I was looking to buy a computer for very heavy 3D Modelling and CAD usage. I don’t know a lot about computers but I know that the processor, video card, and RAM would have to be top notch to handle what I’m looking at doing.
If you can build something that you think fits what I’m looking for between the prices of $1250 and $1500 (-monitors), shoot me a message with the details of what you would build and the total price that it would cost me to have you build it.
Thanks :thumb
I would think a Mac would be a great computer for you as they are geared for that kind of work?
Nope
32-bit Edition
64-bit Edition
OS
Windows XP (32-bit or 64-bit SP2 or above)
Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit SP1 or above)
Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows XP (64-bit SP2 or above)
Windows Vista (64-bit SP1 or above)
Windows 7 (64-bit)
CPU
Intel® and AMD® processors.
Recommended: Multiple core processors. Hyperthreading and clock speeds above 3ghz can be beneficial but should be paired with a good balance of cores.
RAM
Minimum: 1 GB
Recommended: 4 GB
Virtual Memory:
XP: recommended to about 2.5 times the amount of RAM
Vista, Win7: recommended to use the default option; “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”
Minimum: 2 GB
Recommended: 8-16 GB (Based on version of Windows used)
Virtual Memory:
XP: recommended to about 2.5 times the amount of RAM
Vista, Win7: recommended to use the default option; “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”
Hard Disk
30 GB or more recommended
Temporary file cache requires about 3 GB free disk space for every 100 million points
Recommended: a SSD with more than 256GB of space or a 10000 RPM HDD
Recommended: using multiple hard drives and assigning one as a “cache” drive for Rapidform temporary storage and paging files and assigning the other for the operating system
Display
OpenGL 1.2 or above, 32 bit true color required
Recommended: 24-inch wide screen monitor, 1920X1280 resolution
GPU
Certified Graphics Card
Intel
Intel G45
Intel G645GM
Intel G965
Intel 945GM
Intel HD 2000/3000
Intel
Intel G45
Intel G645GM
Intel G965
Intel 945GM
Intel HD 2000/3000
AMD
Rage XL
Radeon 7500
Radeon 9600
Radeon 9600 XT
Radeon X600
Radeon X600SE
Radeon X700
Radeon X1650
Radeon X1600
Radeon X1800 GTO
Radeon HD 2600 XT
Radeon HD 3670M
Radeon HD 3870
Radeon HD 4770
Radeon HD 4800 1G
Radeon HD 5700
Radeon HG 5770
Radeon HD 5800
Radeon HD 6470M
Radeon HD 6850
Radeon HD 6870
Radeon HD 6950
Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD 7850
Radeon HD 7770
AMD
Rage XL
Radeon X600SE
Radeon 7500
Radeon 9600
Radeon X600
Radeon X1600
Radeon X1800 GTO
Radeon HD 2600 XT
Radeon HD 3870
Radeon HD 4770
Radeon HD 4800 1G
Radeon HD 5700
Radeon HG 5770
Radeon HD 5800
Radeon HD 6470M
Radeon HD 6850
Radeon HD 6870
Radeon HD 6950
Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD 7850
Radeon HD 7770
FireGL Z1
FireGL V3100
FireGL V3600
FireGL V5600
FireGL V7300
FireMV V2250
FirePro 2260
FirePro V2450
FirePro V3750
FirePro V3800
FirePro V4800
FireGL V3100
FireGL V3600
FireGL V5600
FireGL V7300
FireMV V2250
FirePro 2260
FirePro V2450
FirePro V3750
FirePro V3800
FirePro V4800
NVIDIA
GeForce2 MX 100/200
GeForce4 Ti 4400
GeForce FX 5200
GeForce FX 5500
GeForce FX 5600
GeForce FX 5600XT
GeForce FX 5700
GeForce FX Go 5200
GeForce FX Go 5700
GeForce Go 5200
GeForce Go 7400
GeForce Go 7600
GeForce 6200
GeForce 6600
GeForce 6800
GeForce 7600GS
GeForce 7600GT
GeForce 7800GTX
GeForce 7900GS
GeForce 640M
GeForce 8300GS
GeForce 8400M
GeForce 8400GS
GeForce 8500
GeForce 8500GT
GeForce 8500GTS
GeForce 8600
GeForce 8600GT
GeForce 8600GS
GeForce 8600GTS
GeForce 8600M
GeForce 8800GT
GeForce 8800GTS
GeForce 9200M
GeForce 9300M
GeForce 9300GE
GeForce 9500GT
GeForce 9600GT
GeForce 9800GT
GeForce 9800GTX
GeForce G105M
GeForce GT 220
GeForce GT 630
GeForce GTS 250
GeForce GTX 260
GeForce GTX 285
GeForce GTS 335M
GeForce GT 310M
GeForce GT 360M
GeForce GT 425M
GeForce GTX 485M
GeForce GT 520M
GeForce GT 525M
GeForce GT 540M
GeForce GT 550M
GeForce GT 555M
GeForce GT 8600M
GeForce GS 8600M
GeForce GTX 550TI
GeForce GTX 560TI
GeForce GTX 465
GeForce GTX 560
GeForce GTX 570
GeForce GTX 580
GeForce GTX 670
NVIDIA
GeForce2 MX 100/200
GeForce FX Go 5200
GeForce Go 5200
GeForce Go 7400
GeForce Go 7600
GeForce 6200
GeForce 6600
GeForce 6800
GeForce 7600GS
GeForce 7600GT
GeForce 7900GS
GeForce 8300GS
GeForce 8400M
GeForce 8400GS
GeForce 8500
GeForce 8500GT
GeForce 8600
GeForce 8600GS
GeForce 8600GT
GeForce 8600GTS
GeForce 640M
GeForce 8600M
GeForce 8800GT
GeForce 8800GTS
GeForce 9200M
GeForce 9300M
GeForce 9300GE
GeForce 9500GT
GeForce 9600GT
GeForce 9800GT
GeForce 9800GTX
GeForce G105M
GeForce GT 220
GeForce GT 630
GeForce GTS 250
GeForce GTX 260
GeForce GTX 285
GeForce GT 310M
GeForce GTS 335M
GeForce GT 360M
GeForce GT 425M
GeForce GTX 465
GeForce GTX 485M
GeForce GT 520M
GeForce GT 525M
GeForce GT 540M
GeForce GT 550M
GeForce GT 555M
GeForce GT 8600M
GeForce GS 8600M
GeForce GTX 550TI
GeForce GTX 560TI
GeForce GTX 560
GeForce GTX 570
GeForce GTX 580
GeForce GTX 670
Quadro NVS 120M
Quadro NVS 135M
Quadro NVS 140M
Quadro FX 350M
Quadro FX 360M
Quadro FX 500
Quadro FX 540
Quadro FX 570M
Quadro FX 580
Quadro FX 880M
Quadro FX Go 1400
Quadro FX 1400
Quadro FX 1500
Quadro FX 3500
Quadro FX 4000
Quadro FX 4500
Quadro FX 5200
Quadro FX 5700
Quadro 600
Quadro 1500
Quadro 1800
Quadro 2000
Quadro 2000D
Quadro 3000
Quadro 3500
Quadro 3800
Quadro 4000
Quadro 4500
Quadro 3000M
Quadro FX 350M
Quadro FX 360M
Quadro FX 570M
Quadro FX 580
Quadro FX 880M
Quadro FX Go 1400
Quadro FX 1400
Quadro FX 1500
Quadro FX 3500
Quadro FX 4000
Quadro FX 4500
Quadro FX 5200
Quadro FX 5700
Quadro 600
Quadro 1500
Quadro 1800
Quadro 2000
Quadro 3000
Quadro 2000D
Quadro 3500
Quadro 3800
Quadro 4000
Quadro 4500
Quadro 3000M
ATI Mobility Radeon 7000 IGP DDR
ATI Radeon X800 GTO
ATI Radeon X1600
ATI Mobility Radeon 7000 IGP DDR
It is recommended to set the anti-aliasing value lower than 8. Otherwise, detection of 3D edges may not work properly or there may be problems with panning or rotating within the application. If anti-aliasing is disabled, the edges and boundaries of shaded objects can be jagged if displayed at angles close to 0 or 90 degrees.
Other
DVD drive
3 button mouse with scroll
Sound card
Keyboard
Network card
Internet Explorer version 7.x or higher
Adobe Acrobat version 5.x or higher
Microsoft Excel 2003, 2007 or 2010 for XOV report
Great resources mostly for gaming PC, but I think they have workstation builds. Hope it helps.
Not affiliated to that site, just sharing info.
Thanks. I’m still not in the country plus not really looking to learn to do the build myself though. I thought some of the tech nerds on here could make a few bucks on it.
I could do it for you. PM me on how’d you’d like to go about getting it done.
Nick
As a Cad drafter at work and an engineering student, if you want computer specs ask Autodesk. Give them a call, and ask what they reccomend for their teachers that they have. You can even ask what kind of laptops they give their traveling teachers. But you must grasp the fact that your computer will be out of spec in a year, max 18 months.
Also, are you going to be doing more mechanical drafting (Inventor or similar), or architectural (revit or similar)? 2d or 3d or both?
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my 3 year old laptop still runs SolidWorks better than most workstations and it didnt start getting bogged down until I started with 3D LS and million point meshes.
I think i’m pretty well on top of things.
I currently use about a 3 to 4 year old desktop replacement. 4 gigs of ram, crap video card and 3 ghz dual core. Didn’t have any extra desktops to give me at work. Cannot really do any real rendering from it, takes too long.
Personal reccomendations, at least 8 gigs ram, fastest processor you can handle. I don’t know about solidworks, but inventor only uses one core when modeling, no mater how many cores you have. Only uses all when rendering. I don’t know much about the video cards anymore though. I have some specs at home ill post
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PM sent.
I appreciate the recommendations. The work I will be doing with this requires a significant amount more general “computing power” than just drafting. Once I moved on to point clouds and NURBs my purpose built laptop started to lag behind. Since I am planning on using the computer for business, I need it to be above the minimum requirements of each of the programs.
replied
I love building my own machines
but seriously just go to HP/Dell and find a desktop that will have what you need, cost differences between building it yourself vs buying it is shrinking more and more over the years
Pretty soon im upgrading my PC, and when I do i’m just going to spend the extra 200 bucks it would cost me to get it through dell :lol
I really dont see any that fit my wants/needs right now.
Most any off the shelf, won’t but customizing through dell
Was just on their looking for shits an giggles, you can get an XPS with a Core i7, 16GB of ram and a GTX 620 for like ~ 1400 bucks
I don’t know how intense any of the 3d rendering your going to do will be, but I’d look into the quadro/fire series workstation cards, they suck dick for consumer graphics use (games, etc…) but they render like a boss, but very pricey
Yea, i’m pretty sure I’m going to stick with the Quadro 2000. I read a debate about it over the fire 4900, but im pretty sure its the way to go. Oddly enough, above the GTX is recommended, but all the more educated consumer reviews say to avoid it because its a gamer card and works differently from 3d rendering.
The quadro workstation cards are what you need. Literally just bought an Q4000 2gb card here to put in the PC that Nick built(AMD) for another member here that I now own. Was just under $680 for the card. Mack has been saving my ass numerous times keeping the machine in top order for me so I highly recommend him for future work 
I have a shitty emachines PC running a gig of ram with an aftermarket video card and I have zero problems rendering parts and running the CAM software until I get into serious assemblies(150+ components or more), the bigger machine does it no sweat now. I use the shit machine at the shop to run the machines and keep the workhorse at home for the major CAD/FEA crap.
You really don’t need alot of machine to run the software, you need alot of RAM and graphics capabilities. 90% of my problems were solved with a card update(again from Mack, thanks man!) a couple years ago.
Im not 100% savvy when it comes to the workstation cards, ive heard fire/quadro have their strengths and weaknesses just like with their consumer cards.
The GTX and other consumer cards will work, but workstation cards do a much better and faster job at rendering raw data
I would highly recomend sticking with Intel for whatever it is you choose, I know AMD’s cheaper prices and their 8 core FX series seem tempting, but they hardly hold a candle to an i7’s rendering power
I would most deffinately get 16GB of ram as well more if the motherboard you get supports it and you want to shell out the extra money
Good to see you got the quadro, should make your renderings much more pleasent to work with 
and anytime man, glad I can help
Damn-it Adam, now I feel inadequate with only the Q2000. :lol