Engineering student/gamer college build

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thefabcab

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Aug 6, 2012
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I will be attending college soon for mechanical engineering and was wondering if this rig could run the programs needed. I also want to be able to game when I'm bored and not doing anything. How would this system hold up with the different things I want to do?

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.9 @ Outlet PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master GeminII M4 58.4 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($32.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Thermal Compound: Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminum High-Grade 1.5g Thermal Paste ($6.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H77N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($101.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Wintec One 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.83 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1089.69
 
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I assume that because of the parts you picked you are going for a mini-itx build? Personally i would go with a haswell build because it's newer, no point buying older hardware unless you can get a killer deal, and matx as it has more expansion & better cooling (you can still get a small case). Depending on how often you use your computer i'd get an 80+ platinum PSU as the payback time could be short depending on your average power consumption (you will be overclocking as well?) and the cost of electricity. due to the size of the build (mini itx) i would also suggest a modular PSU?

In terms of mechanical engineering, will you be using applications such as solidworks, autodesk inventor/simulation/autocad? The size of the datasets and how...
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BBCXC

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Jul 6, 2013
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I assume that because of the parts you picked you are going for a mini-itx build? Personally i would go with a haswell build because it's newer, no point buying older hardware unless you can get a killer deal, and matx as it has more expansion & better cooling (you can still get a small case). Depending on how often you use your computer i'd get an 80+ platinum PSU as the payback time could be short depending on your average power consumption (you will be overclocking as well?) and the cost of electricity. due to the size of the build (mini itx) i would also suggest a modular PSU?

In terms of mechanical engineering, will you be using applications such as solidworks, autodesk inventor/simulation/autocad? The size of the datasets and how many parts in your assembly define how much memory, graphics power & CPU power you need, commonly more threads is better for FEA but an i7 would limit other parts of the build and an amd processor would limit gaming performance. I don't know exactly how much each program i mentioned needs for different workloads but keeping with a mini-itx build (this means you're RAM limited though with 2 memory slots) but incorporating my suggestions and maxing the ram i would end up with something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Gemin II S524 77.7 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Prolimatech PK-3 Nano Aluminum High-Grade 1.5g Thermal Paste ($6.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($138.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($108.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Kingwin Lazer Platinum 550W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($103.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1218.85
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-08 01:45 EDT-0400)

 
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cbrunnem

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Dec 19, 2010
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as i said, this is a gaming build. any decent college would never expect a student to use his own computer for any FEA or modeling. let alone the fact that he might have 1 class that requires the use of a modeling program. if he ever does have to use a 3d modeling program such as Pro/e, catia, solidworks, solidedge, NX, or Inventor(yuck) the school will provide the necissary labs to do so. even if a student does want to do such things on his computer his options are limited, he could choose to get a free educational version from a place like autodesk(inventor and again yuck, inventor is bad and only small companies ever use it.) which do have free versions but i suggest not using these types of programs because they are free for a reason.... because they arent used in industry. his second option is to buy a student license from the other companies which will run you 200-1000 dollars a year. no small chunk of change. if you ever have to do FEA i would hope your school would have a dedicated server to off load to mine did and a few friends from other schools had similar privileges so again no need for an i7 to do sims with.

words of wisdom from a student of a top 10 engineering school. ive been where this kid is and im just advising him not to build toward an "engineering" computer(which actually would entail and workstation gpu) and more towards a gaming computer(if he even has time to game much).

OP your build is fine id recommend staying away from corsair vengance ram though as they are tall and cause clearances issues with heatsinks.
 
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BBCXC

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Jul 6, 2013
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haha yep i forgot to mention Catia, proengineer, and am not familiar with any Siemens stuff, they are all under engineering programs to me =P. It makes sense that his school would have workstations etc, you're correct. Sometimes engineering schools have a networked license server or give students an educational version?

Extra comments for the OP:
For a primary gaming build reducing the RAM from the build i suggested to 8GB would knock $50 off the price, it's still ~$100 over the original build's price though, it does however have a haswell CPU and z series motherboard. The Z77 version of the board he specified would cost ~$20 more on the OP's current build however. I don't know whether haswell + platinum PSU is worth $80 to the OP?

Going the other way, if not overclocking going from a 3570k to a 3570 saves ~$20?
 
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