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Thread: Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

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    Default Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

    I'm buying a workstation for Revit. I read that Revit takes advantage of the i7's Graphics Processing Capability. I am planning on having a graphics card or 2. Would I have better performance with and i7 than with a Xeon Processor?

    http://www.revitforum.org/hardware-i...dware-cpu.html
    http://www.revitforum.org/hardware-i...revit-cpu.html

    If price is not part of the consideration, and system has dual graphics cards, is it fair to say that i7 will Look Better, but Xeon will be faster?
    Last edited by Limbatus; 2015-05-23 at 11:41 PM. Reason: more info

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    Super Moderator david_peterson's Avatar
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    Default Re: Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

    I'm running an i-7. Used to run the Xeon.
    We've now gone to the newer i-7 which we don't even need to over clock vs the one I'm running now.
    I'd go i-7 but that's just me. Revit doesn't really use the graphics card that much. You don't really need to spend a ton of money on one IMHO.
    We've run benchmarks between what I have and the same set up except with a much more robust Video Card (Cost $1000 at the time), as didn't really see any difference in the bench mark.
    My new workstation should be done this week. I can report back with the findings if you'd like.

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    Default Re: Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

    I'm under the opinion that Xeon is still the way to go if you plan on having multiple sessions of any program open, like Revit, Max, Sketchup. While the latest i7's have closed the gap in speed and reliability, a Xeon is meant to take a serious beating since it is a server grade processor. i7's are great in laptops if that's what you're referring too. The company I work for (and firms in the past) ALL use Xeon's with accidental sprinkling's of i7's throughout. Personally I had bad experiences with them so my opinion is a little bias. My gen 1 - i7 fried out. My wife's gen 2 was waaayyy under powered and we didn't want to overclock it and void the warranty. Once the gen 3 - i7's came out, the integrated graphics started interfering with Revit, but seems to work fine on all the other Xeon workstations throughout the office. I think that got fixed in an update.
    The main reason to get a Xeon in my opinion is to load two sockets up on the motherboard for rendering cores. Pair that with iRay in 3dsMax and you can render LIVE on just about any Revit model once you link it into Max.

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    Default Re: Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

    You can always spend more money for more performance. I always recommend setting a budget and then buying to the budget. For most users getting more RAM and an SSD drive before sorting the CPU and video card works best.
    Take care,
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    Default Re: Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

    I've worked with both i7 and Xeon, and they both perform well in the right, role-specific configuration.

    As a quick example, if just configuring a CAD user's workstation, and both are Quad-Core (min), then just go with the highest Ghz for the money at that time. If configuring a laptop, go with i7 for power consumption alone.



    In addition to daily CAD Production, I manage CAD/IT/Operations for my employer, so I opted for a slightly lesser Xeon than we have in our servers, as this better allows me to simultaneously run production tools, and IT management tools (i.e. Active Directory, [Client] Hyper-V Manager, iDRAC, RDS/RDP sessions into DC/Exchange/File/Print/Terminal/Replication Server[s], etc.), and all without any measurable affect on AutoCAD products (mostly C3D here), which are all still relegated to being single-threaded to-date.

    Here are my specs - Dell Precision T3600, Win8.1x64, Hex-Core Intel Xeon 3.2Ghz, 32 GB RAM, 2 x 240 GB Samsung EVO SSD (RAID 0, OS), 240 GB SSD (Disaster Recover), 1 TB Western Digital 10K RPM Velociraptor HDD (Data, Client Hyper-V VMs for beta testing), 3 GB NVIDIA Quadro K4000, 3 x 24" Dell Ultrasharp Widescreen Monitors, 3 x Gigabit NIC (1 for normal workstation connectivity, 2 as Hyper-V Virtual switches).



    Cheers
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    Computer Specs:
    Dell Precision 3660, Core i9-12900K 5.2GHz, 64GB DDR5 RAM, PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD (RAID 0), 16GB NVIDIA RTX A4000

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    Default Re: Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

    Even though Revit does not normally take advantage of a graphics card, I have other software I use regularly that benefit from dedicated Graphics. Rhinoceros + Grasshopper + Paneling Tools + Vray, Zbrush, 3DS Max, Blender, Preform (3D print Slicer), Photoshop / Adobe Premiere, looking into NetFabb / Magics for 3D print preparation / unifying models with thousands of parts. I will have a powerful graphics card in my workstation maybe Quadro K2000, K4000. Here's what I don't understand. CAN Revit use a dedicated graphics card to improve the appearance of the 3D modeling environment / Perspective Views in lieu of on board processor graphics capability? I want my models to look as nice as possible, but I'm also nearly always multitasking. I see the value of having Xeon processors, but if i7 will ALWAYS look better than Xeon, I'll go i7. Thanks
    Last edited by Limbatus; 2015-05-26 at 08:38 PM.

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    Certifiable AUGI Addict dhurtubise's Avatar
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    Default Re: Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

    There's a series of very good post on Autodesk blog right here about it, and 2016 http://insidethefactory.typepad.com/...ce-part-2.html

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    Default Re: Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

    I find that the CPU speed is more important than chipset. We have a lot of workstations with under 3 gHz CPUs, and Revit doesn't run as effectively.

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    Default Re: Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

    In my experience you get much more performance per dollar with i7 proc's than with Xeons. All our production machines now run quad-core i7 processors, and we spend about half as much on a machine build than we were using Xeon's. Sure you can probably get Xeon's to run Revit faster or more efficiently. But the difference in performance doesn't match up with the astronomically higher prices of the workstations.

    Same with with nVIDIA Quadro graphics cards. You get much more performance per dollar from the GTX-series 1GB, 2GB and higher graphics cards, when Revit is the primary focus of the system, as our machines are.

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    Default Re: Revit - Best Processor i7 or Xeon

    Quote Originally Posted by patricks View Post
    In my experience you get much more performance per dollar with i7 proc's than with Xeons. All our production machines now run quad-core i7 processors, and we spend about half as much on a machine build than we were using Xeon's. Sure you can probably get Xeon's to run Revit faster or more efficiently. But the difference in performance doesn't match up with the astronomically higher prices of the workstations.

    Same with with nVIDIA Quadro graphics cards. You get much more performance per dollar from the GTX-series 1GB, 2GB and higher graphics cards, when Revit is the primary focus of the system, as our machines are.
    Thanks! Best answer yet. What I still can't figure out after all of this discussion is whether the Xeon + Graphics Card setup will have a lesser visual experience than a i7 + Graphics Card because the i7 has processor graphics capability.

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