Build for Autocad 2014

Bathroth · Aug 21, 2014

Good morning,

at the moment i have to go to buy some new computer for our company. We are a Mining company and our Ingeneers use AutoCad Land to make Plans to a size of 100MB each. Like the level of our Mines in detail, pipeline system of the place and so on. So i checked out the min requierements and some other reviews.

Processor: Intel Core i5 - 4th Generation 3.0Ghz+ (i5-4690 3.5GHz)
Memory: 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600Mhz (Corsair)
Harddrive: 500GB 7200RPM Sata (WD Cavier Blue)
Video Card: 2048MB, 900Mhz+ (GeForce GTI 650ti)
Power Supply: BeQuiet 750+ (total of 400W max use)
Motherboard: Asus B85-PLUS ATX

What do you think? Will my Ingeneers be okay with this Setup? They told me their needs like this:
Proc.: i3
Memory: 4GB
Video Card 2GB+
Hardrive: 500GB

And is my Setup 100% compatible?

Thanks in advance,

JackNaylorPE · Aug 21, 2014

That's a bit light for 100MB files. Here's what I use for AutoCAD in my company.....our largest file is around 10 MB ... yours is 10 x that.

1. Enthusiast Level Motherboard $200 - 300 range w/ good overclocking features .... Asus Z97 WS (workstation)
2. i7 CPU (4790k)
3. 16 GB DDR3-2400 CAS 10 (Mushkin Redline) .... 2133 CAS 9 is usually about same price as 1600
4. Fast Storage Subsystem - A 250 / 256 GB SSD is fine (Samsung EVO / Pro) for OS and programs if you store all files on the network. Otherwise recommend 2 TB SSHD (Seagate).
5. AutoCAD 2D and 3D runs best on GeForce cards ..... best your budget allows (our last build was 780)
6. Quality PSU ..... Corsair AX / HX, Seasonic X or M12, EVGA G2
7. Yes, overclock..... Phanteks PH-TC14-PE
8. Case.... good cooling (Phanteks Enthoo Pro) but just as important, run quiet .... grates on ya listening to fan noise all day.

Mahisse · Aug 21, 2014

It's not exactly a power build for Autocad but it will get the job done. I guess it depends on how complicated these plan/drawings are.. And how much time they take.

It seems like you are comprimizing a bit too much on the video card but then again it depends on how much work is needed to be done on this workstation. If you need to do 3D modelling you should go a bit higher on the video card.

The processor is a good enough choice since Autocad doesn't support hyperthreading so you don't need to go for an i7 processor. You could also consider getting ECC (Error-Correcting Code Memory) RAM for the workstation as that can result in fewer crashes but you will need to look for a motherboard supporting it.

Also go for 12-16 GB RAM insteed of 8

For video cards, take a look at this article: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-workstation-graphics-card,3493-6.html

LucoTF · Aug 21, 2014

You should really be looking at workstation graphics cards like the quadro rather than geforce.

JackNaylorPE · Aug 21, 2014

http://www.cadforum.cz/cadforum_en/qaID.asp?tip=4905

All Autodesk's CAD products based on AutoCAD 2000i, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and higher are multi-threaded, display operations run on multiple processors.

The WHIPTHREAD variable controls the way how AutoCAD uses the second processor (or core) for display operations.

0 - use only a single processor (as A2000)
1 - regen done on multiple CPUs
2 - redraw done on multiple CPUs
3 - both regens and redraws done on multiple CPUs

Multi-CPU and multithreading systems are used by AutoCAD also for other operations, e.g. for the mental ray rendering (2007 and higher), background publishing, xref loading, or for background loading of .NET Framework.

AutoCAD add-ons like Revit use it a bit more.

LucoTF :

We build our own workstations as well as for Municipalities and other engineering firms, we won't go to a workstation card unless heavy rendering is involved in Add Ons or Solidworks.

AutoCAD 3D performance is substantially better on GeForce cards ... the better the card is at gaming, the better it is at AutoCAD 3D

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-workstation-graphics-card,3493-6.html

It’s easy to see that Nvidia's graphics cards have the upper hand once again. Even SLI provides a bit of a benefit, allowing GeForce GTX 690 to inch out the Titan. AMD drops the ball with its Radeon HD 7990, which gets beaten by the Radeon HD 7970 and performs at the same low level as an older Nvidia Quadro 2000. With few exceptions, the results are reminiscent of the usual game benchmarks.

The take-home message isn’t that Nvidia is faster, but that anyone who only uses AutoCAD for 2D tasks can use a desktop card and doesn't need to pay extra for a pro board.

Bathroth · Aug 21, 2014

First of all i want to thank you all for your opinions.

our budget for buying these new computers isnt that high, and since we need to give these computers to some places really far away from the poblacity, we dont want to buy high-end Hardware, because we already had a case where someone changed some hardware (our Mining company is in Bolivia). There isnt really much control out there. We have arround $1.200 - $1.500 for each computer and after my calculation and setup it would cost arround 900$.

I asked again one of the engineers and he told me that they most of the time use AutoCad Land. Well - since im no engineeer and dont know so much about AutoCad, i had no idea of that information in the first place.

But it seems that it is possible with tha budget?

Thanks in advance,

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