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CPU for AutoCAD LT

B

BurntToast

2[H]4U
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Messages
3,678
Looking to build a new box to replace a friends A-G-I-N-G P4 3.2 workstation.

They primarily use AutoCAD LT. I was thinking about maybe upgrading them to a Intel Core i3 2100. I know the bandwidth isnt there than an Sandybridge proc has. But this CPU isnt THAT bad... in gaming. Rendering on the other hand it may benefit to have the extra memory bandwidth and processing power.

But from a P4 3.2 to anything would be a welcomed upgrade.

Microcenter has the MSI H61M-E33 + Intel Core i3 2100 for $120 out the door. I would be spending three times that for a Intel 2500 build or 1366 i7 build.

So...

Intel i7 920
Intel 2500
Intel i3 2100

How much of a difference would each of these CPUs perform in Autodesk LT. Could I get away with the 2100 or should I not even look in that direction?

User currently has a Intel P4 3.2, 2GB, 6800GT
 
i5 2500. Autocad has the capability to utilize more cores and hyperthreading. Therefore the more power you have the more youll benefit. Remove the I3 from consideration and consider the Xeon E3 1220 or 1230 instead.
 
I keep forgetting about the Xeons :eek:

The That Xeon E3 1230 looks sexy with hyperthreading. But the 2500 has a nice 3.7ghz turbo mode, and the 2500k has an unlocked multi (don't want to oc this build).

I'm thinking that the stock 3.2ghz from the 1230 should be more than adequate. Especially since the software will utilize hyper threading.
 
Does autocad run slow on your current hardware, and does it actually improve much with high end CPUs? The reason I ask is because I mainly use UGS NX for CAD and drafting and the CPU usage is sweet fuck all. I had it running on an E6600, a Q6600, an i5 750, an i7 930 and an i7 980X and in each case it always ran much the same. The biggest improvement in performance I got when using NX was moving to an SSD and installing NX and having all my part files saved on the SSD.

If you use it for numerical work then that's a different matter. Or maybe autocad has a higher CPU usage than unigraphics.

EDIT: Not that I'm saying dont upgrade or anything, just asking whether CPU speed makes a big difference as you might be better off investing in a large SSD instead. One of my supervisors recently got a new PC and spent a large chunk of the money on an OCZ Revodrive.
 
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Was considering getting a 64GB C300 as a boot/app drive. Then using a F3 or WD Black for a data drive.

Might bump that up to a 128GB C300. Anything with more capacity is just too much over budget.

With a 128GB drive that should be enough for OS/APP and Data. Will be using an external HDD for data backup anyways. C300 for work drive.

Thanks
 
BurntToast said:
Was considering getting a 64GB C300 as a boot/app drive. Then using a F3 or WD Black for a data drive.

Might bump that up to a 128GB C300. Anything with more capacity is just too much over budget.

With a 128GB drive that should be enough for OS/APP and Data. Will be using an external HDD for data backup anyways. C300 for work drive.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Whats the budget?
 
I like the way autocad LT runs on my machine. Upgrading to 2011 tomorrow.
 
Besides autocad what is he going to have on his boot drive besides os?
You can probably get buy with a 64 gb drive, move the user directory over to a samsung f3.

Also with autocad, forwhatever reason it seems to play nice on low end ati video cards versus nvidias.

If i were you, I'd pick up a 2500k, overclock to about 4.0 ghz (low end easy overclock), with a ssd and a random intel p67 board you will be golden.

2500k - 225
Coolermaster Hyper 212 - 30
Low end p67 board - 120
64gb C300 - 100
1 tb Samsung f3 - 55
Ati 5770 - 100.00 (or maybe a gtx 460 if you can find one on sale).
-- 630
8 gb of ddr3 that's on sale this week.
You may need to replace the PSU... Corsair Builder is more than up to the task, just pick up a 400 -500w one.

You should be able to pull it off for about 700.

Since you have a microcenter you can probably score better deals than these newegg prices.
 
mlapgw said:
I like the way autocad LT runs on my machine. Upgrading to 2011 tomorrow.
Click to expand...
That 5870 isn't holding you back at all?

avddreamr said:
Besides autocad what is he going to have on his boot drive besides os?
You can probably get buy with a 64 gb drive, move the user directory over to a samsung f3.

Also with autocad, forwhatever reason it seems to play nice on low end ati video cards versus nvidias.

If i were you, I'd pick up a 2500k, overclock to about 4.0 ghz (low end easy overclock), with a ssd and a random intel p67 board you will be golden.

2500k - 225
Coolermaster Hyper 212 - 30
Low end p67 board - 120
64gb C300 - 100
1 tb Samsung f3 - 55
Ati 5770 - 100.00 (or maybe a gtx 460 if you can find one on sale).
-- 630
8 gb of ddr3 that's on sale this week.
You may need to replace the PSU... Corsair Builder is more than up to the task, just pick up a 400 -500w one.

You should be able to pull it off for about 700.

Since you have a microcenter you can probably score better deals than these newegg prices.
Click to expand...
If the primary purpose of this machine was for solidworks, would it just make better sense to go with the PNY VCQ600-PB Quadro 600 rather than a 5770, 5850, etc?

I have a 5850 that I could recycle into this autocad build, giving me an excuse to upgrade my gaming box to a better gpu. But if the 5850 will under perform the Quadro 600 by any significant means, I would be more pleased to just throw in a new Quadro 600 into the build.

Some older reviews have consumer cards performing at 20% of workstation cards.

Still think autocad would perform more efficient on faster quad core than a slower quadcore with ht? Generally speaking in gaming I would say yes.
 
Solidworks is going to be a lot more intensive than auto cad, I would spring for HT.
Your friend is the sort of person who keeps his systems for quite a while, so while HT may not prove necessary at the moment... it may in the future.

Regarding on the need for a professional card... i'd try to dig up some benchmarks and see where it stands, in relation to previous generation quadro cards that could have higher performance, and be lower priced b/c they are being phased out.

Unfortunately you are shopping for lowend workstation cards... and bechmarks are going to be few and far between.... so it's hard to say weather or not the entry level quadro will best your 5850. If you do end up buying the quadro then bench away.. so the next guy will not have to guess at the best decision.

My friend who basically lives in 3dsmax, is quite happy with his gtx460.
 
BurntToast said:
That 5870 isn't holding you back at all?
Click to expand...

No, this machine works like a dream. I cannot report about AutoCad 2011 64 bit, that goes in today.

Last year I was using an old machine with P4 2.8 GHz and a Quadro PCI-E. I thought it performed fairly well. Occasionally when using the trim or extend function the program would crash without doing a save function.

I didn't realize how slow that system was until I built this one. Everything pan and zooms fast. All of the functions I use work quickly.
 
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