Excuse the longwindedness... I've been using PADS PCB (2004, 2005 v2) for just over a year and can succesfully complete alot of different types of boards. I still have yet to accomplish any heavy high speed or large (100 ball or more) BGAs, or the trace/vias that would go with them (partial vias, microvias, buried vias, etc). I have been approached to subcontract a 4 week series of boards with the stipulation that I use OrCAD 10.5 as the layout tool (no high speed or bgas). There's a fair chunk of change involved in this job, and before I say yes or no, I'd like to hear some pros and cons about OrCAD layout and maybe some opinions about using the two in an almost day to day fashion...PLEASE!!! How are they similar... I use capture, have since 6.0. I have also learned logic, but don't use it nearly as much. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. smilo
PADS vs OrCAD
Aug 17, 2006
1 Replies
Not to worry. The import/export function works just fine.
At one time, I would take PADS designs into OrCAD because it had (has?) a better via reduction algorithm. The OrCAD auto router really isn't that bad.
If I were really good at PADS, and uncomfortable with OrCAD, I would do the design in PADS, and then transfer it to OrCAD for the client.
The shove editor in OrCAD works pretty well too.
GH
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