GPU for CAD

[almoststew1990]

We have a Engineering Graduate starting soon and they'll need a PC. They'll do mostly 2D CAD and a little (maybe once a month) 3D for drainage.

The set up im going for is a lower end i5 with 8GB of RAM (we only do small projects and 8GB is enough for the other engineers).

Do I need a dedicated GPU for 2D CAD?
Do I need a dedicated GPU for 3D CAD?

Will a (free) 1GB Nvidia GT 240 be sufficient?

I'm not a caddist myself so I'm not too sure on the specifics of what they do.

 

[JonSmith]

Should be fine, although personally I'd recommend a more up to date chip that supports the latest direct X and OpenCL. The best value one to my mind is a HD7750.

Also remember you can drive multiple screens by having one screen connected to the dGPU and one to the iGPU, if you so desire.

i5 + 8GB is plenty, the CPU is almost redundant in CAD work but is useful for supplementary activities that go along with CAD, such as converting between file formats.

A fast disk drive is also really helpful.

 

[Freddie1980]

A fast disk drive is also really helpful.

Following on from the above you should consider getting a 32Gb kit and setting up a ram drive to work off (use it as a scratch pad) then you at the end of the day he can save it to the Network drive.

What software/programs will he be specifically using?

 

[almoststew1990]

Should be fine, although personally I'd recommend a more up to date chip that supports the latest direct X and OpenCL. The best value one to my mind is a HD7750.

Also remember you can drive multiple screens by having one screen connected to the dGPU and one to the iGPU, if you so desire.

Thanks for the input guys.

Will Direct X 11.2 or whatever we're on now allow for 'quicker working' than a DX 10 GT240?

A 32GB RAM drive will be massively over the top- the lead engineer considers the performance of my above spec (his PC is pretty similar) to be "good" for the type of projects his team does.

He does not want to pay for an SSD for the same reasoning even though I advised of the wider benefits of having one.

FYI- I'm just a Transport Planner in the team who has been christened "Captain IT" and advised there could be benefits if I like computers, so i'm not a paid 'IT person'!

 

[JonSmith]

DX 11.2 is certainly a performance improvement if the application supports it. It will honestly depend on the level of 3D work however, anything less than HD 6450 performance will tend to struggle with moderately complex 3D scenes.

You could always try it on both the iGPU and with the 240, the i5 will certainly support DX 11.2/OpenGL 4.0 and OpenCL. If you notice view port stuttering or slow downs then upgrade the GPU to something more beefy.