Spec me for Solidworks

Roverno · 26 Jul 2012 at 18:55

Hi all,

Looking for a mid-high end system for running solidworks. Will be doing force analysis and such within solidworks and assemblies of an entire vehicle, give or take.

Initial plan for budget was £1-2k but nvidia quadro will be hugely beneficial and is much more expensive than gaming cards?

Was thinking of SB-E as a base but not built this style workstation before.

Thoughts appreciated. Thanks

Doomedspeed · 26 Jul 2012 at 19:08

Hi mate, i use solidworks a bit so may be able to help.

Does the 1k-2k budget just for the tower, or do you need screen(s), keyboard, mouse and OS?

Sandy bridge E could be the way to go depending on the budget. There are some decent Quadro/Firepro cards for £300-£400 so they may be an option. If the PC is JUST for solidworks and CAD like program it will be high benifical, though if you want to game on it too a Top end Gaming GPU should be purchased.

Roverno · 26 Jul 2012 at 20:01

Just solidworks really. budget is just the tower plus OS.

Doomedspeed · 26 Jul 2012 at 20:49

Id suggest something like:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i7-3930K 3.20GHz (Sandybridge-E) Socket LGA2011 Processor - Retail £459.95
1 x Gigabyte X79-UD3 Intel X79 (Socket 2011) DDR3 Motherboard £179.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-Bit - OEM (FQC-04649) £119.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST2000DM001) £99.98
1 x Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650M High Performance 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020002-UK) £84.98
1 x TeamGroup Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED316G1600HC11DC) £79.99
1 x Fractal Design Arc Midi Tower Case - Black £79.99
1 x Intel 330 Series 120GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive - Retail £79.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1156/1155/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM3/AM3+/FM1) £59.99
1 x LG GH24NS90 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
Total : £1,276.85 (includes shipping : £12.50).

Plus a Quadro 2000 or Firepro V5900 (£1600 budget)

Or

A firepro v7900 (within £2000 budget) or a Quadro 4000, though it'd take you over £2000.

The Firepro's are better value for money. I wouldn't even consider a Quadro 4000, just threw it out there to compare.

Personally, id go for the V5900 and get a big SSD (256GB). And another 16GB of RAM. Maybe also get a 550D case. Though the Arc's are very good for airflow.

Roverno · 26 Jul 2012 at 21:48

Ok, thanks. Thats helps a lot. Certainly with Graphics as i have never looked into workstation GPUs before. Would you say GPU or CPU affect SW performance more?

Also would going for the i3820 instead of a 3930k be a reasonable choice?

Doomedspeed · 26 Jul 2012 at 22:04

Roverno said:
Ok, thanks. Thats helps a lot. Certainly with Graphics as i have never looked into workstation GPUs before. Would you say GPU or CPU affect SW performance more?

They both affect performance, i'd say CPU more than GPU but obviously they are both as important. For rendering RAM becomes important too.

Make sure you get Win7 Professional or ulitmate as the home edtion has a RAM cap of 16GB, where pro and ulti have a 192GB (or something) Cap.

Roverno said:
Also would going for the i3820 instead of a 3930k be a reasonable choice?

In most reviews I've read the compare the 3820 to the i7 3770k, more of a gaming chip.

My suggestion si read the reviews and see what you feel suits you best.

My opinion is the 3930k, as it has 6 cores and 12 threads. One part of a review i read compared it to a dual Xeon system.

The i7-3930K is so fast when overclocked, it also provides a serious alternative choice to a dual-processor workstation. Using Cinebench R11.5 as an example again, the overclocked i7-3930K was less than 1 per cent slower than a pair of Xeon X5650s, a combination that would set you back at least £1,100 more. However, you'll need powerful cooling to tame the heat of the CPU and its VRMs - water-cooling would be our choice for both. Only the ECC registered memory of a Xeon-based system makes them worth considering.

It's within your budget too.

DazQ87 · 26 Jul 2012 at 22:12

Pardon my ignorance, but what are the differences between modern GPUs for games and the CAD cards? I seem to remember a few years ago you could flash standard GPUs with the CAD BIOS particuarly with ATI cards.

Doomedspeed · 26 Jul 2012 at 22:48

DazQ87 said:
Pardon my ignorance, but what are the differences between modern GPUs for games and the CAD cards? I seem to remember a few years ago you could flash standard GPUs with the CAD BIOS particuarly with ATI cards.

I have never heard of that. Only read up on them for the last year or so, so may have missed that stage. Have you a link to anything i can read, it sounds interesting?

I can't explain it very well but im assured by University and Professional staff i know that professional CAD graphics cards perform a lot better in that area than standard gaming GPU's.
Im sorry i can't explain it atall.