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CAD Computer...

W

WTT0001

Golden Member
a friend of mine is looking at buying a system to do a lot of CAD work. Any recommendations on what he should be looking for???

As you can tell I know nothing about CAD.
 
All I know is the best performance is if you can do SMP -> Dual CPU running win2000 or WinXP Pro. Anyone else?
 
the video card is much more significant in a CAD machine. Definitely do not skimp out in this area. I'm not too sure what your price range is but i'd recommend looking at Nvidia's Quadro 2 Pro line of cards, ATI's Fire GL series and maybe some Wildcat or oxygen Labs cards. Unfortunately, these cards are way more expensive even compared to the GF3 Ti500 and ATI Radoen 8500 (300-2000 dollar range).


But compared to the price of CAD software licenses, hardware costs look like peanuts. (my offices pays over 3,000 dollars for each AutoCAD license...:Q)

ps - aviod Windows ME like the plague....
 
$3k for each license?
Holy smokes. We're using release 14 (lt.97 and 2000) and I don't think it's that much...or maybe I'm not "in the know".

We use Ati cards nothing special and it works fine for us. But, you can look at the Oxygen and Quadro cards.
 
If he's going to be doing 3-D solid modeling, with raytracing, etc., then definitely go with a mighty video card, fast CPU and a lot of RAM.

But if he's doing just 2-D drafting type CAD work, any current system will do the job. We do that today on three-year-old Pentiums with 128mb RAM, and it runs fine using one of the high-end $4000 CAD packages. It all depends what he's doing with the software.
 


<< $3k for each license?
Holy smokes. We're using release 14 (lt.97 and 2000) and I don't think it's that much...or maybe I'm not "in the know". >>




The LT licenses are much much cheaper compared to the full versions. We use primarly use AutoCAD 2000 full version, but we have a few Architechual Desktop 3.3 seats as well (autoCAD 2002 w/extras), all are about $3000 each, LTs are only around $600. R14 was a great release, unfortunately Autodesk is going to stop it supporting very soon.
 
Should have seen the Unigraphics invoice I saw a few months ago.
Makes Autocad look like freeware. But....if you want the best.
 
If you don't care about the warranty on the video card, you can always convert your GeForce X into a Quadro Y. You can either do it either by modifying the hardware and using the supported drivers; or by using hacked drivers like SoftQuadro.
 
Doing some CAD myself at work. We use AutoCAD2000 and PIII@800 and 384MB RAM running W2K and ATi Rage 128 Pro.
Not the best card but it works well.
AutoCAD LT is god for 2D but for 3D ACAD2000 is a must. ACAD2000 has much nices solid modeling functions than ACAD14.

I want to have SolidWorks. It is much easier to use with 3D.
I would say go with lots of RAM and a good graphics card. 1-1.5GHz CPU will be well enough. Find a graphics card that has good OpenGL support since AutoCAD uses it.
 
Mechanical Desktop is a great First parameric modelling program, for some reason if you start with that one and can really make it sing. the other ones come easy.
 


<< a friend of mine is looking at buying a system to do a lot of CAD work. Any recommendations on what he should be looking for???

As you can tell I know nothing about CAD. >>

Get dual Xeons on a Supermicro P4DC6 mainboard with two or three 512mb PC800 RIMMs of RDRAM (Viking or Samsung). For hard disks, get at least two Seagate X15 Fibre Channel SCSI hard drives in RAID level 0 or 0+1 on an Adaptec RAID card (the mainboard has built in SCSI). As for the case, I recommend an Antec SX-1040 or a Lian Li PC 6x (or a 70). Make sure that the computer has IEEE 1394, it is essential for high-end peripherals. For graphics, get an AGP nVidia Quadro 2 or an Oxygen labs card. For his monitor, look at the LaCie Electron 19 or 22 Blue III (with calibration software). These are the best monitors I've ever used or seen, bar none. As for an operating system, you'll want to run Windows 2000 Professional, service pack 2.
Other options include Sun SPARC workstations and SGI machines.
 
If you don't want to hack your video card or driver, the synergy 2000 and synergy III cards from Elsa are pretty cheap (for work station cards that is) work station cards for 3d aps.
 


<< SGI machines >>



You mean SGI still exists? 🙂 I think that statement is a little dated, SGI was good at one point... but that point is long gone. I used to do some IRIX systems administration years ago.

Daovonnaex, that set-up is a bit overkill. I mean it works, but it is not what is needed by far. A fast processor, at least 512MB of memory, and a good CAD video card (one with good OpenGL support, see my message about modifying a GeForce above). The X15's are not really needed for CAD work, disk speed isn't generally the bottleneck. You will definitely notice an improvement with your set-up, but price/performance wise it isn't needed. I just think you wanted an excuse to brag 🙂

I have Autocad 2000 running on my main machine (yes, a legit copy with box and manuals) and it runs fine. It takes 6 seconds to start on my 850Mhz system, and once it is running it doesn't lag. I really don't see why you would really need more than that. My brother does CAD work for a living from home and he is suffering a little on a 500Mhz machine (he does say he needs to upgrade, but he says he'd be happy with a 1Ghz machine).
 


<<

<< SGI machines >>



You mean SGI still exists? 🙂 I think that statement is a little dated, SGI was good at one point... but that point is long gone. I used to do some IRIX systems administration years ago.

Daovonnaex, that set-up is a bit overkill. I mean it works, but it is not what is needed by far. A fast processor, at least 512MB of memory, and a good CAD video card (one with good OpenGL support, see my message about modifying a GeForce above). The X15's are not really needed for CAD work, disk speed isn't generally the bottleneck. You will definitely notice an improvement with your set-up, but price/performance wise it isn't needed. I just think you wanted an excuse to brag 🙂

I have Autocad 2000 running on my main machine (yes, a legit copy with box and manuals) and it runs fine. It takes 6 seconds to start on my 850Mhz system, and once it is running it doesn't lag. I really don't see why you would really need more than that. My brother does CAD work for a living from home and he is suffering a little on a 500Mhz machine (he does say he needs to upgrade, but he says he'd be happy with a 1Ghz machine). >>

True. However, there is a marked improvement in CAD applications when using RDRAM--so either dual Xeons (single Xeon sucks) or a single P4. I've run AutoCad (illegal) on a decked out Athon XP system and on my humble 1.4GHz P4 system, and the P4 system is faster thanks to RDRAM.
SGI is now under the leadership of Cray, Inc. and still producing world-beaters.
 
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