CAD build catia V5

[adrian87]

my brother works in automotive engineering and has asked me to build a new home computer for him that he will be using for Catia V5.

Iv only ever built gaming computers before and as i understand it CAD has different requirements.

Budget is 5-600 pounds. I can probably save a bit by harvesting hard drives from elsewhere and possibly a mobo (havnt checked what socket it is yet so maybe not)


Firstly should i be throwing money at the CPU or GPU or balance? whats going to be the minimum requirement?
Im guessing ill want about 16-32g ram?

this isnt going to be his main working pc, just something he do do a bit on when hes at home - can i realistically make something that run ok for him on that?

 

[Sleepingforest]

I would go for 16GB of RAM first, and then look for a cheap workstation card. Something like this:
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 (£176.34 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI B75A-G43 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£56.50 @ Amazon UK)
Memory (Get two of these): Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£27.78*2 @ Amazon UK)
Graphics Card: PNY Quadro 600 1GB GDDR3 (£144.20 @ Amazon UK)
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450 (£35.92 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £501.52

Going up to 32GB (which you may want to do) will cost you another £55.56.

 

[daveybrat]

I would go for 16GB of RAM first, and then look for a cheap workstation card. Something like this:
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V2 (£176.34 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI B75A-G43 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£56.50 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£27.78*2 @ Amazon UK)
Graphics Card: PNY Quadro 600 1GB GDDR3 (£144.20 @ Amazon UK)
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£32.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450 (£35.92 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £529.20

Why would you use a single 8GB module instead a an 8GB kit? He'll be sacrificing the benefits of dual-channel memory.

 

[Sleepingforest]

It's not immediately clear, but I meant for him to get 2 of those DIMMs. I accounted for it in the final price (actually, I overcompensated and accounted for 3 DIMMs in the price), and I've edited the post to make it more clear.

 

[mfenn]

Catia is one of those really annoying engineering programs that really wants a workstation card. It will probably more or less work with a GeForce, but you are up the creek if there is ever a problem.

So yeah, I tend to agree with Sleepingforest's recommendation.

 

[adrian87]

cheers

 

[adrian87]

so looking at specs and whatnot thinking it might be prudent to up the budget for a better graphics card.

if the budget for the card was 300, would a quadro k2000, 2gb ddr5 be a sensible choice?

 

[Cerb]

so looking at specs and whatnot thinking it might be prudent to up the budget for a better graphics card.

if the budget for the card was 300, would a quadro k2000, 2gb ddr5 be a sensible choice?

Sure, but I would get a nicer case, maybe new HDDs, and/or maybe a slightly faster CPU (i3-1240V2, FI), first.

Most of the time, you don't need a Quadro for hardware performance. The Quadro 600, FI, is basically a desktop GT 430. You're getting it for the drivers, typically, which have been tweaked not only for better non-gaming performance, but also to work around quirky code of some of these applications. The software's cost is reflective of its small market, much more than its vast testing and high quality (and with small markets, it's hard to fix that).

That said, you probably should get the Quadro k600, which is much more powerful than the 600--should be around 100% faster, for pure graphics work--for only 20 more.

 

[mfenn]

Sure, but I would get a nicer case, maybe new HDDs, and/or maybe a slightly faster CPU (i3-1240V2, FI), first.

Most of the time, you don't need a Quadro for hardware performance. The Quadro 600, FI, is basically a desktop GT 430. You're getting it for the drivers, typically, which have been tweaked not only for better non-gaming performance, but also to work around quirky code of some of these applications. The software's cost is reflective of its small market, much more than its vast testing and high quality (and with small markets, it's hard to fix that).

That said, you probably should get the Quadro k600, which is much more powerful than the 600--should be around 100% faster, for pure graphics work--for only 20 more.

Good catch on the K600.

 

[Cerb]

Good catch on the K600.

TBF, I wouldn't have, if the OP hadn't mentioned the K2000, as a higher-end alternative. They haven't been out long, and the lower-end ones, like the K600 and K2000, haven't been getting much hype. The K2000 looks fine, too, but with the meager budget, I'd take care of some of Sleepingforest's build's cheapness, first, since with 150GBP more, a nice case and faster HDD would easily fit (a new 1TB/platter HDD will be noticeably peppier than anything salvaged, even if it won't match an SSD).

 

[adrian87]

hmm, frankly i dont know what the budget is anymore he now seems quite set on the k2000 and is asking if its possible to have 2!

would it be worth convincing him to maybe sli 2 k600's ? or if he want to spend the money would he really notice the difference of having 1 or 2 k2000's?

or 2 k600's and a better cpu, or 1 k2000 and a better cpu - i really have no clue how the performance of these cards stack up

 

[Cerb]

hmm, frankly i dont know what the budget is anymore he now seems quite set on the k2000 and is asking if its possible to have 2!

There's only frustration going down that road, if it is supported at all. It's always better to go up to a higher level of video card, whenever possible, than to add more of them.

would it be worth convincing him to maybe sli 2 k600's ? or if he want to spend the money would he really notice the difference of having 1 or 2 k2000's?

Going from a K600 up to a K2000 would be the better option, though it wouldn't surprise me if he were to be unable to notice any difference.

or 2 k600's and a better cpu, or 1 k2000 and a better cpu - i really have no clue how the performance of these cards stack up

A faster CPU will either be used well right now, or get used well as the machine ages (including if he gets more complex projects to do on the side). CPU and RAM should always take the front seat.

 

[mfenn]

SLI anything for professional graphics is silly. Get the K2000 if he really wants it, but do not sacrifice any of the other parts to do so (i.e. get him to increase the budget if he wants the faster card). Most of these applications are heavily CPU dependent, especially the "lite" analysis features, so sacrificing the CPU for the GPU doesn't make much sense.

 

[bononos]

Why would you use a single 8GB module instead a an 8GB kit? He'll be sacrificing the benefits of dual-channel memory.

I think the benefit of dual chan is lower compared with higher memory speed (if in fact he is thinking of getting higher than standard memory speed). And theres the bonus of high capacity memory - easier to find compatible ram sticks in the future.