- Nov 10, 2014
- 6
- 0
- 4,510
I have been a lurker for a while (particularly when I built my computer earlier this year), but now I'm in need of some advice. I do a lot of AutoCAD work and have recently come into an issue. In trying to follow the forum rules, see below:
Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: ASAP
Budget Range: Depends, I suppose, on what may be my bottleneck.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: AutoCAD, Revit, Adobe Suite, Sketch Up, Quick Books, Browsing Internet, and way down the list - gaming.
Are you buying a monitor: Not in the next 6 months.
Parts to Upgrade: RAM, perhaps?
Do you need to buy OS: No, I currently use Windows 7 Home Professional (I own the copy, I bought it earlier this year when I built the computer).
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Flexible, possibly newegg or amazon.
Location: Atlanta, Ga
Parts Preferences: No Preference
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: Not Sure (probably neither?)
Your Monitor Resolution: (2) x 20" 1600 X 900, (1) x 23" 1920 X 1080
Additional Comments: none
Existing Components:
Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1220V3 3.1 GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116907
Mobo: ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157460
RAM: HyperX Black 8GM (2 X 4GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104360
OS and Apps SSD: Samsung 840 240GB SSD
I only keep windows and programs on this drive.
Active file SSD: Kingston V300 SSD
this is where I keep all of the files I'm currently working on (active projects).
Storage Drives: Hybrid for Archive files, HDD for backup
Probably not an ideal configuration, at some point in the future I'll construct (or purchase) a proper backup system, but for now, this works for me (these are old drives I had).
Graphic Card: NVIDIA Quadro K600
This card is used for 1 20" and the 23" monitor for running AutoCAD, Revit, Adobe, etc (sometimes as dual instances).
Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeFore 210
This card runs one 20" monitor that is dedicated solely to email and web surfing (and the occasional PDF).
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I do a lot of AutoCAD drawings. Initially, I only worked on drawings under about 5mb in size and even as a dual instance, it didn't really bog my computer down (only occasionally, if I was zooming in on a "busy" portion of the drawing). Recently, I have been working on larger projects, and drawing sizes have ballooned to 14-20MB. AutoCAD has noticeably slowed down, taking a minute or more to open a drawing and running slow on all action (If I need to open, edit, and plot 10 drawings a day, I'm losing an hour or more just in waiting on CAD to catch up to me, so I'm spending hundreds of dollars a week waiting on my computer). I haven't really worked on any large Revit drawings, but Revit is generally more system intensive than AutoCAD, so I can only suspect it will also be slow.
When I watch the windows performance monitor when doing these larger drawings, I notice my CPU rarely goes above about about 70% of usage and usually stays in the 10-30% range even under heavy work, whereas the RAM will hold steady at about 80% capacity with a single instance open on a larger drawing. So, I think this is my bottleneck - but I wanted to run my full scenario by the community, in the even it's another issue.
Anyway, if RAM is my issue, The HyperX black I have doesn't seem to be available anymore (amazon has it, but the price has gone up to $110+). I'd hate to waste the $80 I spent less than a year ago, and would like a compatible ram (as 16GB or 8GB) to use in conjunction with the ram I have. I contacted Kingston and they said their new Fury line is compatible as long as I don't overclock (which I don't), but I was wondering if there is a better option out there, as the Black Fury ram has different CAS latency and voltage. I haven't had any luck finding ram that matches the specs of the ram I have.
Thank you for taking a look, and I appreciate any help you may have to offer! Please let me know if you need anymore information and I will do what I can to answer.
Daniel
Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: ASAP
Budget Range: Depends, I suppose, on what may be my bottleneck.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: AutoCAD, Revit, Adobe Suite, Sketch Up, Quick Books, Browsing Internet, and way down the list - gaming.
Are you buying a monitor: Not in the next 6 months.
Parts to Upgrade: RAM, perhaps?
Do you need to buy OS: No, I currently use Windows 7 Home Professional (I own the copy, I bought it earlier this year when I built the computer).
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Flexible, possibly newegg or amazon.
Location: Atlanta, Ga
Parts Preferences: No Preference
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: Not Sure (probably neither?)
Your Monitor Resolution: (2) x 20" 1600 X 900, (1) x 23" 1920 X 1080
Additional Comments: none
Existing Components:
Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1220V3 3.1 GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116907
Mobo: ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157460
RAM: HyperX Black 8GM (2 X 4GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104360
OS and Apps SSD: Samsung 840 240GB SSD
I only keep windows and programs on this drive.
Active file SSD: Kingston V300 SSD
this is where I keep all of the files I'm currently working on (active projects).
Storage Drives: Hybrid for Archive files, HDD for backup
Probably not an ideal configuration, at some point in the future I'll construct (or purchase) a proper backup system, but for now, this works for me (these are old drives I had).
Graphic Card: NVIDIA Quadro K600
This card is used for 1 20" and the 23" monitor for running AutoCAD, Revit, Adobe, etc (sometimes as dual instances).
Graphic Card: NVIDIA GeFore 210
This card runs one 20" monitor that is dedicated solely to email and web surfing (and the occasional PDF).
And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I do a lot of AutoCAD drawings. Initially, I only worked on drawings under about 5mb in size and even as a dual instance, it didn't really bog my computer down (only occasionally, if I was zooming in on a "busy" portion of the drawing). Recently, I have been working on larger projects, and drawing sizes have ballooned to 14-20MB. AutoCAD has noticeably slowed down, taking a minute or more to open a drawing and running slow on all action (If I need to open, edit, and plot 10 drawings a day, I'm losing an hour or more just in waiting on CAD to catch up to me, so I'm spending hundreds of dollars a week waiting on my computer). I haven't really worked on any large Revit drawings, but Revit is generally more system intensive than AutoCAD, so I can only suspect it will also be slow.
When I watch the windows performance monitor when doing these larger drawings, I notice my CPU rarely goes above about about 70% of usage and usually stays in the 10-30% range even under heavy work, whereas the RAM will hold steady at about 80% capacity with a single instance open on a larger drawing. So, I think this is my bottleneck - but I wanted to run my full scenario by the community, in the even it's another issue.
Anyway, if RAM is my issue, The HyperX black I have doesn't seem to be available anymore (amazon has it, but the price has gone up to $110+). I'd hate to waste the $80 I spent less than a year ago, and would like a compatible ram (as 16GB or 8GB) to use in conjunction with the ram I have. I contacted Kingston and they said their new Fury line is compatible as long as I don't overclock (which I don't), but I was wondering if there is a better option out there, as the Black Fury ram has different CAS latency and voltage. I haven't had any luck finding ram that matches the specs of the ram I have.
Thank you for taking a look, and I appreciate any help you may have to offer! Please let me know if you need anymore information and I will do what I can to answer.
Daniel
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