Build for CAD

[JNUKZ]

Hey! My Dad needs a new computer for his work, he works with Auto Cad, Visi, MasterCam... and probably he is using all at the same time so he needs a fast cpu and a lot of ram...
He has about 800~900 euros to spend so i was thinking on this:

Amd FX 8320 or intel I5
8 to 16gb of ram
A nice motherboard and a enough psu
1TB hard drive
About the GPU honestly i dont know but the he uses 2 24" screens.

what you guys think?

[de.das.dude]

i think a nice FirePro 5 series card would go well with it!

good decision on the AMD. intel platforms seem to lag on the autocad for some reason.

[Soup]

You might consider the FirePro APUs.

[JNUKZ]

Thanks for the quick reply but workstation card here in Portugal are really expensive and the cheapest costs almost 500 euros so i was thinking on a regular card something like HD7870 or GTX 660. I didn´t choose a i7 because of the same reason but like you said amd are better.

Edit: Also here they don´t sell Firepro APUs it´s very limited

[Soup]

In that case I would look for the card with the most mature driver set. Workstation cards are pricey because of the general quality and error tolerances put into the drivers. Perhaps a 6000 or 500 series?

[JNUKZ]

Originally Posted by Soup

In that case I would look for the card with the most mature driver set. Workstation cards are pricey because of the general quality and error tolerances put into the drivers. Perhaps a 6000 or 500 series?

Nope all gone except cards like HD 6450 or GT540.

[Sasqui]

Originally Posted by JNUKZ

Nope all gone except cards like HD 6450 or GT540.

http://usa.autodesk.com/autocad-arch...-requirements/

+1 to Soup. The AutoCAD subsystems interface with Direct 3D and use shader model 3.0 (DX9c). A decent consumer gaming card will work well.

[JNUKZ]

I made a few searches and i was thinking on something like this:

Amd FX 8320 -166€
Gigabyte 970A-UD3 -90€
Gskill Ripjways 8GB 1866mhz -50€
XFX Pro 550W -65€
WD 1TB Black sata3 -100€
Case CoolerMaster K350 -36€

Around 500€ and still left 400€ to GPU but i was thinking on a SSD of 120gb or more.

[Soup]

Gskill Ripjways 8GB 1866mhz

If he's running any simulations I would go for 16GB. I have some users running flow sims and they eat upwards of 30GB of system memory.

Will all the data be stored locally? If so, whether you go SSD or mechanical, I'd get two drives for RAID 1 redundancy.

Looks like a fun project!

[JNUKZ]

yeah i go with 16gb or maybe more btw he usually dont turn off the computer because he run programs all night so he need a nice cpu cooler.
I dont know about the ssd and raid stuff but all the data stored on the hard drive

[de.das.dude]

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...anuf=all&opt=0

[repman244]

Where are these rumors about Intel being bad for CAD are coming from? Seriously I don't see any problems...

But anyhow, seems like a good build to me, do get 16GB of RAM since it's not that expensive but it always comes handy.

About the GPU, if it's mainly for Autocad 2D, just get a consumer card. However anything a bit more complex in 3D the consumer cards will get murdered by lower end workstation cards.

Did you consider getting a used FirePro or Quadro (if you can find any)?

EDIT: just a comparison, my HD5870 is crap compared to a FirePro 5950 which is a laptop GPU.

[Sasqui]

Originally Posted by de.das.dude

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet...anuf=all&opt=0

I don't know if I susbscribe to that, other than Autodesk doing some testing and working with the vendor on drivers. And they target the "Workstation" cards because that's the overall expectation.

I do a ton of cad work using consumer grade graphic cards, and can't say I've had any particular issues.

All that is just my opinion.

[JNUKZ]

Its mainly for 3D applications, he is using a GT540M and usually dont have problem, well sometimes crashes and screen stop responding

[repman244]

Originally Posted by JNUKZ

Its mainly for 3D applications, he is using a GT540M and usually dont have problem, well sometimes crashes and screen stop responding

But did he ever try a workstation card and see if he can benefit from it? I had major issues with Solidworks (driver and performance problems) until I got myself a workstation card and have no crashes with great performance.

I think you should really consider it (first check if the programs actually benefit from it which I think they do), even used cards are usually in good condition since they were used in workstations and aren't overclocked.

But if there is no benefit (or it's not that important) then a guess a normal GPU should do good, but just keep in mind that pretty much all 3D can be done on the GPU so it's sometimes more important than the CPU

[Soup]

Originally Posted by JNUKZ

all the data stored on the hard drive

If this work is mission critical then you'll definitely want the fault tolerance of RAID 1 or some sort of online backup.

[Mindweaver]

You should be fine with a consumer graphics card, but If you can find an ATI FirePro v4800 or v4900 for around $200 then I would go that route.. I can get the v4800 for $159.99 and the v4900 for $164.99 @ newegg.com. Does he do a lot of assemblies? I know my v5200 really shines on big assembly drawings. If he isn't going to be making assemblies via Autodesk Inventor or Solidworks then he should be fine with a consumer grade, but if he is then I would go workstation card. I'd also invest in a good SSD, and backup the SSD onto the 1tb mech drive nightly.

[JNUKZ]

Looks like in his company doesn´t like Amd cpu don´t ask me why he said that amd was giving to many problems in past... intel fan boys

He going to use some cloud system so he doesn´t need a big disk just a fast SSD, and his pc is 24/7 on so needs a nice cooling system on cpu. Since buying a workstation card is hard he needs a good consumer gpu.

[fasteddy2020]

I use AutoCad everyday as part of my job. I just got a new computer a couple of months ago. Here are the specs:

CAD Workstation (Dual Screen capable) to include the following:
Q-Series Core i Motherboard - Intel DQ67SW Socket H2 LGA-1155 Desktop Boardr

Processor - Intel Core i7-2600 3.40GHz - Socket H2 LGA1155 - 8MB L3 Cache - Quad Core

(4) Memory - Total of 16GB RAM using 4GB Memory Module DDR3-1333 PC3-10600 - CL=9, Unbuffered, Non-ECC,
1.5v, 512MB x 64

Solid State Drive - 120GB Internal SSD 320 Series - 2.5 in - SATA

Graphics Card - NVIDIA QUADRO 2000 PCIe16 2.0 - 1GB GDDR5 SDRAM 128bit - Max Resolution: 2560 x 1600 -192 CUDA Cores** - (2) DVI-I (Dual Link) and (1) VGA Video Ports


I would go with the Quadro 2000 card (about $200 USD). It is reasonably priced and does a good job. I have no issues with 2D or 3D rendering. I looked into consumer cards like a 7950 but they are a bit overkill and I would have needed to get a much larger power supply instead of the 350W that I have. Also an SSD is a huge help with speed and productivity. All my files are saved on the server and accessed there. It used to take AutoCAD forever to open with a HDD.

Just my $.02

[ALMOSTunseen]

If it is going to be on allot, I would recommend a closed loop watercooler, or a high end air cooler.
16Gb of ram is a minimum.

[de.das.dude]

Originally Posted by repman244

Where are these rumors about Intel being bad for CAD are coming from? Seriously I don't see any problems...

But anyhow, seems like a good build to me, do get 16GB of RAM since it's not that expensive but it always comes handy.

About the GPU, if it's mainly for Autocad 2D, just get a consumer card. However anything a bit more complex in 3D the consumer cards will get murdered by lower end workstation cards.

Did you consider getting a used FirePro or Quadro (if you can find any)?

EDIT: just a comparison, my HD5870 is crap compared to a FirePro 5950 which is a laptop GPU.

anyone who has used autoCAD will know. it doesnt have problems with 3d max or maya though XD

autocad seems a bit laggy sometimes.

[de.das.dude]

Originally Posted by Sasqui

I don't know if I susbscribe to that, other than Autodesk doing some testing and working with the vendor on drivers. And they target the "Workstation" cards because that's the overall expectation.

I do a ton of cad work using consumer grade graphic cards, and can't say I've had any particular issues.

All that is just my opinion.

thats what i was trying to point out. at the end of the list they show consumer graphics cards.
also tbh, even if i dont use a graphics card i dont see much problems