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Good CAD system recommendation

B

BigMacAttack

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 5, 2006
Messages
1,563
Hello all
As a current AMD user (don't shoot! :)) I am interested in a Core2Duo setup at work. I do civil design with AutoDesk's Acad R2004 but will be migrating to Acad R2007/Civil 3D in the near future. The system will need to be compatible with the cad environment as well as some gaming (boss doesn't mind a lunch time frag session).
I am looking at the E6300/E6600 as the system will need to be affordable but am open to suggestions on all options. I desire a system with robust overclocking abilities so the mobo's bios feature set is quite important. I am up on the current crop of video cards/monitors and all that so mainly I am interested in mobo/ram/psu and cpu options. Your recommendations will be more than welcome.
Thanks
 
Could you give some more details of price range, needs, etc.


e6400
Asus P5B-E
2 x 1Gb ddr2 800 (nearly any brand as Cas is not important) G.skill, OCZ, Corsair
8800GTS (or GTX)
150GB Raptor for OS + programs
+ additional storage HD's as necessary
SATA DVD
case with 120mm fans (I prefer Lian-Li PC7- Plus II)
 
Go with a 4MB cache chip, E6600 at least and this application could use quad core solution, go with PC6400 ram 4 GB min, timings not critical 555-15 444-12 you wont know the difference due to the way intels memory controllers work and the core 2 pipline.

I am concerned you are building more of a gamer than a work machine. You are up on the current crop of open GL quatro boards ?

Here is some ideas for graphics cards that are considered a mid level workstation suitable for Autocad.

Graphics cards
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 285 (128 MB TC, Dual DVI or Dual VGA)
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 440 (256 MB quad display and up to 2 cards supported)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 560 (128 MB, Dual DVI or Dual VGA)
ATI FireGL V3300 (128 MB, Dual DVI or Dual VGA)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500 (256 MB, Dual DVI or Dual VGA)
ATI FireGL V7200 (256 MB, Dual DVI or Dual VGA)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500 (256 MB, Dual DVI or Dual VGA)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 (512 MB, Dual DVI or Dual VGA)

get a board that can create a raid 5 array unless your data can be stored on a server that is reqularly and reliably backed up. Use raid 1 for OS and application software. This just about requires you to get a ICH8R motherboard which means P965 boards which are (IMO) now stable enough for production use. Stay away from I680 and other brand new Nvida boards, not mature or stable and no major benifit for your use.
 
'yea, 4GB RAM is more important than the processor (but that it's a Core 2 Duo is essential). We're running AutoCAD 2007 with Land and Map packages. Wouldn't think of slamming a machine with this much work without a ton of RAM. I think we have 6300's.
 
i do a lot of CAD work...just for school work and just side projects taht i get. i use solid works, autocad 07, inventor, 3dmax. my rig right pretty well. any computer can proabably run these software...it just depends on how fast and how smooth you want it to run...more RAM and better VC certainly help
 
Thanks for all the excellent tips. We do run a server that is RAID5 and a backup server with the same setup for mirror backups nightly so there is no need for a heavy duty RAID setup in this machine. Currently I am running Acad R2004 on an older AMD 3700+ Clawhammer with 1 GB of DDR400 ram and a 250GB hard drive and it is sufficient for the time being but I fully understand that to run Acad R2007 a dual core setup is best. We are not going to VISTA anytime soon but 4GB of ram is a good idea as Acad is a hog and if we upgrade to VISTA the machine will be able to handle it.
As for video cards, I am presently running an AGP ATI X800Pro 256mb VisionTek card and it more than handles Acad R2004 so I really see no need to get an Acad specific video card, especially since many of them are more expensive than typical 3D "gamer" style video cards. The currrent crop of "gamer" video cards seem to be able handle Acad quite well. 3D cadd is not something we are currently involved with, however 3D civil may change that a little bit. We really have little need for it other than the capability to check for utility conflicts in profiles. After checking the recommended and supported I think I'll be sticking with ATI as their current crop of cards seem to be quite sufficient. Good to see my old X800 being on the list - even though I won't be able to use it in the new build since its AGP. It seems very bizarre that Autodesk would list the X1800 as supported but not recommended when the older 9800XT and X800 series cards along with the X300/X550, X1300 and X1600 series cards are supported and recommended. Strange. Must be a driver issue of some kind. Seems to me the best bang for the buck might be a PCI-e 256mb X800/X850 Pro, XL or XT as they are quite affordable, perform well in both situations (cadd and game) and actually outperform the X1600 cards in gaming situations from the comparison reviews I've seen. Keeping costs down in this area is not a concern as VISTA/DX10 compatibility is not a concern at the moment.
I'd say an estimate of not more than $1750 for the machine would be quite sufficient. I have no need for a monitor as I already have one.
I am interested in a "dual purpose" machine - leaning more toward cad use but also capable of gaming in a respectable manner. The games I'm into don't require the hottest video card out there (HL/HL2) so Acad compatibility is more the concern.
 
You honestly dont need a Quadro card for that system. I use SW,AutoCad and MasterCam all day on my workstation with a 7900GS and its just as fast as the Quadro card I have in my other PC. I would go Quadro if I used 3Dmax. Spend the cash on ram and the 6600 IMO.
 
I would go the safe route and picke up the quadro. You can pick up FX3400 and FX3450 pretty affordably on ebay
 
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