Building a 3D Modeling Computer

[dennismv]

Having been out of touch with reality for a bit, I'm looking to build a 3D modeling computer for my sister. She is working for a car company and they use some beefed up machines for CAD work and 3D models. So basically that'll be her home machine but she wants it to have enough performance to keep up with this kind of work. There was also requested a DVD burner, and a seriously good video card and a big fan also it should be within budget, say $1,000 through $1,500, but less is good, as there isn't a need for extra power that'll be unused.

So I put this together (didn't buy anything yet):

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 case
DVD BRN ASUS | DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS%
CPU INTEL|CORE I7 2600K 3.4G 8M R
MEM 4Gx2|MUSHKIN 996770 DDR3 1333
PSU CORSAIR|CMPSU-650TX 650W RT
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 Intel
GeForce GTX 570 or GeForce GTX 580

I will probably up the memory and PSU, but overall, would this be a good system for 3d / CAD modeling tasks? Are there any recent technology shifts that make this out of date?

 

[basic_wonder]

modeling/CAD is very CPU/RAM heavy, I would try to buy as much ram as possible within your budget .....

You could also move over to the nvidia quadro line or ati firepro line of video cards which are created for the purpose of modeling/rendering and CAD work. Those are pretty expensive and might be beyond your budget ....

 

[Quartz-1]

Having been out of touch with reality for a bit, I'm looking to build a 3D modeling computer for my sister. She is working for a car company and they use some beefed up machines for CAD work and 3D models. So basically that'll be her home machine but she wants it to have enough performance to keep up with this kind of work.

She should speak to her work's IT department to get details of which graphics cards they recommend.

She should also speak to her manager about getting a company machine for home use.

 

[Methadras]

Your video card needs to change. Either to a FireGL card or to an Nvidia Quadro card. These are tailored towards cad and 3d modelling in general. You also want a motherboard that will offer you the largest memory bandwidth and the ram to follow. If she is going to do any analysis work, then I'd say as much ram and the fastest ram you can afford.

 

[Dangman]

I will probably up the memory and PSU, but overall, would this be a good system for 3d / CAD modeling tasks?

It'll be ok but not the best for the money. There's quite a few issues with it:

GeForce GTX 570 or GeForce GTX 580

If you ignore the Quadro advice, at least get an up-to-date consumer Nvidia card like the GTX 670 2GB.

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 case

There are better cases out there for the money:
$76 - Corsair Carbide Series 300R ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$115 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case

MEM 4Gx2|MUSHKIN 996770 DDR3 1333

This begs the question:
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

CPU INTEL|CORE I7 2600K 3.4G 8M R

6) Will you be overclocking?

PSU CORSAIR|CMPSU-650TX 650W RT

Which Corsair TX650?

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 Intel

This motherboard appears to be overkill. Please answer this question:
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.

 

[Methadras]

This motherboard appears to be overkill. Please answer this question:
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.

If you can raid, then raid. If you can get usb 3.0 then get it and fastest sata as well. Also, running a SSD will also increase your speed as well.

 

[dennismv]

Thanks!

wow, that is quite a change. I was hoping to get away with a budget system, but it seems to be a tad harder than meets the eye.

10) Do you already have OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

Not yet, but most likely it will be 64 bit.

6) Will you be overclocking?

No

X) Which Corsair TX650?

I wasn't aware there were more than one type. How about this one? http://www.corsair.com/tx650w.html

9) What features do you need in a motherboard?

I went with the board, thinking that more expensive one will do better. But I really don't think I need any particular thing.
Perhaps eSATA and USB3.0.
I don't know if SLI helps with modeling. My impression is that it's more for fps, so no SLI required.
I was planning on getting a large harddrive, like 3 to 4Tb.

Still, this will be a home computer, so while it will be nice to have fastest everything, maybe it's not necessary? That is, as long as wait times are reasonable during most 3D Modeling tasks, it will probably be sufficient.

I see that the bar can get very high. For example, Adobe/Intel recommended Intel Xeon 3.47GHz CPU. http://www.intelsalestraining.com/adobe/demo.htm
That's circa $1,100, already starting to max out the budget without all the other things. I'd like to go with more of a budget system but still potent enough for these tasks.

 

[Dangman]

Not yet, but most likely it will be 64 bit.

Make sure that you get Windows 7 Pro so that you can get 32GB of RAM support. Considering the planned use, definitely gonna need 32GB of RAM and Windows 7 Pro.

Also RAM wise, grab the 4 x 8GB DDR3 RAM sets. Make sure that it's rated at 1.5V or lower as any higher and you risk damage to the CPU.

No

In that case don't get the K series of Intel CPUs at all. The K series is generally meant for overclockers. So go for the i7 3770 or i7 2600

I wasn't aware there were more than one type. How about this one? http://www.corsair.com/tx650w.html

That's the older model. You want to get the newer TX650 V2:
http://www.corsair.com/us/power-sup...d-650-watt-high-performance-power-supply.html

I went with the board, thinking that more expensive one will do better. But I really don't think I need any particular thing.
Perhaps eSATA and USB3.0.

Go for the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H motherboard