Autocad 2011 and great hardware questions

[brian.majerus266491]

Hi everyone,

I am planning to get a new desktop computer and have been perusing the various companies that make workstations and I'm unclear on some things. First off, I use Autocad for architectural drafting. I don't render nor use 3D. I may get into Revit at some point, but for now it's 2D drafting as well as some Photoshop work. I always assumed Autocad used everything a computer had available, but after reading many posts, that doesn't seem to be the case especially in terms of processors. Oh, I'd be using Windows 7 64bit.

Despite what many of the manufacturer's are pushing, it seems that getting a multi-core multi-processor Xeon setup is a giant waste of money. Should I just be getting the fastest i7 I can afford? Looking on my local computer store's website, the i7 990x (6 core) is crazy expensive. Going to a quad core that is actually faster in Ghz is like 1/3 the cost. What's with that?

As for the video card, I'd like to get a workstation level card, but again, the range in price is astronomical. Not doing giant renders or making the next Toy Story movie, I am fairly sure I don't need a Quadro 6000. As long as the card can support dual 23" monitors and won't turn out to be a bottle neck on the computer, I'm happy. I'm neither an AMD/ATI or nVidia fanboy, so manufacturer doesn't matter.

Lastly, while I'm thinking of buying a pre-built computer, there seems to be many compelling reasons not to. The prices seem pretty fair for the base machine, but as soon as you upgrade it in some way, the costs skyrocket. For instance, I'm thinking as my boot drive to get an SSD (or even a Seagate Momentus hybrid drive - has anyone tried one) and then a fast, big drive for storage. Try adding even a small SSD on Dell's or similar website and they tack on like $600. Crazy! I've never bought a pre-built computer before and I think it might be best to continue the tradition of building my own. Overclocked, water cooled computers are sexy, but I have doubts that the price premium is worth it.

Any advice that you guys can give me is most appreciated. I don't want to spend a ton of money on stuff that really is not going to make a difference to my work.

Thanks!

[cadtag]

xeon is a waste of money, especially when requiring ecc ram. for that matter the i5 is great for acad, so i'd skip the i7 and look for i5 ivy bridge. for acad in 2012, speed matters a lot more than core count.

I have'nt tried the hybred drives, but suspect they are pretty much a waste of money. simpler to use an SSD as the system disk, and large spinning disk for data/drawings/reference material.

video -- again the high end stuff is not going to be of much use. running a Geforce at work,and it's fine.

Prebuilt -- i'll suggest Xi. For homebrew bang/buck, look onthe Ars Technica site for the HotRod box recommendatations.

[brian.majerus266491]

Thanks for the input...the hybrid drive seems pretty impressive at least according to their product literature. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXMRd...layer_embedded to see what I mean. Hey, it's on sale for $90 for 500Gb. If it truly is as fast as they say, that's pretty impressive.

For the CPU, It looks like the Core i5-3570K @ 3.4Ghz and 22nm is the best one in that range. As far as I can tell, this one is unlocked so can be overclocked if so desired. For roughly $100 more you get the i7 at the same speed and manufacturing process. To me, it looks like the only advantage is that the i7 has a bigger cache. There has to be more to it than that.

And the GPU...I kind of like the idea of a workstation level graphics card, but maybe it's just that I only have used regular gaming type cards up to now. It seems you can get a middle of the road workstation graphics card for around $400. With an eye to the future, it might be worth it.

Anyway, thanks for the input cadtag!

[jaberwok]

Go for an i5 at the highest clock speed (ignore the number of cores) and without the on-board graphics - that also affects which mobo chipset you need.
Go for the maximum RAM.
Go for a low-end CAD card or mid-range gaming card - you won't see any real difference with a more expensive card.

[cadtag]

A high end GPU would be useful if you were into serious game playing, CFD modeling, or bitcoin mining.

[brian.majerus266491]

The thing I'm noticing about the i5 Ivy Bridge processors is that they all have integrated graphics. I guess that doesn't matter if you have a discreet video card.

[cadtag]

BIOS ought to let you disable that, and use the discrete. I know that Dell laptops seem to have trouble doing that though.

[JD Mather]

How long do you want this machine to last?
What is coming down the pike (software changes), will you be upgrading each year of intended use?