What computer?

[snurresprett9]

Im buying a new workstation (Wohoo!) and I need help from some computer guys to help me out with the choice. I will be using the computer mostly for running Revit on and some Autocad and some rendering.

I contacted Dell and they told me the best CPU's for CAD work was Intel 3.2Ghz Xeon's Dual cores, but after reading a little bit on the net I'm not so sure about it anymore. Revit can't take use of dual-core processors right? Or is it that it cant take advantage of dual processors? Also is there any news on the new generation of processors from Intel? How about AMD processors? Are they faster than Intel's pr. £ and what AMD's are the good/best ones? What to look for (Ghz etc.)? I'm not buying from Dell but are instead going to buy the components piece by piece and getting it built. I will of course have 2 Gb ram. Is there something too look for when buying ram? I guess DDR2 ram is the best?

So my question is really Whats the fastest setup?

[patricks]

Type and speed of RAM depends on what the motherboard supports. DDR2 is pretty much the standard these days. Mine supports DDR-667 max, but I think many can do DDR2-800.

I'm pretty sure Revit supports dual-core processors just fine. I was running the Revit rendering benchmark test the other night and both cores in my machine were pegged at 100% while it was running.

If you want the best on the market, wait a month or so for the new Conroe processors to come out. They will be called Core 2 Duo when they hit the market. From benchmark tests I've seen, they'll pretty much smash anything AMD has to offer.

[greg.mcdowell]

pretty sure that Revit only uses both processors when rendering...

from what i've been able to tell the processor seems to be more important to Revit than RAM (provided you have "enough" of course)... i've got 4 gigs and Revit barely uses half of it according to the Task Manager

[snurresprett9]

Type and speed of RAM depends on what the motherboard supports. DDR2 is pretty much the standard these days. Mine supports DDR-667 max, but I think many can do DDR2-800.

I'm pretty sure Revit supports dual-core processors just fine. I was running the Revit rendering benchmark test the other night and both cores in my machine were pegged at 100% while it was running.

If you want the best on the market, wait a month or so for the new Conroe processors to come out. They will be called Core 2 Duo when they hit the market. From benchmark tests I've seen, they'll pretty much smash anything AMD has to offer.

Yes, I think I will wait until Intel releases the new types of processors. What is the difference between DDR-667 RAM and DDR-800? Is higher better?

Thanks

[patricks]

Yes, I think I will wait until Intel releases the new types of processors. What is the difference between DDR-667 RAM and DDR-800? Is higher better?

Thanks

I believe the 667 and 800 are clock speed in MHz, so higher should be better, yes.

Also remember that if you buy a pair of sticks at a certain clock speed now, then buy more later, you have to buy the same speed as the first pair. Dual-channel memory sticks will only function as fast as the slowest set installed.