New system for CAD type applications

petertr2000

petertr2000

petertr2000

Associate
Joined
7 Feb 2011
Posts
353
My brother in law has just asked me about building a new desktop for his uni course for his architecture/CAD type packages he uses that are overwhealming his current laptop.


Does anyone who where the demand comes from on these types off apps - is it CPU or GPU?

Budge will be a massive factor in the build. Although I'd certainly go for an SSD as I understand the application is frequently reading and writing large files. Lots of RAM too, at least 8Gb.


My initial guess would be an AMD APU?
 
Do you the name of the name of the software he will be using as we can check the specs as some can utilise Nvidia CUDA cores.
 
Don't go with an APU.

Depending on the Program in question, its normally CPU and RAM based, GPU plays a small part but mainly for extra processing through CUDA or OpenCL/GL.

I think the Piledriver series may be worth looking at due to the amount of virtual core the CPU's offer. And Nvidia GPu will help due to CUDA.

What is the overall budget for this?
 
Doomedspeed said:
Don't go with an APU.

Depending on the Program in question, its normally CPU and RAM based, GPU plays a small part but mainly for extra processing through CUDA or OpenCL/GL.

I think the Piledriver series may be worth looking at due to the amount of virtual core the CPU's offer. And Nvidia GPu will help due to CUDA.

What is the overall budget for this?
Click to expand...

My thought in favour of an amd apu was that it over clocks either the cpu or gpu depending on demand, which seems to fit the requirement? Especially keeping costs down.

Sorry, i don't know what cuda is. The requirements for the software only seem to mention shader model 3 is required.
 
petertr2000 said:
It's autodesk revit
Click to expand...

petertr2000 said:
My thought in favour of an amd apu was that it over clocks either the cpu or gpu depending on demand, which seems to fit the requirement? Especially keeping costs down.

Sorry, i don't know what cuda is. The requirements for the software only seem to mention shader model 3 is required.
Click to expand...

Thats not the way the program works though; ive done a little reading on it and its very much CPU based and doesn't have (any/good) CUDA support.

It relies on fast multi-core CPU's which is now where my issue lies. The AMD piledrivers CPU cores are weak (when compared to the intel equivilant) but it has more cores. Though does the software support hyperthreading (of sorts), im not sure.

And if you did go AMD (6300, 8320) you'd need a GPU as no (decent) AM3+ motherboards have on-board graphics.
 
Revit can use Hyperthreading so I would recommend the i7 4770k.

With a decent CPU cooler he can clock it to 4.6ghz and use the onchip graphics until he can afford a larger GPU. I would recommend

i7 4770k
16gb Quad-Channel memory (4x4ghz)
z87 motherboard
SSD
Storage HDD

This will future proof him until the end of his couse.
 
Thanks.

If the i7 is out of budget, which i suspect it will be, is there a budget option?

He's on a 2 year old laptop right now, so the difference is going to be massive regardless
 
petertr2000 said:
Thanks.

If the i7 is out of budget, which i suspect it will be, is there a budget option?

He's on a 2 year old laptop right now, so the difference is going to be massive regardless
Click to expand...

YOUR BASKET
1 x AMD FirePro V3900 Professional Graphics Card - 1GB - DDR3 SDRAM £98.99
1 x AMD Piledriver FX-6 Six Core 6300 Black Edition 3.50GHz (Socket AM3+) Processor - Retail £79.99
1 x Asus M5A97 EVO R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £74.99
1 x Kingston HyperX Predator 8GB (2x4GB) PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual Channel Memory Kit (KHX24C11T2K2/8X) £65.99
Total : £329.56 (includes shipping : £8.00).

 
No sorry not AMD unless going for smallest budget of budgets

AutoCAD uses single core
Inventor uses single core + GPU (lightly)
Rendering uses multi core + GPU

AMD chips are weaker in single core performance

it's better to go intel. i3 4130 has better single core performance over fx 6300

AutoCAD and Inventor use DirectX therefore a professional card is pointless because they are optimised for openGL

If however you want to go pro card Nvidia are the better option because their cards are certified by AutoDesk and AMD cards are not
 
Required CPU for value or balanced system (Autocad revit)

Multi-Core Intel® Xeon®, or i-Series processor or AMD® equivalent with SSE2 technology. Highest affordable CPU speed rating recommended.

Autodesk® Revit® software products will use multiple cores for many tasks, using up to 16 cores for near-photorealistic rendering operations.

Also recommends Firepro or quadro GPU both are certified.

http://knowledge.autodesk.com/suppo...s-for-Autodesk-Revit-2015-products.html#value

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servle..._group=2&release=2014&os=8192&manuf=all&opt=1
 
Last edited:
you don't want to listen to autodesk because they push for expensive buys. I work and build comps for the use of autocad and inventor

it is a choice between design and rendering

rendering uses multi core but the applications themselves use single core. If you plan on rendering then i5 is the budget version for this task.

the i3 is more than enough for these applications
 
What's he doing with Revit? Modeling or rendering or both? If modeling then spend a bit more on graphic card, if just rendering then it's all CPU in this case. For the gfx car get one with 4GB VRAM. Important for loading complex scenes into the revit viewports. And one day he might want to use 3ds max, Maya etc. or other DCC packages.

In either case RAM and a fast SSD for project files is a must. Go with at least 16GB RAM.

And get a good, big screen. 27" ideally.

Don't waste your money on a "professional graphics card". Believe me. And go with nvidia. Much better drivers for CAD-based stuff. A 770 4GB would be a good, budget option.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom