Mobile CAD, 3d modeling, Graphic Design PC build under under 1000.

jireland90

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
2
0
1,510
I want to build a PC that I can do mild CAD, 3d modeling, and graphic design and also keep the size small. I work in Marine Salvage so much of my work I have to travel for and many times on short notice. I want a PC that I can fit in a backpack. All the accessories (monitor, keyboard, mouse etc.) I usually have access to where I go but I would like to have my own PC with me. I would also like to try and keep it under $1000. I do some 3d modeling but most of it is fairly basic. I frequently use 2D Autocad as well as Adobe (photoshop, illustrator, indesign). I've seen a lot of 3D rendering builds but not much where being compact was a major detail. Let me know what you guys think, any ideas suggestions or advice are very much appreciated.
-Johnny
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H170M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.45 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 950 2GB Video Card ($127.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Silverstone Sugo SG13B Mini ITX Tower Case ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Gold 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($88.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($85.49 @ OutletPC)
Total: $864.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-04-11 23:03 EDT-0400


Small, powerful , decent graphics horsepower .
No mechanical hard drive to fail
 
Solution


jireland90,

My recommendation is to consider a Dell Precision M-series laptop or as Dell calls it- "mobile workstation." The are two series at any given time, one with a 15.6" screen, but I would prefer the 17.3" screen series. For $1,000, it would have to be a used one and for example the M6800 with an i7 4-core, 8 or 16GB RAM, and 2GB workstation GPU seems a good direction:

DELL Precision M6800 17.3" Intel i7 4th Gen 1080P 500GB, 8GB, Firepro M6100 > sold for $760

I've not used these myself, but have seen them and while they are not light and compact, the 17.3"- some are backlit DellUltrasharp- and rugged construction is good for use on sites - and site offices, and planes, and of course, there's no real setup or separate parts to carry and assemble and run off a battery or the mains. Today, you an pop in a mPCIE SSD and with the current mobile CPU's, high powered 4 and even 8GB Quadros and Firpros, up to 32GB RAM, the performance doesn't give up much to desktops.

Theses were made with a variety of mobile Quadros and Firepro GPU's and the i7-4800MQ is 4-core @ 2.7 /3.7GHz - a useful speed.

if you need serious, desktop performance and have access to the mains and can carry a monitor, there are a variety of M-ATX LGA1151 motherboards for Xeon E3-is a new Supermciro Micro-ATX Xeon LGA2011-3 which will support the new Xeon E5-1600 and 2600 v3 and v4 series motherboard, I think the budget though means M-ATX LGA1151 or a used laptop however. From your description of the use and need for mobility, I'd say a mobile workstation is the thing- it's made for exactly this kind of use.

What is your preference?

Are you by chance in Ireland? The prices vary quite a bit by country.

Marine Salvage always seems logistically interesting- the Kursk, Monitor, Costa Concordia, MV Tricolor, Mary Rose- all interesting.

Cheers,

BambiBoom


Modeling:

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) > 32GB DDR3 1866 ECC RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555]
[Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

Rendering:

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Revised) > 2X Xeon X5680 (6 -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 48GB DDR3 1333 ECC Reg. > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > PERC H310 / Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (27", 1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3844 / CPU = 15047 / 2D= 662 / 3D= 3500 / Mem= 1785 / Disk= 2649] (12.30.15)


 

jireland90

Commendable
Apr 11, 2016
2
0
1,510
Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it. Only reason I wanted to stay away from a laptop was because I felt for the money I would be able to get a more powerful machine. Now that you mention it, a laptop would make a lot more sense for me. I definitely will look more into these workstations.
 


jireland,

As mentioned, if you'd prefer a compact deosktop that is reasoanble to transport,, it's possible and that will have a better specification. However, laptops such as the Precision M6800 when equipped with the fater i7-'s and quadros or Friepros have performance comparable to a desktop. The highest ratings for Precison M6800 /i7-4800MQ on Passmark in each category:

Rating: 4836
CPU: 9717
2D: 1001 (Quadro K3100M)
3D: 3847 (Quadro K5100M)
Mem: 2691 (32GB)
Disk: 9624 (Raid 0 volume)(= two fast SSD's probably)

For comparison, for Dell Precision T3600 / Xeon E5-1620 (4-core 3.6 / 3.8) >

Rating: 4486 (GTX 670 / PERC H310 / 16GB)
CPU: 9421
2D: 892 (Firepro V7900)
3D: 4360 (Firpro W7000)(Highest workstation GPU)
Mem: 2735 (32GB)
Disk: 25339 (PERC 710P)(probably Raid 0 of two fast M.2)

So the mobile Precison M doesn't give up a great amount of performance to the T3600 with somewhat faster 4-core CPU plus the incluson of the best performing components regardless of cost.

Keep in mind that the M6800 may be connected to the display, keyboard, and mouse available at the site, so it's acting purely as the CPU, and you can also use it enroute. another good feature of the M6800 is that you can carry a web camera and record sonnd video of the site directly to the HD.

another approach to the situation is to load your programs and files to a USB drive, that runs a kind of virtualization OS software so you can boot and run them off of any on-site system/ See: http://www.wikihow.com/Run-Software-Directly-Off-a-USB-Flash-Drive

Cheers,

BamibBoom