PC recommendations

[Mesa Tactical]

Time to upgrade my desktop systems. Though I started out working with computers, programming and networking over 25 years ago, I haven't paid much attention to technology during the last decade.

I have two systems that need to be upgraded. The first is my home PC that was purchased in 2002 (!). I use it for photo editing with Photoshop; video editing with Sony Vegas; and illustration with Illustrator. I don't do any gaming, but we do run a home network. My old Dell has been working fine for all these years, but the copy of After Effects I just bought requires Windows 7 (I am running XP) and video editing with Sony Vegas is getting sluggish. I want a basic 64bit system from Dell that can handle all that, for less than $2,000. Might even go for a cash-and-carry deal on an HP from Staples. I won't consider anything from Frys; I don't hate myself enough to shop there.

The other system is something for here at work that can run SolidWorks well. I will be getting a recommendation from our SolidWorks dealer, but in the meantime I thought I would consult the Calguns brain trust for some ideas. Again, I don't need anything fancy, but SolidWorks 2012 is a real pig and will be the last version that will support XP. Again, will want a 64bit system from Dell (SolidWorks has a 64bit mode that I hope will speed things up).

[ibanezfoo]

Get something with a new i5 or i7 of the Sandy Bridge generation. As much ram as you can stuff in there (ram is CHEAP right now. 8gig ddr3 for like 25 bucks). If you want an off the shelf box I can recommend the hp z400 series workstations. We use them for our designers and they love them. They are dual xeons so they are a little more expensive. They were right around $2k if I remember correctly. I know Mazda's US design team replaced all their Macs with z400's.

$2k will get you a pretty high end system by todays standards. Hell, you can get something very decent for under $1000 these days. Most all of these come with Windows 7 64 bit.

You might have to shop for deals on hard drives. The flood in Thailand jacked up the prices about 3 fold (1TB drives we used to buy were about $60, now they are around $150)

[Mesa Tactical]

I appreciate the specific recommendation.

Any downsides to this puppy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883147723&Tpk=N82E16883147723

[Ahmad]

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS $204.99

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 $329.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R1 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler $36.99

2x EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti $499.98 ($249.99 each)

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM $47.99

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $204.99

Western Digital Elements 2TB Desktop External Hard Drive $139.99

SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo $64.99

Rosewill FUTURE Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $79.99

OCZ Fatal1ty 550W Modular Gaming Power Supply $69.99

ASUS VH232H Glossy Black 23" 5ms Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD Monitor $159.99

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $109.99

sub total = $1949.87


This set up is super solid. It's an investment.

[ibanezfoo]

I appreciate the specific recommendation.

Any downsides to this puppy?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883147723

I don't believe the Xeon in that is of the Sandy Bridge generation of processors... and it looks like there is only 1 cpu. For what you want to do, it will work fine of course, way better than what you have, but you might be able to do better for that price.

[Creampuff]

Pretty happy with my i7, Dell XPS system. You can purchase one usually for around $800. Handles Sony Vegas easily. The XPS series I purchased has the a Radeon 6700. Not exactly a gaming card, but breezes through with large video files with Sony Vegas.

Well under your $2000 budget. That should leave room for storage considering you are using it for video.

[ibanezfoo]

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS $204.99

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 $329.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R1 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler $36.99

2x EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti $499.98 ($249.99 each)

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM $47.99

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $204.99

Western Digital Elements 2TB Desktop External Hard Drive $139.99

SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo $64.99

Rosewill FUTURE Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $79.99

OCZ Fatal1ty 550W Modular Gaming Power Supply $69.99

ASUS VH232H Glossy Black 23" 5ms Widescreen Full HD 1080p LCD Monitor $159.99

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $109.99

sub total = $1949.87


This set up is super solid. It's an investment.

That is a great machine. Very similar to what I built for myself recently. I don't think he'd need SLI cards... in fact, I think his Solidworks application is more optimized for the Quadro line of cards. I haven't used it in awhile, so don't quote me on it... I know 3D studio, Solidworks, ACAD and others had some extended drivers for the workstation class video cards (which from what I can tell are just dumbed down versions of gaming cards... go figure). I'd also double that ram at least.

Only drawback: no warranty/support other than yourself.

[paul0660]

Find something 3 years old for 1/5 the price.

I got off my 2002 desktop earlier this year thanks to a Calguns member who was upgrading. I like it a lot. Well worth the $150.

[Quinc]

You can get some smoking deals in the newegg open box section. Just buy it quick if you like it.

[Mesa Tactical]

You can get some smoking deals in the newegg open box section. Just buy it quick if you like it.

Damn, this looks good: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16883229257R

[baih777]

since your in CM have you gone by Microcenter.

http://www.microcenter.com/index.html

55 and edinger

[bigmike82]

If your budget is 2k, build it yourself.

I like Ahmand's build as a baseline, but concur with ibanezfoo about the SLI. I'd pass on the second GPU and pick up a second monitor. Pass on the SSDs and the external drive and put in a pair of WD-Black drives.

[Peter.Steele]

You seriously want to give AMD a pass, if you're running Solidworks.

Solidworks - and every other major solid modeling package out there - is single-threaded. 6 cores don't mean s**t. One single core is all it will ever use, so get the fastest clock speed you can manage.

(For reference, I'm a CAD designer. I use Inventor 10+ hours a day. My workstation is a Dell Precision with a Xeon E3-1280, 16 GB and a Quadro 600.)

The E3-1280 is too expensive for what it is, to be honest: it's an i7-2700 without the integrated graphics, and with the capability to run ECC RAM. I don't know why my company spent the money on it, but I'm not complaining. If you want to go in the Xeon range, the E3-1270 is about half the price of the 1280, and it's the equivalent of an i7-2600, so it's no slouch.

That said, the 1280 just absolutely SCREAMS. It's clocked at up to 3.5 gHz.

And, since I've got 8 cores (including physical and logical), I can actually run 4+ instances of Inventor without really stressing anything, even with 3 of the instances running stress simulations on assemblies with hundreds of welds.

Skip AMD, seriously. Stay Intel.

If you're on a limited budget, build it yourself. Get an i5-2500k, minimum. It'll handle your needs just as well as the i7 would, if you're only running one instance at a time. Spend money on RAM. Get 16 GB at least. You don't need to spend a huge amount on a video card - the Quadro 600 is quite reasonably priced, and it will handle everything you're asking it to do in a professional setting. It's not a gaming card, but I run two monitors in 1080p with it, and it's good to go for what I need.

[dirtykoala]

+ for self built.

[Mesa Tactical]

Solidworks - and every other major solid modeling package out there - is single-threaded. 6 cores don't mean s**t. One single core is all it will ever use, so get the fastest clock speed you can manage.

(For reference, I'm a CAD designer. I use Inventor 10+ hours a day. My workstation is a Dell Precision with a Xeon E3-1280, 16 GB and a Quadro 600.)

Okey dokey, I like the Dell recommendation, we have all Dells here and my home PCs are Dells. Dell makes it easy. For $1,439.00 I can get a Precision T1600 with the Xeon E3-1270 and 8GB of RAM. I only ever run a single instance of SolidWorks. How does that sound?

I don't build PCs. I build cars and I build guns, but I built my last PC 15 years ago.