PSPICE and Multisim

Thread Starter

silvrstring

Joined Mar 27, 2008
159
Hi everyone. At my school, we use NI Multisim. I'm comfortable enough with it, but I can't help but notice the extensive use of (and references to) PSPICE on this website.

Does anyone know which one I will be more likely to use in my future career? Should I try to get PSPICE and learn to use both? Does it matter (are they that much different)?
 

SgtWookie

Joined Jul 17, 2007
22,230
PSPICE is simply SPICE that runs on personal computers.
SPICE is an acronym which means "Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis". In the early days, one needed a mainframe computer to run simulations on, as personal computers didn't exist! Engineers would spend days tediously entering copious amounts of data on IBM punch cards, and have a programmer run their SPICE simulation in a "batch" job on a mainframe.

SPICE commands are similar from version to version. Fortunately for you, most of the SPICE parameters are already incorporated into library models that you just plug in to your circuit.

Multisim already has a version of PSPICE in it. Don't worry about the differences; just get familiar with that tool.

If you really want to explore other PSPICE programs, you could download Linear Technology's free SwitcherCadIII from their website.
http://www.linear.com
 

scubasteve_911

Joined Dec 27, 2007
1,203
Basically, SPICE is the core of most circuit simulators.. Fancy simulators just add a nice GUI and more subcircuits, along with features like convegence assistance, etc.

Steve
 
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