Building a computer for architecture school - Budget is $1000 AUD

you do not need the top GPU to do architecture. You need one that can handle the rendering and zooming, its not like a game. I built a system for a guy who does the fire control systems for architects... 4 years ago, and he has Zero issues with 30 floor buildings in CAD. Its actually pretty cool to see a huge building and be able to zoom way out then in and see a light fixture in detail.

Goodday elecow,

Today, a system for architecture can be very demanding of all the sub-systems > processing, RAM, graphics, and disk. At a certain level, quite modest systems will run 2D CAD very well, but the increasing demands of 3D, especially rendering and animation take more and more power.

The programs you listed are among the most demanding as you have 3D, rendering, high CPU intensive graphics processing in Adobe Cs, and so on. Even Sketchup is demanding. I have a quite fast Xeon E5 system that is running the first two cores at 3.8GHz, has 24GB RAM, and a Quadro 4000. On that system a Sketchup file over 40MB is almost unusable without careful tricks of turning off layers and navigating in monochrome. Fortunately, it seesm that in 3D CAD, the higher the software quality, the better it runs on ordinary systems, and both Autodesk and Adobe seem to do that well.

Overall, the best, long term solution for a CAD system is going to be LGA2011 or dual LGA2011, a Xeon processor or two, ECC error correcting RAM, and a workstation GPU that can run the special drivers that make viewports work. LGA2011 has a greater bandwidth, more PCIe lanes, more memory controllers, and other impressive jargon as well. As I say, AutoCad 2D is designed to run well on lower performance systems, and there are programs that run well on consumer / gaming cards, but if you're a student it's best to be prepared for anything and as well, try to have a system that can expand as the programs and work becomes more complex.

Follows is an idea for a system that intends to have a good all round capability for 2D and 3D. this is based on the Xeon E3 which are have very good cost /performance. Importantly, the Xeon E3 is hyperthreading whereas the i5 is not. The prices are in U.S.Cowbucks so I expect it would be more in Kangarands.

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1. Intel Intel Xeon E3-1225V3 Haswell 3.2 / 3.6GHz LGA 1150 95W Quad-Core Server Processor BX80646E31225V3 > $225

2. ASRock H87WS-DL ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel H87 DDR3 1600/1333 > $130

3. (2) Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Unbuffered Elpida Server Memory Model KVR13LE9S8/4EF $100 ($50 ea) (I wish this could be 16GB of 1600 speed,..)

4. AMD 100-505649(100-505844) FirePro V4900 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 Workstation Video Card > $155

5. Western Digital WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive, Blue > $65 (I don't think an SSD is an important advantage in this kind of system- better to spend that on having 16GB of RAM. My suggestion is to the place the OS and Programmes in a partition, have a second partition for files, and a third to keep a system image.

6. CORSAIR CXM series CX500M 500W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply > $60

7. SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-224DB/BEBE - OEM > $20

8. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit > $140

9. Corsair Carbide Series 200R Black Steel / Plastic compact ATX Mid Tower Case > $60

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Total = $955.91

Again, this is a bit generic system so as to accommodate most kinds of programs you might encounter.Sorry, this will be over your budget, but keep in mind that going a step up in the first place might save changing for a couple of years and be less expensive in the long term.

If the cost is very important, here is a way to have a good performance for a bit less. The AMD FX 8350 eight core has about the best cost / performance ratio of any CPU.

BambiBoom PixelPusher GrapharificcadorendaBlaze iWorkPlay 8000 £®©™?^(SM)©_$800_REV 2.14.14

1. AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor > $200

2. Cooler Master Hyper 101i - CPU Cooler with Dual Direct Contact Heatpipes - AMD Version > $15

3. GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard > $85

4. 8GB Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3B1K2/8GX > $57 (Again, if budget permits, make this 16GB)

5. AMD 100-505649(100-505844) FirePro V4900 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 Workstation Video Card > $155

6. WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache - WD10EZEX > $65

7. CORSAIR CXM series CX500M 500W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply> $60

8. SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-224DB/BEBE - OEM > $20

9. Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case > $55

10. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit > $140

_____________________________________________________________________

TOTAL = $842.


Too easy,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2014) > Xeon E5-1620 quad core @ 3.6 / 3.8GHz > 24GB ECC 1600 RAM > Quadro 4000 (2GB)> Samsung 840 SSD 250GB /Western Digital WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > AE3000 USB WiFi > HP 2711X, 27" 1920 X 1080 > Windows 7 Ultimate 64 > Autodesk Building Design Suite, Inventor Pro, Solidworks, Adobe CS MC, Corel Technical Design Sketchup Pro, WordP Office, MS Office Pro [Passmark system rating = 3815, 2D= 767 / 3D=2044]

Dell Precision T5400 (2008) > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16GB ECC 667> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 500GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 2496 Sound Card / Linksys 600N WiFi > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > (earlier versions) AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks, Sketchup Pro, Corel Technical Designer, Adobe CS MC, WordP Office, MS Office Pro [Passmark system rating = 1859, 2D= 512 / 3D=1097]