Help Me PLEASE. I need help and advice for AutoCad Workstation Build.

[James74]

PLEASE HELP!

Ok so here is the deal I have two budgets for WKS's to order. First budgetis for the two project managers and the other budget is for the supportengineers.

I just happen to be the one at the company that builds pc and pretty muchfixes the problems here related to IT as we have no IT other than me.

I have a budget which allows for $2000.00 - $2500.00 for the two ProjectEngineers. The best, fastest most reliable/solid WKS I can get. I have 2 ofthese to order.

I have a budget which allows for $1000.00 - $2000.00 for the SupportEngineers like to stay around $1500.00 if possible. I have 15 of these toorder.

I am open to custom builds (done hundreds of those) A pre-config box likeDELL or HP or ect...

I now have a dual role here as a CAD Assistant and now the new IT guy, Iguess. I really need help in configuring these Cad WKS as I have never builtone before. I know you approach building Cad / Engineering WKS differently thanboxes for gaming and ect...

So I plead for the help of other with the experience and knowledge I haveyet to obtain that can help me. I just need help configuring 2 workstations onetype for the Project Eng’s and one for the Support.

Thank for anyone that is willing to help or give advice.

we will be running AutoCad 2007,11,13

[ReMark]

64-bit OS - Win7 Pro

64-bit AutoCAD for 2011 and 2013. 2007 is 32-bit. There may be a problem or two running it on a 64-bit computer.

4-8GB RAM (Anybody do 3D work?)

SSD for the boot drive and to store programs on. A platter drive for data files.

A mid-range graphics card by ATI or nVidia.

[rkent]

You will need to specify whether anyone makes use of 3D, and if so how large are the files.

Also how large are the biggest typical files worked on. If you only work on 2D, fairly small drawings, then you can get by with much lower specs, especially the graphics card.

Scroll down to see Similar Threads as this is asked fairly often.

[James74]

Yes we use a program called Carlson that uses 3d. The file size are very large from what they say.
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...bsd&vw=classic

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...en&s=bsd&cs=04

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...en&s=bsd&cs=04 , are recomendations from DELL

[ReMark]

Very large 3D files are going to push your system to the max. Therefore you might want to consider 12-16GB of RAM as a minimum (maybe even 32GB).

[tomhamlet]

A way a lot of companies save on computers for CAD is minimizing the specs of the hard drive to save money for other components. Seeing as most companies have servers where they save all their files on, there is no need for a huge hard drive.

Also, make sure you let the company you order from (dell, hp, asus ect) that you are ordering in bulk for a company, usually they will knock a bit off the price. And get price quotes!

[ReMark]

I wouldn't even consider the first computer listed in the three links you provided unless it is going to be used by your secretary.

To knock 10-12% off the overall price you could look at an AMD Opteron based system instead of Intel.

[tomhamlet]

I wouldn't even consider the first computer listed in the three links you provided unless it is going to be used by your secretary.

To knock 10-12% off the overall price you could look at an AMD Opteron based system instead of Intel.

Yeah, I saw the first one only had 2G RAM, no where near enough. Personally I would agree with ReMark on the processor. AMD is cheaper than Intel, and in my opinion it is a better product. Intel processors run at a constent speed (preset by the company, usually reset by the customer). If you have little information running through it, an Intel processor is doing more work than it needs to, this is minor though and will not cause a problem or result in any difference as far as the user can tell, however if you are running a lot of info (CAD) the processor will keep to its steady pace. AMD fluctuates depending on how much information is being ran through it.

If you don't understand the comparison, Intel would be like a car set to cruise at 55 mph. If your on a 35mph limit road, your going to fast, but if your on a 70 mph limit highway, your going to slow. AMD would be like a car where the driver uses the gas to stay at the speed limit.

This being said, AMD's get hot! In a desktop, where it has good ventalation and more room, this is fine. As big as a fan of AMD that I am though, I would never put one in a laptop, but since I do not like laptops, AMD baby!!!

[f700es]

Well I like AMD cpus as well and my current home desktop and laptop both have them but Intel will out perform AMD. There is no AMD chip that can hold a candle to an Ivy Bridge based core i7 cpu. It just can't. Now you are going to pay through the nose for the i7. I have yet to see any tests of the new Trinity based AMD systems vs the Ivy Bridge ones. Now having said that I would take the on-board AMD/ATI solutions over the on-board Intel video solutions for CAD and 3D use. Now for games the Intel might be OK. Now, I would never use an on-board solution for my main CAD rig. My laptop does use the on-board ATI graphics but I don't use it everyday so I was going for low cost there.
Anyway, you are going to pay for an Ivy Bridge i5 or i7's performance. If budget is a concern then the A10 AMD chips start to look very good.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5831/a...00m-a-new-hope

My $.02

[James74]

Ok my buddy said i should check out XI and Boxx systems. here is a config that XI came up with. Is this a good config and also any suggestion or changes would be appericated. Also should i use raid config? should i use ecc or non ecc what the big dedal is ECC worth it?

here are two Intel icore7 Configs: i is for the reg cad users and the #2 is for the project engineers aka the big wigs lol
1)
00019Xi® MTower™ i-Gamer (Base Configuration)$1,319.0001764Intel® Core™ i7 3930K 3.20GHz-Max Turbo 3.80-12MB Shared L3 Cache DMI Six-Core VT (x79 MoBo only)$319.00022328GB DDR3 @1333MHz Dual Rank Interleave$49.0004449nVidia® GeForce® GTX 650 2GB DDR5 PCIe 1xDVI-I 1xDVI-D 1xMini-HDMI$189.0005015No Monitor (credit)($140.00)03144500GB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 16MB Cache (no RAID)Incl. w/ Base17012HD Ctrl. According To Motherboard and HD Type SelectedIncl. w/ Base23011SATA/SAS Trays accordingly to case selectedIncl. w/ Base06019DVD 16x40x ReaderIncl. w/ Base09007On-Board sound accordingly to motherboard specificationsIncl. w/ Base12001On-Board Network port(s) accordingly to motherboard specificationsIncl. w/ Base13001Logitech® Corded Black Windows KeyboardIncl. w/ Base14010Logitech® Corded 2+ Wheel Mouse Black OpticalIncl. w/ Base16085Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Ultimate Edition 64Bit on DVD (32Bit avail. on request)$119.0020090Resource CD - contains Diagnostic links & DriversIncl. w/ Base20091Quick Reference Guide and @Xi Computer Manual (PDF)Incl. w/ Base35023Adobe® Digital Creativity Suite on DVD w/Premiere® & Photoshop® Elements OEM bundle (WSL)Incl. w/ Base35025Mouse Pad & Balsa Glider w/ Xi logo. (Assorted, design may vary).Incl. w/ Base22251Asus® Rampage IV Extreme Intel® X79-4xPCIe 16x Mechanical (2x16x/3x8x16x-8x+1x16x@8x)-Quad Ch. 8 Banks DDR3 1333/2400(O.C.)-1x1Gb Ethernet-2xSATA6Gb+4sSATA3Gb RAID 0/1/10/5-Digital Audio-8CH-S/PDIF Quad SLI® EATX$219.0044030850W Corsair® TX Series Ultra-Quiet BB 14cm Fan 80%+efficiency 99% Active PFC$59.0027186Xi® MTower™ CM-Storm TROOPER Quiet High Ventilation 3x20cm+4x12cm+1x14cm Quiet Fans -Front, Side & Top Grid-FrontUSB2/3.0+1394+eSATA- 8x 5.25"- 8x 3.5"-13x2.5" (converted with 2x4-in 3 HDD Modules)-1x 2.5 external$49.0018001Standard Xi Warranty w/Express Advance Parts Replacement, One Year on System, Mfg. on MonitorIncl. w/ Base47002NEMA 5-15P to C13 Wall Plug, 125 Volt, 16AWG, 5 Feet. Standard Computer AC power CordIncl. w/ Base
Total Delivered $2.190.26
************************************************** ************************************************** ************************************************** ***********************************************
2)

00019Xi® MTower™ i-Gamer (Base Configuration)$1,319.0001764Intel® Core™ i7 3930K 3.20GHz-Max Turbo 3.80-12MB Shared L3 Cache DMI Six-Core VT (x79 MoBo only)$319.00022328GB DDR3 @1333MHz Dual Rank Interleave$49.0004449nVidia® GeForce® GTX 650 2GB DDR5 PCIe 1xDVI-I 1xDVI-D 1xMini-HDMI$189.0005015No Monitor (credit)($140.00)03144500GB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 16MB Cache (no RAID)Incl. w/ Base17012HD Ctrl. According To Motherboard and HD Type SelectedIncl. w/ Base23011SATA/SAS Trays accordingly to case selectedIncl. w/ Base06019DVD 16x40x ReaderIncl. w/ Base09007On-Board sound accordingly to motherboard specificationsIncl. w/ Base12001On-Board Network port(s) accordingly to motherboard specificationsIncl. w/ Base13001Logitech® Corded Black Windows KeyboardIncl. w/ Base14010Logitech® Corded 2+ Wheel Mouse Black OpticalIncl. w/ Base16085Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Ultimate Edition 64Bit on DVD (32Bit avail. on request)$119.0020090Resource CD - contains Diagnostic links & DriversIncl. w/ Base20091Quick Reference Guide and @Xi Computer Manual (PDF)Incl. w/ Base35023Adobe® Digital Creativity Suite on DVD w/Premiere® & Photoshop® Elements OEM bundle (WSL)Incl. w/ Base35025Mouse Pad & Balsa Glider w/ Xi logo. (Assorted, design may vary).Incl. w/ Base22251Asus® Rampage IV Extreme Intel® X79-4xPCIe 16x Mechanical (2x16x/3x8x16x-8x+1x16x@8x)-Quad Ch. 8 Banks DDR3 1333/2400(O.C.)-1x1Gb Ethernet-2xSATA6Gb+4sSATA3Gb RAID 0/1/10/5-Digital Audio-8CH-S/PDIF Quad SLI® EATX$219.0044030850W Corsair® TX Series Ultra-Quiet BB 14cm Fan 80%+efficiency 99% Active PFC$59.0027186Xi® MTower™ CM-Storm TROOPER Quiet High Ventilation 3x20cm+4x12cm+1x14cm Quiet Fans -Front, Side & Top Grid-FrontUSB2/3.0+1394+eSATA- 8x 5.25"- 8x 3.5"-13x2.5" (converted with 2x4-in 3 HDD Modules)-1x 2.5 external$49.0018001Standard Xi Warranty w/Express Advance Parts Replacement, One Year on System, Mfg. on MonitorIncl. w/ Base47002
NEMA 5-15P to C13 Wall Plug, 125 Volt, 16AWG, 5 Feet. Standard Computer AC power CordIncl. w/ Base
Total Delivered @2,527.72

Im working on config a AMD Workstation but really would like to stay with Intel...