Quick question from a novice.

[worthingtonconor388665]

Hello, I'm an avid pc builder and I frequently build editing rigs gaming rigs etc however recently I was asked to build a powerful budget CAD machine. As such the first thing I did was go to arms and build up a specification which was easy as I knew from my little knowledge that CAD hates hyperthreading unless you do some odd whisper command and that an i5 was the right choice. Besides that I have hit a major issue one which when put on 5 different tech forums, they all came back to me with statistics and "proof" backing up their choice - so I decided I'd ask you - the professionals . As such my question to you all today is, should I use a gtx 670 or an Nvidia quadro 600 for an auto cad 2013 pc. From my own knowledge the 670 demolishes the quadro on hardware - infact the quadro 600 is only on pci-e gen 2.0. But the drivers on the quadro make it specialise in autoCad and autocad is built around it! That's why I'm asking you guys which should I use in the build - I'm on a very tight budget so these are the best choices as I know cuda is best for autocad. *Please note this is for a professional architect so it's not some novice setup I'm building this pc to be the best that's why I'm concerned about which one is better for autoCAD. Also if Fermi architecture does beat kelpar and the quadro let me know. As always any input is appreciated and I hope you all have a nice day - Conor.

[tedg]

Congrats on your first post.

I don't have an answer for you, I'm not a computer guy, but will offer some advice:
You may want to specify exactly what software this "architect" will be running; ie: Revit? AutoCAD? Navisworks?, 3DSMax?
It could make a difference on what you need, AutoCAD isn't to bad, but Revit is a HOG!

Hope that helps..

[rant]

btw, just because this is for a "professional architect" doesn't necessarily mean they're a power user.
I work with many architects and engineers that can work in AutoCAD (etc) but a basic set up does fine for them becuase they dabble, not full blown production work.

If they are doing full production work, then yes they probably need something extra, but I that really shouldn't be their main function (my opinion).

Most A/E firms have Cad Designers/Power Users that bill out at a lower rate, do all the actual cad production work, and are usually better/faster at it.

I know of some architects who own thier own one-man firms doing thier own cad work, but they barely know and utilize the software and just put lines on paper.
Of course there are exceptions. There are some architects that take the time to learn and use the software to it's full potential.

[/rant]

[Wanderer]

It looks like the OP specified AutoCAD 2013.

My only advice would be to consider AutoCAD 2014 recommendations as well, if you run across any here in the hardware forum.

I don't get to spec hardware for my workstation, due to IT restrictions (okay, fine, we've got 30,000 employees, I recognize the need for having standards and contracts). BUT, they do at least look at the Autodesk approved graphics cards and get me one of those.

[Richard McDonald]

Hi Conor,

Just to caveat straight away that I'm no expert.

The Pro Graphics cards can run high surfaces but low shading and the gaming cards the other way round.
In practice I've not come across a situation where cad or even C3D has maxed out the GPU before the CPU (but IT always think I need more cores at the expense of speed).
I have however had a card that grabbed RAM and caused out of memory errors. My preference would be the biggest best card with plenty of its own ram which on a budget will be a gaming card.

If it lights up they will think it even better

[dgorsman]

If you are going to be using ReCap, check those requirements *first*. They are more restrictive than the rest of the CAD software.