- Apr 13, 2010
- 16
- 0
- 18,510
Hi. I need help building my sister a workstation for 3D modeling, CAD, and Adobe CreativeSuite 4 stuff.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within a month
BUDGET RANGE: $1000 – 1200. MAX $1300 After Rebates
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:
- Currently, usage will be in this order: Adobe photoshop, indesign, illustrator, SolidWorks, word, ppt, autocad, flash, dreamweaver.
- In the future: After Effects, video editing, Rhino and get Maya or modo.
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: I have an old Enermax EG465P-VE 450W (peak 465W) Power Supply but I don’t think that will be enough.
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com, Amazon.com (I have free shipping for a few weeks), ebay.com, open to other stores. No tigerdirect.com
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PARTS PREFERENCES: Nvidia GPU, Full tower case but smaller & quieter the better
OVERCLOCKING: probably not
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe in the future? Do workstation GPUs scale well in SLI? Is the speed increase significant?
MONITOR RESOLUTION: this will depend on the availability of a good color accurate monitor (E-IPS, IPS, etc) but around the size of a 20-24in at or above 1600/1650 pixels is good.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Hey all. I’ve been out of the computer building loop for a while so it’s kind of difficult for me to catch up on all this technology in a short amount of time. So, I’d kindly appreciate your assistance in building my sister’s workstation. She is still in college at the moment but is serious about her work and her future to invest in this. So, ideally something mid-range that won’t kill us financially but will be sufficient for her from college to internships to the first few years of work. Forgive me if I say anything stupid.
Function: as stated above, CS4 stuff and CAD and 3D design. 3D rendering in the future.
Case/computer as a whole:
- Quieter, lighter the better & for the case to not look so conspicuous.
- Case isn’t that important. Don’t want to spend much on it.
OS:
- The programs my sister will be using come in 64bit versions so 64bit OS is obvious but not sure if she can use Win 7 or not.
CPU:
- Phenoms? i7? i5? I need help here. I’m pretty sure I won’t be upgrading this rig for atleast 4 years so upgradeability isn’t too much of an issue. I read SolidWorks is cpu intensive so that’s a factor since she works with it a frequently.
- she also multitasks a lot – always has a web browser open + photoshop, illustrator, and indesign open at the same time. Or web browser + solidworks, a rendering program (hypershot 360), and photoshop open at same time.
GPU:
- I’m thinking Nvidia instead of Ati because of CUDA since she works with CS4. or does Ati handle something like CUDA too?
-Would consider softmodding a Nvidia gpu, a 8800gt or something, if it would fit the needs. But I don’t think all the programs will recognize it and make it useless 50% of the time. Also, the soft modded gpu will still only be ½ speed of the real Quadro? Is that still fast enough? Or maybe I should go with a $200 current GPU?
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=539&pgno=0
- The bigger debate is if she needs a mid-range workstation GPU or not. If a mid-range is the choice, should I go for Quadro 1800 or Quadro 3700? They are both around $400ish. Lower-range is ok if it is sufficient.
Quadro 1800 specs - http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx.html
Quadro 3700 specs - http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx.html
MOBO:
- definitely need help with this. OC isn’t too important. I’d rather she have a stable system to last a long time.
RAM:
- around 6gb but would like an additional slot open on the mobo for the future if possible, but not vital.
HDD:
- I don’t think she has a need for a SSD. She usually works of her flash drive (pretty quick) and then back everything up onto her portable harddrive.
-I’d say she needs 500gb max. the files she works with aren’t very big, yet.
Monitor:
- this is the x-factor I guess. I might just have her wait around for a good Dell E-IPS deal to come around or something. I want to spend around $250 – 300 max.
PSU/CPU cooling – quieter the better
Here is a previous poster’s rig that I’m using as a reference:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276836-31-build-computer-solidworks-2010
Thanks for your help.
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within a month
BUDGET RANGE: $1000 – 1200. MAX $1300 After Rebates
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:
- Currently, usage will be in this order: Adobe photoshop, indesign, illustrator, SolidWorks, word, ppt, autocad, flash, dreamweaver.
- In the future: After Effects, video editing, Rhino and get Maya or modo.
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: I have an old Enermax EG465P-VE 450W (peak 465W) Power Supply but I don’t think that will be enough.
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com, Amazon.com (I have free shipping for a few weeks), ebay.com, open to other stores. No tigerdirect.com
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States
PARTS PREFERENCES: Nvidia GPU, Full tower case but smaller & quieter the better
OVERCLOCKING: probably not
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe in the future? Do workstation GPUs scale well in SLI? Is the speed increase significant?
MONITOR RESOLUTION: this will depend on the availability of a good color accurate monitor (E-IPS, IPS, etc) but around the size of a 20-24in at or above 1600/1650 pixels is good.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Hey all. I’ve been out of the computer building loop for a while so it’s kind of difficult for me to catch up on all this technology in a short amount of time. So, I’d kindly appreciate your assistance in building my sister’s workstation. She is still in college at the moment but is serious about her work and her future to invest in this. So, ideally something mid-range that won’t kill us financially but will be sufficient for her from college to internships to the first few years of work. Forgive me if I say anything stupid.
Function: as stated above, CS4 stuff and CAD and 3D design. 3D rendering in the future.
Case/computer as a whole:
- Quieter, lighter the better & for the case to not look so conspicuous.
- Case isn’t that important. Don’t want to spend much on it.
OS:
- The programs my sister will be using come in 64bit versions so 64bit OS is obvious but not sure if she can use Win 7 or not.
CPU:
- Phenoms? i7? i5? I need help here. I’m pretty sure I won’t be upgrading this rig for atleast 4 years so upgradeability isn’t too much of an issue. I read SolidWorks is cpu intensive so that’s a factor since she works with it a frequently.
- she also multitasks a lot – always has a web browser open + photoshop, illustrator, and indesign open at the same time. Or web browser + solidworks, a rendering program (hypershot 360), and photoshop open at same time.
GPU:
- I’m thinking Nvidia instead of Ati because of CUDA since she works with CS4. or does Ati handle something like CUDA too?
-Would consider softmodding a Nvidia gpu, a 8800gt or something, if it would fit the needs. But I don’t think all the programs will recognize it and make it useless 50% of the time. Also, the soft modded gpu will still only be ½ speed of the real Quadro? Is that still fast enough? Or maybe I should go with a $200 current GPU?
http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=539&pgno=0
- The bigger debate is if she needs a mid-range workstation GPU or not. If a mid-range is the choice, should I go for Quadro 1800 or Quadro 3700? They are both around $400ish. Lower-range is ok if it is sufficient.
Quadro 1800 specs - http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx.html
Quadro 3700 specs - http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadrofx.html
MOBO:
- definitely need help with this. OC isn’t too important. I’d rather she have a stable system to last a long time.
RAM:
- around 6gb but would like an additional slot open on the mobo for the future if possible, but not vital.
HDD:
- I don’t think she has a need for a SSD. She usually works of her flash drive (pretty quick) and then back everything up onto her portable harddrive.
-I’d say she needs 500gb max. the files she works with aren’t very big, yet.
Monitor:
- this is the x-factor I guess. I might just have her wait around for a good Dell E-IPS deal to come around or something. I want to spend around $250 – 300 max.
PSU/CPU cooling – quieter the better
Here is a previous poster’s rig that I’m using as a reference:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276836-31-build-computer-solidworks-2010
Thanks for your help.
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