I need upgrade advice from AutoCAD users

[Ilmater]

I don't use AutoCAD, so I don't know what it needs. Does a faster FSB help with CAD? Faster CPU? More memory?

I'm building a computer for a friend and he wants it solely for the purpose of running AutoCAD.

Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[dullard]

Great info can be found here. Sure I'd like a more frequent update of parts and a more thorough explanation, but it is a great place for a quick glance on what to get. I really like their video card tests since you cannot get that info here or any other online forum I've seen so far. Their monitor reviews are unique too since they actually measure if the lines drawn are straight (can be important for CAD) and other things that you rarely see elsewhere. You might be surprized at some of their monitor recommendations.

Best performer yet as of March. Looks like they like the 3.06 GHz P4 (remember the 3.0C wasn't tested yet) and the NVIDIA AGP 8X Quadro4 980 XGL wins the performance test by far and almost had the lowest price of the high end cards.

 

[Ilmater]

OK, wait a minute. Let me be more specific. He's a budget guy, so Intel is out (I don't want to hear it), and so is any Quadro card.

 

[PrinceXizor]

1. Faster load time for drawings on open and save. I don't know what specific subsystem is best for this, but that is one task that can be really slow.
2. Faster load time for regenerating drawing (am guessing this would be CPU for recalculation and memory for the same reason).
3. I don't know if AutoCAD can off-load 3D calculations for display purposes to a graphics card, so I'm not sure if a high-end 3D card is worth the money. If most of the rendering calculations are done via software or the CPU, then a quality 2D card should save some moola.
4. Whatever he does, shell out the bucks for the latest version fo AutoCAD that JUST got or is JUST about to be released. Drawing load and save times as well as file size of the .dwg files have all been cut by 35-75%. Many are calling this the biggest upgrade since R14.

I've got some technical CAD specs around here somewhere, I'll see if I can get u some more specifics.

I'd opt for CPU and memory, though CPU's are more easily upgraded (within a family of course), so more memory and FSB = better. So I figure a 400Mhz FSB and some screaming memory, and gobs of it, at the cost of some CPU will be better, that is IF he isn't averse to upgrading his CPU periodically. My $.02 worth.

P-X

 

[Ilmater]

Does anyone know how much getting a card like a Wildcat or and ATI FireGL would make a difference?

 

[Insidious]

OK guys, we're talking AutoCAD here, not a Walt Disney motion picture studio.

any video card with 128MB is going to be fine for you.

you want lots of system ram (512MB would be the minimum I would want 1G is what I would prefer)

and a CPU that is reasonably modern. (just about any P4 or T-Bred will be just fine)


While the super-dee-dooper system components above would be 'kewl', they are not really necessary for AutoCAD.

-Sid

From the AutoDesk international website:

System Requirements

Published date: 2003-03-25
ID: TS79401

Applies to:
AutoCAD® 2004


Issue


You want to know the minimum system requirements for AutoCAD® 2004.



Solution


The minimum system requirements for AutoCAD® 2004 (standalone and networked) are:

Operating System:

Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.0 SP 6a or later
Microsoft® Windows® 2000
Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional Edition
Microsoft® Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition

Browser: Internet Explorer 6.0

Processor: Pentium® III 500Mhz

RAM: 256MB

Video: 1024x768 with True Color

Hard Disk: Installation 300MB

Pointing Device: Mouse, trackball or other device

CD-ROM: Any speed (for installation only)

Network (Network Client versions only): Ethernet network card and TCP/IP protocol

 

[pmailloux]

Well ive got a client using AutoCad 2002 and his system I got him is only a P4 1.8 Ghz with 512 Mb ram and a GeForce 2 MX 32 Mb card and he hasnt complained about it yet. Hope this helps, Im not to sure all those fancy cards are worth it for the common user.

 

[Murr]

I think you could run autocad on a calculator....

 

[CTho9305]

Assuming it is anything like 3dsmax, the viewports really aren't that hardware-intensive unless you are doing EXTREMELY complicated models. A fast CPU and just about any video card should do fine.

 

[Toddo97]

My wife is an architect and uses it quite a bit at home. Before I upgraded, she was running it on a p3 450 w/ 384mb ram and a 16mb video card w/ no problems so you don't need to go nuts building a monster machine

 

[tigerbait]

Most of the cad stations at my office are HP xu700 (PIII 866EB, i840 with 256MB PC800) and they work without a problem. If you're doing mostly 2D, then the requirements aren't too high.

 

[FrustratedUser]

Originally posted by: Ilmater
I don't use AutoCAD, so I don't know what it needs. Does a faster FSB help with CAD? Faster CPU? More memory?

I'm building a computer for a friend and he wants it solely for the purpose of running AutoCAD.

Any and all help is appreciated.

A CPU with lots of FPU power + lots of memory if you do any 3D renderings + a good quality Video card, ATi 8500 will do just fine.

 

[stonecold3169]

get a radeon 9600 pro, 9700 series, or 9800 series... in a future driver update these are supposed to support line antialiasing, which will improve the appearence of some wireframe models which currently can not be displayed on any cards anywhere near this pricerange.

 

[jbond04]

Ilmater, what exactly does your friend use AutoCAD for? Personally, I use it for a wide variety of applications (3D part modeling, 3D models of houses/rooms, 2D floor plans/details, mapping), so I have a pretty good knowledge of what makes AutoCAD "work better". In my experience, no matter what the application, a fast CPU and memory subsystem benefit the user the most. Things like professional graphics cards and SCSI RAID arrays only help a very small sector of AutoCAD users. I think that a nice AMD AthlonXP Barton CPU and 512MB of RAM (go with 1GB if you have the money...just on general principle) on an nForce 2 would be more than enough for 99% of the AutoCAD population. Even when I'm working on massive 3D drawings, I have never used more than about 384MB of RAM.

Once you give us some more details about how he/she plans to use AutoCAD (architect? civil engineer? mechanical engineer?), then I think we can help tailor the system better to suit their needs. Hope this stuff helps out.

 

[Mingon]

Dont get a ATI card if your doing 3d modelling in autocad, they perform terribly (yes I know soft firegl blah blah), I have used a radeon 9500/9700 and its performance was lower than a gef3 in autocad 2002. I would recommend a Ti4200, 512mb of memory (MORE IF POSS) and a barton core AMD.

pictures of the models I was using (scroll down - beware large pics)

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: jbond04
Ilmater, what exactly does your friend use AutoCAD for?

Sorry, I should have been more specific. He'll just be using it for arcitectural drawings, floor plans, etc. He works for a company that builds homes and duplexes.

If a higher FSB would be helpful, I can buy PC3200 RAM with a 333MHz FSB processor, and overclock the FSB to 400MHz. If the extra cache of a Barton won't help as much as raw FPU power, then I'd much rather have a 2600+ than a 2500+. If more RAM is good, then I'll get 1GB vs. 512MB. If one graphics card will be better for some reason than another, then I'll look into that. Speaking of which, I've heard promises of line antialiasing from ATI for too long and I don't believe it'll ever happen, so I'm not going to buy a card based a feature it might have.

The budget is a max of $1200, so it doesn't have to be a bottom-of-the-line computer, it just isn't going to be incredible.

 

[Sideswipe001]

Get lots of RAM.

I work taking care of the computers for a small company; about 5-6 of our users use AutoCAD. RAM is one of the biggest factors I've seen so far. Video card didn't seem to be so important. 512 MB of RAM minimum.

I'm not sure if the Barton's Cache helps more than raw Mhz does in this case, but I *think* that Mhz means more.

Oh - I do believe that a quality 8MB cache HD would be helpful as well.

 

[PrinceXizor]

I assume we are leaving OUT the monitor in this equation.

Ok $1200 is the price and no serious 3D work is being done. I may be way off base here (what I/O operations are actually being accomplished per software package is sometimes difficult to ascertain).

1. I would get a Barton Core Athlon. The nature of memory allocation for CAD components is similar to a structured matrix the way it has been described to me. Thus prefetch algorithms would be more likely to load useful data into the larger cache, thus having a greater impact on system performance in the chosen application.

2. More memory is better. 1 Gbyte should not strain the bank account too badly.

3. Formulate your I/O subsystem appropriately. A two-tiered hard drive I/O system seems appropriate. A Raptor HD for OS and paging files and a 8MB cache IDE HD >= 80GB should work nicely.

4. I would NOT, overclock for a business system. Overclocking (even a stable one) will reduce component life and obviously void warranties.

Assuming that you are purchasing the whole system including case.

My recommendations:

Antec SLK3700AMB ~ $80
-350Watt Smart Power
-Plenty of space for future expansion
-2 120mm fan mounts for quiet cooling

Nforce2 Ultra 400 Motherboard ~ $140 (Gives you an upgrade path that includes all Barton Cores and a couple T-Bred cores).

Athlon XP 2500+ ~ $100 (If you must overclock, obviously, a 2600+ TBred @ 333Mhz would suit you better).

Corsair Matched Pair 1GB ~ $170

WD Raptor 36GB OEM ~ $140

WD 120GB w/ 8MB OEM ~ $110

Matrox G550 ~ $100

Good 120mm Case Fans ~ $40?

Sound: OnBoard

Ethernet: OnBoard

SATA: OnBoard

USB: OnBoard

CD-RW ~ $60

Windows XP Pro ~ $150

Total Cost ~ $1100

P-X

Edit One: Based on AT's recent Motherboard article. Perhaps replacing the Nforce2 Ultra 400 and 2500+ with an ABIT IS7 and a Pentium 2.4C would be an interesting option, particularly if you want to overclock. The Intel set-up will cost you about $50-$60 more.

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: stonecold3169
get a radeon 9600 pro, 9700 series, or 9800 series... in a future driver update these are supposed to support line antialiasing, which will improve the appearence of some wireframe models which currently can not be displayed on any cards anywhere near this pricerange.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that a Geforce2 with the softQuadro hack has support for line antialiasing... and you can pick one up for what, 30 bucks? I guess you're right, that isn't in the same pricerange at all

 

[Iznogoodh]

Ram, Ram, and more RAM, and a BIG ass monitor!

Really I am using auto cad now for 6 years ore so! And I really advice u use 2 monitors and try to get the biggest monitor u can afford.
As a novice user u doesn?t need the 1 GIG ram and a 21? monitor but if u want to use it every day it?s worth the extra money for the ram and monitor.
A good tip is strip an old pc of its monitor ore buy a second hand one, a 15? will do! And use it to display your tools! Its hand to buy a video card who has dual monitor capability. A G-force 3 ore 4 Ti will do!