Need Help trying to choose processor good for CAD applications

[kumanchu]

Yeah as the topic states i'm building a comp for a friend and i'm wondering which would perform better for her needs:

p3 550e
celeron 600

any other suggestions would be appreciated, and please explain WHY you like which processor better because just saying "cely!!!" doesn't really help me decide... thanks all

 

[progiciel]

I'm no expert here, but my understanding is that the P3 has a faster bus speed (100 Mhz against 66 for the Celeron). Also, the L2 cache is bigger. But if you have to buy both motherboard and cpu, go for a Duron; a 600 Mhz performs more or less like a Celeron 850 and they cost pennies.

 

[they call mr big]

the p!!! 550, twice as much cache

 

[kumanchu]

interesting idea, going AMD i'm just worried about stability cause i don't want her at my door all the time... wait a sec i take that back.... =P

 

[Ulysses]

The P3 is better than the Celeron because AnandTech's benchmarks say it is. And the AMD Thunderbirds are even better - especially for CAD-type apps where the superior FPU of the AMD core really shines. While they do not compare these precise chips, take a look at this AnandTech review and compare the benchmarks.

You'll see that a non-overclocked Celeron is pretty pitiful, while a 533A Celeron that is overclocked to 850 in like a P3 650-700, and a Tbird at 650-700 outshines them all, at least in the SPECviewperf benchmarks, which are most applicable to CAD-type apps.

The AMD chips and the VIA chipsets and supporting motherboards have improved much over the last year.

 

[kumanchu]

hmmm duron sounds kinda cool for what she's doing but still other opinions welcome!!! boink~~~

 

[Neos]

From what I see with the new mainboards, AMD has it all. Why don't you give her the choice to save money ...if she likes.
I have a K6-3 400 ...one day will go Duron, but this thing rarely crashes.
Neos (Andrew in AL)

 

[kumanchu]

bump!!

 

[ndee]

Why are these Inteljunkies thinking, that AMD is not stable? At home, I've got 2 rock-stable AMD Systems. So that maynot be a criterea in my opinion!

 

[Oreo]

For CAD and 3D apps you should defenitly go with Athlon or Duron. They have a superior FPU and are alot faster in those apps. In some tests a Athlon/Duron@700MHz is faster than a 1GHz PIII so I think you should go the AMD route.

 

[dandan]

do not go with a Celeron for cad. I have one at home running at 920 with a gefore2 and my AMD 800 with a gefore mx at work is much faster when it comes to 2d drawing and rendering. I just built 4 more AMD systems for CAD work at our office, and they rock and were cheep to build.
here was the part list:
AMD TBird 800
GA-7ZM (micro atx with audio)
32mb Gefore MX (dont recall the brand)
128 MB PC 133 2cas
Intel 10/100 nic
IBM 15 gig ata100 drive
50x cd and 1.44 floppy
cheep speekers so they can at least hear new mail when it shows up
and Windows 2000 Pro
total cost for hardware was under $1000

this runs AutoCAD 2000i great.
and all boards and cpus were happy at least to 880mhz (110 bus)
but as of today they are all running at 800.

 

[kumanchu]

nifty! i didn't know that the athlon/duron platforms were so much faster at Cad cam. i think i'll get a duron 650 and see how high it can go!

gary

 

[Mem]

My input,I`ve just upgraded from Intel to AMD system using the MSI K7T PRO & am very impressed with the stability(also I`m a gamer so stability is very important)for CAD go with a Thunderbird or a Duron if you are on a tight budget.One last thing make sure you buy a good board,there is nothing worst then having a Intel or AMD processor on a crappy board.

 

[Killer Ape]

First, CAD is VERY broad term. If she's running AutoCAD, then almost ANY current generation processor will do fine. I'd shy away from Celerons, but even they do fine in AutoCAD. Go Intel or AMD, whichever gets you the best price and makes your friend feel comfortable. Both of their FPU performances are more than adequate and won't make any difference in real world terms, which is probably what your friend most cares about. I'm an architect, and I switched from a Pentium Pro 200 to a P!!!500 over a year ago and see virtually NO real world performance difference, given the same amount of RAM.

Which raises a point: I'd spend more money on RAM and less on the CPU. Going above 128MB to 256MB or more in RAM will make a HUGE difference as opposed to bumping up the CPU speed ~100MHz. The biggest CAD-killer is paging to the HDD, not the CPU speed. The video solution is also important. If she's doing any real time OpenGL type stuff, then get a GeForce DDR/GF2. You could spring for a Quadro, but that's an extra $400 that could be spent on other things (you can also mod a GF/GF2 to a Quadro, but that's a little OT ).