Need a budget system for AutoCAD, Catia, 3DS, haven't built in years.

[SupplySergeant]

I am about to start classes for CAD/CAM applications, and am very certain nothing I have right now will work. So I'm looking to build something completely new. I don't have any pre-requisites, it just has to work as well as possible for around $800. I appreciate any help!

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: Black Friday

Budget Range: (e.g.: 300-400) Before / Rebate / After Shipping - $700-$820

System Usage from Most to Least Important: AutoCad, Catia, 3DS, MasterCam, web surfing.

Are you buying a monitor: No



Parts to Upgrade: (e.g.: CPU, mobo, RAM) *Clean build, no old parts.

Do you need to buy OS: No, have unused license for Windows 7

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Amazon (I have Prime)

Location: Central Kentucky, USA

Parts Preferences: None, but I hear Intel CPU's work better for 3DS

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe (doubt it's usefulness in my apps)

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Additional Comments: AutoCad, Catia, 3DS, MasterCam

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I'm using a six-year-old laptop, no chance it will run this software!

 

[bambiboom]

SupplySergeant,

It's possible to get quite good results within your budget. The critical application as far as hardware is concerned is Catia as it will run only on workstation cards- Quadro or Firepro, and Firepros are better value. If you are doing 3D modeling in Catia of any size, I would suggest a careful purchase of a Quadro 4000 (2GB) on Ebay. I just received an open box, but never installed 4000 for $290. My new system (HP z420) arrived with a Firepro V4900- which is a good one and in the following list, but I knew in advance that I'd need something with more punch in 3D. I use Solidworks which is by the maker of Catia- but about $12,000 cheaper. On the Passmark test, the Quadro 4000 raised the 3D score from 1353 to 2001. I would mention that I've had 5 or 6 used Quadros over the years, and never had a failure of any kind.

Anyway, here is a system idea based on the very competent AMD 8350 eight core and with 16GB of RAM.

BambiBoom PixelPusher CadamodelgrapharifiBlaze iWork 9000 $£®!©™?^(SM)©_REV 11.8.13

1. AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8350FRHKBOX > $200

2. GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard > $85

3. Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT102464BA160B > $119

4. AMD 100-505649 FirePro V4900 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 Workstation Video Card > $150.

5. WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache - WD10EZEX > $65

6. SeaSonic S12II 430B 430W ATX12V V2.3/EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply > $60

7. LIAN LI PC-7B plus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case > $80

_________________________________________

TOTAL = $759

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. Dell Precision T5400 (2009)> 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16GB ECC 667> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 500GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 2496 Sound Card > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > HP 2711x 27" 1920 x 1080 > AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks, Sketchup Pro, Corel Technical Designer, Adobe CS MC, WordP Office, MS Office > architecture, industrial design, graphic design, rendering, writing

2. HP z420 (2013)> Xeon E5-1620 quad core @ 3.6 / 3.8GHz > 24GB ECC 1600 RAM > Quadro 4000 > Samsung 840 SSD 250GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 192 sound card > AE3000 USB WiFi // Windows 7 Professional 64 > AutoCad, Revit, Inventor, Maya (2011), Solidworks 2010, Adobe CS4, Corel Technical Design X-5, Sketchup Pro, WordP Office X-5, MS Office

 

[sora]

SupplySergeant,

It's possible to get quite good results within your budget. The critical application as far as hardware is concerned is Catia as it will run only on workstation cards- Quadro or Firepro, and Firepros are better value. If you are doing 3D modeling in Catia of any size, I would suggest a careful purchase of a Quadro 4000 (2GB) on Ebay. I just received an open box, but never installed 4000 for $290. My new system (HP z420) arrived with a Firepro V4900- which is a good one and in the following list, but I knew in advance that I'd need something with more punch in 3D. I use Solidworks which is by the maker of Catia- but about $12,000 cheaper. On the Passmark test, the Quadro 4000 raised the 3D score from 1353 to 2001. I would mention that I've had 5 or 6 used Quadros over the years, and never had a failure of any kind.

Anyway, here is a system idea based on the very competent AMD 8350 eight core and with 16GB of RAM.

BambiBoom PixelPusher CadamodelgrapharifiBlaze iWork 9000 $£®!©™?^(SM)©_REV 11.8.13

1. AMD FX-8350 Vishera 4.0GHz (4.2GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8350FRHKBOX > $200

2. GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard > $85

3. Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT102464BA160B > $119

4. AMD 100-505649 FirePro V4900 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 Workstation Video Card > $150.

5. WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache - WD10EZEX > $65

6. SeaSonic S12II 430B 430W ATX12V V2.3/EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply > $60

7. LIAN LI PC-7B plus II Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case > $80

_________________________________________

TOTAL = $759

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. Dell Precision T5400 (2009)> 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16GB ECC 667> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 500GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 2496 Sound Card > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > HP 2711x 27" 1920 x 1080 > AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks, Sketchup Pro, Corel Technical Designer, Adobe CS MC, WordP Office, MS Office > architecture, industrial design, graphic design, rendering, writing

2. HP z420 (2013)> Xeon E5-1620 quad core @ 3.6 / 3.8GHz > 24GB ECC 1600 RAM > Quadro 4000 > Samsung 840 SSD 250GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 192 sound card > AE3000 USB WiFi // Windows 7 Professional 64 > AutoCad, Revit, Inventor, Maya (2011), Solidworks 2010, Adobe CS4, Corel Technical Design X-5, Sketchup Pro, WordP Office X-5, MS Office

The only reason you got a Quadro 4000 on Ebay and it came empty is because the seller scammed you by either adding "box only" in the title or just sending you a box in general.

 

[bambiboom]

sora,

In English, the phrase "open box" doesn't mean an empty box, it means that the item was purchased, delivered, and the box opened, but the item was never used.

The other clue to this situation is that the Quadro 4000 "raised the 3D score from 1353 to 2001". I think an empty Quadro box would have scored very low. Actually, my brother had a Dell Precision 380 with a Quadro 550 and it's 3D score was 49- now that is an "'empty box" Quadro!

Cheers,

BambiBoom

 

[SupplySergeant]

Wow, fast answer, and better than I expected. I'll be using the student editions of all the software, I definitely can't afford full price! I'll start tracking the recommended parts, thanks!

 

[SupplySergeant]

I just punched all the parts into NewEgg, actually came out to $742 with shipping! Outstanding! Any chance these ?components will b on Black Friday deals?

 

[bambiboom]

I just punched all the parts into NewEgg, actually came out to $742 with shipping! Outstanding! Any chance these ?components will b on Black Friday deals?

SupplySergeant,

I had a quick look around at sales and didn't see anything on the list at the moment. In the computer world you never know what pops up in sales until it happens. And they disappear as quickly and silently. I hesitated on a sale HD at Newegg and missed it by one day, so that's like throwing $25 on the ground- not a pile of money, but it adds up.

This was a good drill, Sarge, as it's easy to get good performance with a huge budget, but it's better exercise to get a lot from a strict limit.

After thinking about this awhile, I thought I would look into the performance potential as it seemed possible this combination might perform very well for the cost. AMD does make some components that are extremely good in the cost/performance department, especially the Vishera 8350 is eight cores and 4.0 / 4.2 GHz for $200- which is comparable in performance to the hyperthreading Intel quad core i7-3820- at $300, and with somewhat slower clock speeds of 3.6 / 3.8GHz. The Firepro V4900 for $150 performs in 2D and 3D benchmarks and workstation application tests about the same as a Quadro 2000, which is nearly $400. The Western Digital Blue 1TB is another current bargain, it has a single 1TB platter and it's performance is in some respects as fast as the WD Black, but about $30 cheaper. The Black does have a 5-year warranty to the Blue's 2-years however. If you are very performance oriented, you can consider the faster (than WD Blue) access time Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 at about $65. and if interested in reliability / performance, an enterprise class drive is desirable, the new WD Black 1003FZEX at about $92. Those are supposed to be very good, but at the moment are sold out all over.

There was no exact match in Passmark for the listed system but there were three systems using the FX-8350 and Firepro V4900 >

System Ratings = 2492, 2451, 2264
CPU= 10420, 9819, 9291
2D= 649, 619, 571
3D= 1299, 1291, 1268
Disk = 1243, 1081, 754

These system all used motherboards of somewhat higher specification than the listed system, but also used mech'l HD's.

To give you an idea of the great cost / performance of the listed system, for comparison, my HP z420 with a Xeon E5-1620 (3.6 /3.8GHz) and 24GB RAM with the original Firepro v4900 (and well over double the cost)

System Rating = 2372
CPU= 9001
2D= 712
3D= 1353
Disk = 712

This system in that form was let down by the underperforming Seagate Barracuda with 16MB cache > disk score =712, but the comparison demonstrates the good value of the FX-8350.

From what I can see, Catia is about at the top of precision, large assembly modeling,3ds is also in it's top tier and AutoCad is of course another industry standard. Very good choices to learn.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

 

[SupplySergeant]

I really appreciate the thoughtful, in-depth answer. I chose the software because they are the packages used by my companies CAD/CNC Programmers. My school actually teaches Solidworks and 3DS, but my instructor is willing to do an intro to Catia as well. Thanks!