topic: Is PSPICE still a good choice?  (Read 1263 times)

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Offline ohfgoaeijfaeoifjaoijTopic starter

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Is PSPICE still a good choice?
« on: July 08, 2022, 05:25:34 pm »
I've been considering buying a paid version of SPICE. The two I am most interested in are PSPICE and SIMetrix.

PSPICE seems to have been the industry standard, but looking at the UI, it seems like it hasn't been updated in a long time. Is PSPICE still a good choice or has it been wasting away over time?

SIMetrix seems to have been selected as the preferred simulator by a bunch of companies lately. For example, Diodes Inc. and Microchip both use a rebranded version of SIMetrix in their latest tool. The latest version of SIMetrix can even import LTspice models. However, SIMetrix can't use IBIS models.

I've used the now free Micro-Cap 12, which has a lot of great features, but I've found it to be a bit buggy. More so, like I said at the start, I'm looking for a paid version that is actively maintained and can provide support.
 

Offline TimFox

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Re: Is PSPICE still a good choice?
« Reply #1 on: July 08, 2022, 07:38:46 pm »
I use a line-oriented Spice from AimSpice:   http://www.aimspice.com/
It does not use schematic capture, but does come with a nifty post-processor that allows output to an Excel file for graphing.  It allows complex arithmetic on the .AC results to generate specified math functions of the phase-sensitive AC voltages and currents, to extract impedances or ESR or whatever.
The main difference from "regular" Spice is that you do not include the ".AC" or similar statement in the AimSpice file, that is done through an interactive window to do an analysis.
For graphing, I use a somewhat expensive program from Golden Software, that can produce professional-looking (i.e., literate) graphs, with full choice of axis labeling, line widths, label fonts, etc.  I especially like its capability of arbitraty endpoints on logarithmic axes.
https://www.goldensoftware.com/products/grapher
Back in the DOS era, I used the first version of PSpice, which used a key with a hole drilled in a 5.25" floppy that had to be rotated before each run of Spice (the program checked for the error statement).  I do miss the auxiliary program "Parts" that extracted transistor, diode, etc. models from datasheet values.
 

Offline mlloyd1

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Re: Is PSPICE still a good choice?
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2022, 08:10:17 pm »
You can't go wrong with PSPICE; it's still a big dog.

Just curious - what bugs you encountered in MC-12 that soured you on it?

mlloyd1
 


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