Hi, I am about to begin my final year of study in Industrial Design in September. On our course we use PTC Creo CAD software and Keyshot rendering. While the department has two computer suites, the volume of students means that CAD PCs are at a premium, and therefore for my final year I have decided that I require a machine of my own. Being a student, I am on a limited budget, and so I have decided to build a computer with the help of a friend to get the best components I can for my money. I have never done this before, so sorry if I have made any errors in my selections! I am going the AMD route on cost grounds. The components I was thinking about are as follows:
- AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 6MB L3 Cache Cache 125W
- Asus M5A78L-M LX3 AM3+ AMD 760G DDR3 uATX
- G.Skill 8GB (2 x 4GB) Ripjaws-X DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz CL9
- Seagate 500GB Barracuda SATA-600 7200RPM 16MB 3.5" Hard Drive
- (I have a case and power supply already)
My question is about graphics cards. I can either get an ATI Radeon card, possibly the Asus ATI Radeon HD 6670 2GB PCI-Express HDMI, or spend £40 extra and get
an AMD FirePro V3900 Graphics Card - 1GB. from what I have read, the Firepro series is designed for CAD software and this card is approved by PTC. However, will I notice the extra performance for my £40, or am I better to wait and upgrade in the future if my CAD activities become more intensive? Any advice/experience would be greatly appreciated.
- AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition 3.4GHz Socket AM3 6MB L3 Cache Cache 125W
- Asus M5A78L-M LX3 AM3+ AMD 760G DDR3 uATX
- G.Skill 8GB (2 x 4GB) Ripjaws-X DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz CL9
- Seagate 500GB Barracuda SATA-600 7200RPM 16MB 3.5" Hard Drive
- (I have a case and power supply already)
My question is about graphics cards. I can either get an ATI Radeon card, possibly the Asus ATI Radeon HD 6670 2GB PCI-Express HDMI, or spend £40 extra and get
an AMD FirePro V3900 Graphics Card - 1GB. from what I have read, the Firepro series is designed for CAD software and this card is approved by PTC. However, will I notice the extra performance for my £40, or am I better to wait and upgrade in the future if my CAD activities become more intensive? Any advice/experience would be greatly appreciated.