Best Build for architecture- drawing, modelling and rendering.

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ciaranmallon1

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Hi Folks,

I'm new to the forum, my name is Ciaran and I am an architect from N.Ireland. I am looking to do a first time build for my home office.

I am a novice with computer specs etc. I would greatly appreciate if anyone could recommend a perfect setup for running AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit, v-ray, sketch up pro and photoshop etc.

I would like something that could cope well with multiple programs running and quick rendering times.

As for budget up to £1500. But if it is required to be pushed a little so be it.

Thanks
Ciaran
 
Solution
Budge414
It's definitely not better, but as vapour says at this budget you'll be very happy with it.

To simplify this for you, if you can find these parts at these prices, or are willing to pay more for an equivalent (let me know and myself and vapour can have a look for you), then this is the ideal build for you:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor (£349.48 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£66.13 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£149.92 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£209.99...
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Budge414

Budge414

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Hi there!

Workstations are VERY specific to what the user needs most, down to what you'll be performing inside each of the applications you've listed. I can provide you with the best hardware to purchase but I'll need some help being thorough.

Answer a few questions for me and I'll get to work suggesting the absolute most you can get for your money that will fit your needs;

- List some retailers that you will be purchasing parts from in Europe and Ireland, this will help with pricing and availability.

- Provide a list detailing the major actions you'll perform in each of the programs you mentioned, this will help determine where to prioritise purchases.
 
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ciaranmallon1

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Hi Budge414,

Thanks for the reply, See my answers to your questions below. Apologies if they are sketchy.

- List some retailers that you will be purchasing parts from in Europe and Ireland, this will help with pricing and availability.

Parts will be searched via google shopping to sites mainly uk/ire (European based). Amazon uk and ebuyer are the ones I normally shop with, but open to suggestions as this is my first build etc.

- Provide a list detailing the major actions you'll perform in each of the programs you mentioned, this will help determine where to prioritise purchases

AutoCAD 2017- Mainly used for 2d drawings of residential to commercial buildings and site layouts.

Autodesk Revit 2017 (architecture) - Most design work will be created with revit, creating 3d families, 3d models of residential to commercial buildings and site layouts, as well as rendering images and video's of these models via the rendering engine in Revit and also with the rendering add-on software v-ray.

Sketch up pro- will be used also for creating 3d families, 3d models of residential to commercial buildings and site layouts.

Photoshop- used to alter/tidy rendered images.

Thanks
Ciaran
 
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ciaranmallon1

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Hi
I will mostly be using 3D in revit and sketchup and also doing renders.

Thanks
 
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Budge414

Budge414

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Hi again,

This should be the last question!

- What is your monitor setup? What resolution will you be using?

Sorry, I keep coming up with questions as I go. As I said, workstations can be quite specific! I'll have this done very soon after getting the answer.
 
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vapour

vapour

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My suggestion:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£229.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock - Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£88.87 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£368.69 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£205.00 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card (£399.97 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 (EU) 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£79.99 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£84.42 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1545.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-02 01:35 GMT+0000
 
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vapour

vapour

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3D modeling is CPU intensive and benefit from multi cores

16gb is recommended for 3D stuff but 32gb gets you ready for 2k 3D if needed.

Nvme ssd is Fastest atm.

Intel will perform a little bit better in CAD, but on average, Ryzen 1700 will provide better bang for the money and is better for multi-tasking.
 
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Budge414

Budge414

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A decent build, but I think we could get more for your money. The Ryzens are great for the price but the extra cores only make it good for Rendering. It's nowhere a strong everywhere else. I'm creating an i7 8700K based unit that renders equally as well but provides 40% better performance in your applications.

I'm currently away from home but it will be completed tomorrow. If you can wait that long I believe I have a perfect system waiting.

EDIT: i7 8700K NOT i7 8700
 
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ciaranmallon1

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Nov 29, 2017
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Hi
I am easy I will be getting new computer screens so fire away with recommendations. :)
 
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Budge414

Budge414

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Sorry vapour, I fixed my post as I incorrectly put 8700 instead of 8700K.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/pic_disp.php?id=43623

I was off by a few percent, it had been a couple of weeks since I checked.

Revit utilises Intel's better single-core performance, which is only scenario where anybody would suggest an Intel CPU, especially considering how good those Ryzen chips are for the price. Trust me I'm no fanboy, I myself recently bought a 1700 one for my own gaming build and have only ever purchased AMD GPUs.

The i7s now being hyperthreaded hex-core definitely make them more attractive than the old quad-core. 2 more of these strong cores is quite a nice addition and clearly helps with rendering speeds.
 
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Budge414

Budge414

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And here we are:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor (£398.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Scythe - Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.2 CFM CPU Cooler (£50.57 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£149.94 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£209.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£109.20 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card (£426.44 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design - Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£64.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.98 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £1519.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-03 13:26 GMT+0000


Some points:

- I haven't added a copy of Windows. If you don't have a usable copy, this is where I would personally front the extra cash to add it to the build, rather than sacrifice something.

- The Define R4 is visually minimilistic, and a good case cooling and noise wise. There are plenty of nice cases at the £60~ mark. Have a look if you prefer something different.

- I initially included a 500GB 960 EVO, but I concluded the £100 was better spent elsewhere. This will set you just fine for now. You can always add whatever extra storage you may need later.


I'm quite happy with it! But if you do have any concerns about pricing or anything, don't hesitate to raise them.


 
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vapour

vapour

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@ Budge

Above ram is not available, cooler is not close to enough. The figure is on average 27% better for revit. That 40% is just not correct and misleading, not to mention you said 40% in other applications, too generic.

@ OP

If the budget is enough, I will pick 8700k, but I will not sacrifice other important parts to do so. Your call. Cad is just not optimized yet to take adavantage of multi-cores.
 
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Budge414

Budge414

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I appreciate your honest input, vapour. At least one other person was willing to provide the OP some knowledge here.

I did rush to the figure without checking again.

With an overclock it may get closer to that, but the 1700s overclock quite well too, making any further advantage null. The fact that the 8700K quite easily matches the rendering speed of the 1700s 16 threads quite impressed me, though it's relative taking into account the price.

I simply feel that, like many games, modeling software will still favour stronger individual cores for some time to come. This is very much why I asked questions on what would be used the most, this turned out to be Revit rather than CAD, this is where you'll see your money.

Again vapour, you're right. Scythe's Mugen Max is loads better and cheaper. Cheap enough to afford an additional fan all for under £50. A better and quieter performer would be the Phanteks PH-TC14PE at £60.

I recently purchased an item at a great price and waited for stock to come in, it only took 1 week. It might be longer in this case but I guess it's up to OP if he's prepared to wait a while in order to save £100.

What I would do:

- Purchase and wait for the RAM.
- Buy this cooler instead
CPU Cooler: Phanteks - PH-TC14PE_BK 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler (£59.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)

If not:

- Change the RAM to something available right now for £100 more.
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£304.79 @ Amazon UK)

Come to a compromise:

- This build would rely heavily on overclocking the R7 1700. It's not terribly difficult and there are plenty of step-by-step guides around.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£229.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Scythe - Mugen MAX 97.2 CFM CPU Cooler (£42.95 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard (£108.07 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair - Dominator Platinum SE 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£369.99 @ Corsair UK)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£205.00 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card (£426.44 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Fractal Design - Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£64.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.98 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £1556.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-04 14:19 GMT+0000

 
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vapour

vapour

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@ Budge

1. No need for 3rd party cooler since stock cooler is decent for ~3.8Ghz overclocking. You will need 3rd party to get ~4GHz but also you will need X370 mb for that, b350 vrm is not good enough for that heavy 8 core overclocking.
2. Saw many cases Corsair ram has issues with Ryzen platform running 3000+, I will trust G.Skill on this due to Samsung b-die chips.
3. G3 is top-tier and I will not save a few pounds for TXM.
 
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Budge414

Budge414

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Sharp one vapour.

I was doing this at 2am last night and forgot the R7s come with a cooler, unlike the i7.

A good £50 saving which can go towards the 500GB 960.

The Dominator RAM also uses a Samsung b-die, I made sure of that before suggesting it :)

The G3s are excellent and have a great warranty, but I would at least go for more than 550w if possible. OP would now be able to afford the 650w G3, if it's available. The TXM will do just fine though.
 
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Budge414

Budge414

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It's definitely not better, but as vapour says at this budget you'll be very happy with it.

To simplify this for you, if you can find these parts at these prices, or are willing to pay more for an equivalent (let me know and myself and vapour can have a look for you), then this is the ideal build for you:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor (£349.48 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£66.13 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock - Z370 Extreme4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£149.92 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£209.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£109.20 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card (£360.67 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks - ECLIPSE P400S TEMPERED GLASS ATX Mid Tower Case (£78.99 @ AWD-IT)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1433.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-06 23:38 GMT+0000

If you're tight on your budget, then this will do the job quite well:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor (£229.79 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI - B350 GAMING PRO CARBON ATX AM4 Motherboard (£109.98 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair - Dominator Platinum SE 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£369.99 @ Corsair UK)
Storage: Samsung - 960 EVO 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£205.00 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 Ti 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card (£360.67 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks - ECLIPSE P400S TEMPERED GLASS ATX Mid Tower Case (£73.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair - TXM Gold 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.98 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1458.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-12-06 23:42 GMT+0000

You will get what you pay for, in this instance.

Keep in mind that in both cases it would be better to familiarise yourself with overclocking, but for the AMD build it's necessary to get the most out of it.

EDIT:
- Adjusted both builds to include the case you've selected. It's a great case by the way.

- Swapped the cooler to a Noctua D14 due to space compatibility issue with the previous cooler I suggested. A few pounds more, just as good if not better, performance-wise.

- Adjusted the Intel build to better reflect price comparisons and part compromise. 960 EVO 500GB > 960 EVO 250GB

 
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