FlyingCamel said:
Hey folks,
My friend wants me to build him a rig for CAD work, the software is more specifically known as 'Catia', budget is £800, it's going to be for light use he says so nothing too extreme is required, something mid-range would be good.
I've built gaming rigs but don't have a clue when it comes to workstations, i've put together a rough list but would appreciate any further advice before i take the plunge, list is as follows:
Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor - £170
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler - £24
Asus Z87M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard - £98
Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory - £115
Plextor M5S Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk - £130
PNY Quadro 400 512MB Video Card - £119
Fractal Design Arc Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case - £60
XFX ProSeries 450W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply - £35
LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer - £12
Total: £763
Is this overkill/underkill for a mid-range workstation? I'm sure there's alot of improvements that can be made here, would appreciate any help.
Also, i'm guessing an SSD is obviously quite important for CAD but would i be better off spending £40 on a 1TB hdd and putting the extra money towards a better graphics card? Thanks!
FlyingCamel,
I'm a bit perplexed on this one. Are you sure your friend is using Catia by Dessault Systemes? The reason I ask, is that I use another software by Dessault, Solidworks which is that firm's junior 3D modeling software- and can cost $10,000.
Catia is an extremely sophisticated industrial design software that can precisely model and the assemblies of entire commercial aircraft. In the US, Catia typically costs more than $30,000 for one license, plus another $5,000- 6,000 per year support subscription fee. It is, contrary to other comments here, supporting multiple cores (since V5) and the rendering subprogram uses all available threads. If I were specifying a Catia system for myself, I would expect to spend at least $7,000.
That said, Catia, is a very carefully developed software and in light use will run on more modest systems- just don't plan on doing the Airbus A440. A Xeon E3 is probably minimal and I can say that in my view, it would be better to use if possible a Xeon E5, LGA 2011 CPU as these have a wider memory bandwidth, support more PCIe lanes, and can be upgraded in the future to 6, 8, and soon- 12 core CPU's. A Quadro with strong 3D performance is essential. The Quadro 400 would work up to a point as the drivers will run the Catia viewports, but my experience with the much more modest Solidworks is that a Quadro FX 4800 (380-bit, 1.5GB, $1,200 new) has only enough 3D power. Perhaps you could consider a
used Quadro 4000?
Here's an idea for a system for your friend. I think everything is from Scan UK, plus I checked completed sales of Quadro 4000's on Ebay UK >
BambiBoom PixelDozer Cadaedimatharendagrapharific iWork ExtremeSignature Turbo 5000 ®£©™®$™_ REV 10.7.13
Intel Xeon E5-1620 (LGA 2011, quad core 3.6 /3.8GHz) > £268.05 (Note the very high clock rate- one of the highest for Xeons, but not too dear.)
Cooler Master Hyper 412s Tower Cooler for CPU > £29.99
AsRock X79 Extreme3 Motherboard Socket 2011, 3x PCI Express 3.0, DDR3, ATX, 7.1 HD Audio, ASRock XFast RAM > £144.98
16GB (2 X8GB) Kingston Technology DDR3 1600Mhz ECC > £132
Quadro 4000 > USED, about £140 Ebay
Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black Performance Hard Drive SATA III 6Gb/s7200rpm 64MB Cache WD1002FAEX £65 ( I don't feel an SSD is necessary. The starting and loading is faster, but good results may be had with an OS / Applications partition and separate files partition. Add an SSD later perhaps.)
LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer - £12
600W Corsair Builder Series CX CP-9020048-UK, 80 PLUS Bronze, SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, Quiet Fan, ATX, PSU > £56
Lian-Li PC-7HX ATX Mid Tower Case > £94
________________________________________
Total = about £945
So, yes, a bit over the budget, but I feel that having an LGA 2011 with that expandability to six or more cores, and a very good GPU, even though used, is worth the effort.
Cheers,
BambiBoom
1. Dell Precision T5400 (2009)> 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16 GB ECC 667> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 / Segt Brcda 500GB > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > HP 2711x 27" 1920 x 1080 > AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks, Sketchup Pro, Corel Technical Designer, Adobe CS MC, WordP Office, MS Office > architecture, industrial design, graphic design, rendering, writing
2. HP z420 (2013)> Xeon E5-1620 quad core @ 3.6 / 3.8GHz > 24GB ECC RAM > Firepro V4900 (Soon Quadro K4000) > Samsung 840 SSD 250GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > Windows 7 Professional 64 > to be loaded > AutoCad, Revit, Inventor, Maya (2011), Solidworks 2010, Adobe CS4, Corel Technical Design X-5, Sketchup Pro, WordP Office X-5, MS Office