List of the Top 4 PCB Design Software for OrCAD X in 2025

BQRG's software suite offers patented tools for automated electronic design analysis and optimization to enhance your design processes: SynthelyzerTM ECAD Plugin supercharges PCB design by providing real-time stress analysis, derating, and thermal simulations, all while seamlessly integrating with ECAD systems to ensure optimal component choices and avert costly mistakes. fiXtress® stands out as a powerful asset in reliability engineering; featuring cutting-edge FMECA, stress, and failure predictions, it helps to prolong product life and reduce downtime significantly. When paired with Synthelyzer™, this combination leads to unmatched design optimization. CircuitHawk™ helps speed up time-to-market by identifying design issues at an early stage, and its sophisticated verification and stress analysis capabilities lay a solid groundwork for creating dependable products. apmOptimizer® is designed to enhance asset value and operational efficiency; through LCC analysis and predictive maintenance strategies, it helps lower costs, optimize spare parts inventory, and guarantees seamless operations. Finally, CARE® prioritizes product safety and ensures adherence to regulatory standards, providing a complete solution for compliance and quality assurance in your designs. This suite collectively transforms the electronic design landscape, making it more efficient and reliable.

Effortlessly mend compromised copper areas during interactive editing sessions, which allows for the smooth refinement of user-defined design choices. Users can reposition components and enclosures within the 3D environment while concurrently benefiting from immediate clash detection for any discrepancies. When confronted with particular technological requirements, one can leverage advanced features such as flexi-rigid design, embedded components, and chip-on-board technology to meet specific functional objectives. Pulsonix streamlines the creation of an inclusive Bill of Materials (BOM), pick and place lists, PCB acceptance reports, and netlists in multiple formats, whether opting for our standard selections or crafting your own. A notable aspect of Pulsonix is the incorporation of construction lines, enabling users to set guiding lines within their design, thus aiding in the formation of intricate board outlines and the alignment of unconventional shapes or elements. Furthermore, you have the ability to establish guidelines for the automatic creation of naming conventions for both new designs and existing styles, thereby improving organization and uniformity in your design endeavors. This holistic approach guarantees that users can attain exceptional levels of precision and productivity in their design workflows, ultimately leading to more innovative and efficient outcomes.

The pace at which your product enters production is contingent upon the testability of your design. Unfortunately, physical testing cannot always detect prevalent errors that may result in expensive delays. With XJTAG®, the DFT Assistant seamlessly integrates into your Altium Designer environment, conducting Design For Test (DFT) evaluations directly on your schematic. This tool allows you to verify that the scan chains are properly linked to every JTAG-enabled component in your design, ensuring accurate and correct connections and terminations of each signal. Before you complete your layout, XJTAG® DFT Assistant thoroughly examines your JTAG-enabled devices, providing a crucial checkpoint. Additionally, XJTAG® Chain Checker identifies typical pitfalls and notifies you promptly, helping to prevent issues that could complicate JTAG testing later on. By implementing these tools, you can significantly enhance the reliability of your design and streamline the manufacturing process.

JTAG Maps™, a user-friendly extension for Altium, enables engineers to efficiently evaluate the testing capabilities offered by JTAG devices integrated into their designs. Previously, engineers dedicated significant time to manually marking boundary-scan nets within a design to assess their coverage. The boundary scan device model files, known as BSDLs, play an essential role in the JTAG and boundary scanning process by specifying which pins can be manipulated through JTAG. JTAG Maps supports BSDL models and includes an option to 'assume scanner covered.' While many users may opt for the Altium coverage report provided by JTAG Maps, there is also an option to import a more comprehensive analysis. Additionally, data can be exported to JTAG ProVision for in-depth evaluation, allowing engineers to gain further insights. Subsequently, a straightforward message file that encompasses complete fault-coverage details can be re-imported into JTAG Maps for visualization and highlighting purposes. This streamlined process significantly reduces the time engineers need to spend on testing assessments.