CADsince07 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Hi All, I have been doing CAD for about a year now and am abouts to start an HNC. I am going to be buying a desktop computer, because i currently only have a family laptop at home. Could you please share your wisdom as far as PC specs are concerned? What are the most important specs that i should be concentrating on (i want to build a pc through dell). I know very little about the extreme technicalities of a PC and so simplified English would be much appreciated!! For example is the cache important? Is a smaller hard drive better that a large hard drive? I aslo wondered if any of you out there are currently using a Dell Studio Hybrid. These not only look stylish but are also great for running costs (supoposedly 70% cheaper than a standard desktop) and so i wondered if they handle CAD well? Cheers for your help!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Yes those dell Studio hybrids are cool "looking" but do not buy one for CAD use! Why, they are basically laptops in a desktop body. The most important thing a good cad machine needs is a dedicated video card with at least 256mb of video ram. Do not use a machine that had a built-in video card with shared memory. It might work but your performance will suffer. Here is what I would spec... 2.0 GHz dual-core cpu (or a core2 quad if you want too) 2gb if not 3 gb of ram. (memory is cheap) 250 gb hard drive or larger (sata) A PCIe video card: - nVidia GeForce 8800GT, 512 mb GDDR3 DirectX10 will be around $150 - nVidia Quadro series if you can swing it DVD r/w 2 20" LCD screens or larger (I have a 24" and a 20") MS Vista will be just fine on this machine Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CADsince07 Posted September 29, 2008 Author Share Posted September 29, 2008 Thanks for taking the time to write that out for me - that is exactly what i was after. I will avoid the studio hybrid - thought it looked too cool to be true! lol. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 No problem bro I like the studio too. Very cool looking unit. I just hate that it has an Intel video solution. It would make a nice living room PC hooked up to a nice HD tv. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Get all the RAM you can possibly afford. As for the hard drive you want a minimum 7200 rpm. If you can afford to spend more than go to 10,000 rpm. I'd recommend a nVidia video card maybe something in the Quadro series. And, as long as you're at it, get a nice 22" flatscreen LCD. You won't regret it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 yeah, that little studio unit has a 5400 rpm laptop drive. With a 10,000 rpm you will have to go scsi, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Once upon a time, yes. Now you can get a 10,000 rpm SATA II drive from a couple of sources. Western Digital as a 150GB and a 300GB model I believe. Now a 15,000 rpm drive would definitely have to be SCSI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperCAD Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 We went with the NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500 and the results have been nothing less than amazing. That one'll run you around $850-900 (and that is on the lower-middle end) but it will be worth it. The higher Quadro's go for thousands of dollars (when I was researching it, the highest one was around $4,000) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nocturne00 Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 yeah but I wont really recommend those "higher Quadro's", most high end video cards are mainly being upgraded to meet the minimum specs for gaming. but for use in autoCAD drafting maybe just go for the most Cost Effective. its better as ReMark stated above to go for lots of memory. except if your work is concentrated on 3d modeling, animation using Autodesk maya, maybe then will those Video Cards kick in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 I have a quadro at work and I can tell a difference from a video game card (what I have at home). In my experience I would have to say that each piece goes hand in hand with each other for a good system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 nVidia Quadro cards are not aimed at the gaming market. They have been a long time standard of high end CAD systems. It's the newer GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS cards that although targeted mainly for gamers you'll see used on some CAD workstations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CADsince07 Posted September 30, 2008 Author Share Posted September 30, 2008 Hi All, Is the following any good?? Product DescriptionHP Compaq dx2450 Micro tower PC - GY396AV 83032319 Form FactorMicroTowerProcessor1 x AMD Athlon x2 5200B processor, 3600MHz Cache Memory1.5MB - Level 2ChipsetNVIDIA nForce 430Storage ControllerSerial ATA-300Hard Drive500GB - 7200 rpmRAM2GB (installed) (2 x 1GB) - 800MHzGraphics ProcessorNVIDIA GeForce 6150SE GraphicsMonitorNoneOptical DriveDVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM LightScribe TechnologyOS ProvidedWindows XP Professional / Vista Business Upgrade Dimensions (WxDxH)16.5 x 37.3 x 36.5 cmWeight10.2kg Its just that this is pretty good price wise (obviously i need a monitor but i have found a nice 20" TFT). Let me know what you think of the above specs.... Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CADsince07 Posted September 30, 2008 Author Share Posted September 30, 2008 Sorry about the above specs - they looked ok in preview reply box!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 I installed HL2 on my work machine to see how well it played and I got lower FPS with a Quadro FX 3450 than I did with a $99 6600GT. Sure my Quadro is a PCIe and the 6600 is an AGP. Each have an intended task and target user. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 It's OK, I run less at home minus the video card. The 6150SE is an on-board video card. Get a video card and disable this one as to free up some system memory. I would try to get a little more if this is to be an 8 hour a day, 5 day a week workstation. I like the Intel based core2 systems which have a much higher cache memory. But you should be ok with a new card on this system, for a while. Hi All,Is the following any good?? Product DescriptionHP Compaq dx2450 Micro tower PC - GY396AV 83032319 Form FactorMicroTowerProcessor1 x AMD Athlon x2 5200B processor, 3600MHz Cache Memory1.5MB - Level 2ChipsetNVIDIA nForce 430Storage ControllerSerial ATA-300Hard Drive500GB - 7200 rpmRAM2GB (installed) (2 x 1GB) - 800MHzGraphics ProcessorNVIDIA GeForce 6150SE GraphicsMonitorNoneOptical DriveDVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM LightScribe TechnologyOS ProvidedWindows XP Professional / Vista Business Upgrade Dimensions (WxDxH)16.5 x 37.3 x 36.5 cmWeight10.2kg Its just that this is pretty good price wise (obviously i need a monitor but i have found a nice 20" TFT). Let me know what you think of the above specs.... Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CADsince07 Posted September 30, 2008 Author Share Posted September 30, 2008 Its just for a workstation to allow to me to complete an HNC via distance learning (all i have atm is a crappy laptop). So you would recommend a dual core with higher cache? And a different video card? Or would this set up suffice for my needs? Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CADsince07 Posted September 30, 2008 Author Share Posted September 30, 2008 In your opinion - is this set up better if i purchase more RAM (say 2gb). Specifications Product DescriptionAcer Veriton M464 - PS.M44E1.U03 Form FactorTower PC Processor1 x Intel® Core 2 Duo® E4700 2.6Ghz, 1333MHz FSBChipsetnVIDIA® GeForce® 7050Storage ControllerSerial ATA-300Hard Drive320GB - standard - Serial ATA-300 - 7200 rpmNetworkingEthernet Fast Ethernet Gigabit EthernetRAM1GB (installed) / 4GB (max) - 667MHzGraphics ProcessorNVIDIA® GeForce® 7 Series MonitorNoneOptical DriveDVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAMPower supply250W PFC OS ProvidedMicrosoft Windows Vista Business / XP Professional DowngradeDimensions (WxDxH)18.3 cm x 45.5 cm x 37.0 cmWeight20kgWarranty1 year carry in Sorry to keep pasting specs - but i dont know a lot about comps!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted September 30, 2008 Share Posted September 30, 2008 Throw another gb of ram in and you'll be OK. The video is still low but you'll get by. I would not use my 6600 for 8 hours a day work. It get's me by in the evenings and on weekends when I bring work home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CADsince07 Posted October 1, 2008 Author Share Posted October 1, 2008 Hi All, Ok incase anyone is interested i ended up with 4GB RAM (potential for 360gb hard drive 2700rpm Quad core processor Nvidia 8800 series card (cant remember exact name without looking back thorugh my list) 20" tft monitor wireless mouse and keyboard Hopefully that will be a good enough machine to see me through the HNC course and then i think i will upgrade the vieo card as i start to do more and more complex drawings So thanks for all of your help - i tried to use all of your advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted October 1, 2008 Share Posted October 1, 2008 Sounds good there Make sure you have a DVD-R/W for backups and such Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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