Computer Build Guidance

[SteveHamn]

I second Gigabyte Ultra Durable series. The Motherboard is the core of your computer, you don't want it dying on you. I've had one in my rig since 2013 and its been great

[crufflers]

Larger recent model SSD main drive, 32 gigs memory, good video card/GPU, new generation i5, i7 or i9 with the highest clock in your budget... would be what I'd look for. Even a cheapo ADATA 3D NAND SSD is great (and blazing fast). I'd get one of those (SU800 2TB - $190). I also have four Samsung PRO's... ADATA is really good.

A quality MOBO with "Military Grade" caps or some other similar marketing description of decent spec parts.

If you ever think you'll run more than one GPU... plan ahead with the MOBO. Regardless of what people say on a gun forum, buy stuff that is highly rated and has great reviews in YOUR research.

[crufflers]

I am running a 10 year old MSI right now...
with a Phenom IIx6 1090T @3.2GHz.

MSI are all I ever built, as they never had some goofy 3rd party NEW SATA controller built in that doesn't work right.

I don't play a lot of games, but it works for everything I want to do+ TF2.

MSI makes some GREAT video cards. I think I probably have an ASUS mobo, but I still have a PC with PIIX6 also. Runs DOOM and Wolfenstein II perfectly blazing fast with a Nvidia GTX1080... so I have not done the major upgrade (ditching the AM3 socket).

I think I had a GPU or two die and a case fan or two die... probably a SATA spinning drive or two die, but it is chugging along.

[Phil3]

Thanks for your reply. I am really quite unsure on the video card, since my 3D CAD software does not demand much. I am having a hard time seeing how the Quadro series of cards is needed. Like AutoDesk, my Alibre Pro 3D CAD relies on single thread performance, hence my focus on Intel's higher clock speeds. While I may do some 4k video editing, does one really need eight cores for that, and besides, I cannot reliably determine if my video editing software would even use multiple cores.

I liked ASUS, but Gigabyte is in this eight year old machine and has been stone reliable.

Video card, and motherboard model are my question marks now, as is the COU given the new AMD series. I am especially concerned about the performance hits on Intel with MeltDown, Spectre, and Zombieload chip vulnerabilities patches.

Phil

What is your budget? Part of my duties here is speccing out and ordering machines for our CAD detailing and engineering department. We typically buy machines from Boxx (factory overclocked w/warranty) or Dell Precision 5000 series. The Boxx machines ship with ASUS or AS Rock motherboards. Haven't had any issues with them other than the occasional smoked CPU or video card (we use Quadro cards) which their warranty replaces quickly. We have 100's of those. The Autodesk programs rely mostly on single threaded performance as opposed to multi, so more cores doesn't do a whole lot for us. The overclocked machines help but the Dells have an optimizer program that they work with the software companies and figure out what hardware tweaks are necessary for max performance. I thought it was a gimmick at first but I went to Dell and spoke with the guys who run that project. Our own internal benchmarking shows it does indeed work with stuff like Revit.

For my personal machines I was a die hard Asus user but then got some bad ones and switched to Gigabyte. Its kind of a Ford/Chevy thing... everyone has their favorite brands. Just helped a guy here build an i9 system, OC'd, 2080, all that stuff... went with a Gigabyte board.

Edit: didn't notice your budget in the later thread. Your budget should be fine for what you are looking at but you didn't mention a video card...

[crufflers]

Video card, and motherboard model are my question marks now, as is the COU given the new AMD series. I am especially concerned about the performance hits on Intel with MeltDown, Spectre, and Zombieload chip vulnerabilities patches.

Phil

Sounds like you have a handle on it. I love ASUS mobo's though my newest four systems all have the same Gigabit MOBO in them and I have had no issues. I would still buy a fancier ASUS with all bells and whistles and either an EVGA or MSI video card probably a GTX2080, preferably one of the models that includes Wolfenstein Youngblood, hahah. One of those identical systems has an cheap M.2 drive in it to utilize that slot on the MOBO and it boots the slowest of all... the others have those ADATA 3D nands which were cheaper.

[NYT]

op, these people build purpose built CAD/CAM/engineering workstations.

i would recommend you build out per the software you will run.

https://orbitalcomputers.com

Technical Specifications
You'll find important technical specifications for the Orbital Silenced C2000 CAD Workstation in the table below, including product details, images, dimensions, and helpful notes about configuration options. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time.

Components Available Options
Processor Intel Core i7 9700K 3.60GHz (4.90GHz Turbo) 8 cores, 8 threads 12MB L3 Cache
Intel Core i9 9900K 3.60GHz (5.00GHz Turbo) 8 cores, 16 threads 16MB L3 Cache
Video Card Nvidia Quadro P400 2GB GDDR5 256 CUDA Cores - Professional Workstation GPU
Nvidia Quadro P600 2GB GDDR5 384 CUDA Cores - Professional Workstation GPU
Nvidia Quadro P1000 4GB GDDR5 640 CUDA Cores - Professional Workstation GPU
Nvidia Quadro P2000 5GB GDDR5 1024 CUDA Cores - Professional Workstation GPU
Nvidia Quadro P4000 8GB GDDR5 1792 CUDA Cores - Professional Workstation GPU
Nvidia Quadro P5000 16GB ECC-GDDR5x 2560 CUDA Cores - Professional Workstation GPU
Nvidia Quadro P6000 - 24GB GDDR5-ECC 3840 CUDA Cores - Professional Workstation GPU
Full Line of AMD FirePro Professional Workstation GPUs
Full Line of Nvidia GeForce GTX Consumer-Grade GPUs - Not recommended for SolidWorks
Chipset Features Intel Z390 - USB 3.0, USB 3.1, Intel Optane Support, 4000 MHz DDR4 Support
System Memory (RAM) Up to 64GB 2666 MHz DDR4
Dual-Channel Supported
4 RAM slots (Max of 4x16GB DDR4 Modules)
Fully user-expandable
Storage Supports a maximum of 7 internal drives: 5 x 2.5" or 2x 3.5" and 2x 2.5" SSD/HDD
Supports RAID 0 or 1 with matching 2.5" drives. RAID is configured for free upon request
2x M.2 PCI-e 32 Gbps
6x SATA-III Ports
External CD/DVD drive available (not included)
Audio 115dB SNR HD Audio Included
Creative Sound Blaster High-End PCI-e Sound Cards Available
Amplified headphone and S/PDIF digital output
External 7.1 surround sound support, 2x Headphone and 2x Microphone jacks (one of each available on front and back of case)
I/O Ports 1 HDMI output port with HDCP
6 USB 3.0 Ports
2 USB 3.1 Type-A Ports
2 Headphone Jack
2 Microphone Jack
1 Line-in Jack
4 Channel Surround Jacks
1 RJ-45 LAN (10/100/1000 Mbps) - Gigabit Ethernet Port with cFosSpeed Network Latency Manager
Ports may vary based on motherboard and case selection
Network Connectivity Integrated Intel Gigabit Ethernet LAN - Lowest latency option (1,000 Mbps Max)
Standard Wi-Fi and Asus 802.11ac 1300 Mbps Wi-Fi options are available
Power Supply Most reliable option standard - Corsair RM Series 550W to 750W Silent Fully Modular 80 PLUS Gold Certified
Operating System Windows 10 - 64-bit Supported
Security Full-Device Encryption available with BitLocker (Only on Windows 10 Professional)
BitLocker use with optional Trusted Platform Module (TPM) highly recommended (available in 'Accessories' section)
Dimensions 21" (l) x 9" (w) x 18.5"(h)
Weight: ~38 pounds, depending on exact configuration.
Configurations as light as 20 pounds available and recommended for international shipments.
See options under 'Case' on configuration page.

[crufflers]

Yeah if Alibre 3d CAD is your priority and not Wolfenstein (no accounting for taste) I'd just ask Alibre... they have a customer support chat right on the requirements page... and it says DX9 is the requirement. You might not benefit from some new cutting edge gaming card. Seems like a decent gaming rig would do anything though.

[ibanezfoo]

Thanks for your reply. I am really quite unsure on the video card, since my 3D CAD software does not demand much. I am having a hard time seeing how the Quadro series of cards is needed. Like AutoDesk, my Alibre Pro 3D CAD relies on single thread performance, hence my focus on Intel's higher clock speeds. While I may do some 4k video editing, does one really need eight cores for that, and besides, I cannot reliably determine if my video editing software would even use multiple cores.

I liked ASUS, but Gigabyte is in this eight year old machine and has been stone reliable.

Video card, and motherboard model are my question marks now, as is the COU given the new AMD series. I am especially concerned about the performance hits on Intel with MeltDown, Spectre, and Zombieload chip vulnerabilities patches.

Phil

In a big company your concern is valid for those vulnerabilities... They've caused us quite a bit of work making sure everything is patched up. At home, its much simpler to keep patched up so I don't know that I'd worry about it.

Our testing shows the Quadro cards aren't any faster for performance.... however, Autodesk support will blame your video card if you need help and aren't using their approved hardware. Seems like a scam but it is what it is. Get to pay $1800 for a card with equivalent or less horsepower as a $300 consumer card.

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/certified-graphics-hardware?id=18844534&siteID=123112

[crufflers]

FWIW, Alibre support said they use GTX1080's and they work well, so GTX2080 "should be fine". Doesn't sound like they tested it though.

[afteractionreport]

You will not regret getting a noctua heaksink. I have one that's over10 years old and its still going strong.

Also make sure to use Artic Silver thermal grease for the cpu/ heatsink. Can't stress this enough

[Phil3]

Used Artic Silver before and it worked well. No complaints.

[hermosabeach]

OP

A different question

How is your old PC working for you?

Do you have enough RAM?
Is the system slow based upon the 4K video file size?


A lot of what you might need can be answered by looking at the current system.


If you old system is fine but a bit slow, you might be better off not building the top of the line system now, but spending 1/2 of that amount.

In 3 or 4 years- repeat and built to 50% of the best again.


If you old system is OK speed wise, then there is not need to spend on the fastest of the fast now as you won’t use that much power.


If you are rendering in 3D, you need the speed.



So tell us a bit about the performance needs and how / what on the current system is a bottleneck.

[hermosabeach]

So I get wanting new gear......

If you were to buy a used gaming PC, what would it cost to replace the Over clocked CPU?

So some gamer spends $2800 building a gaming PC, overclocked the CPU and sells it 18 months later for $600