Hello,
I'm considering building a small-sized workstation for my 3D CAD jobs.
I want the system to be small because to some extent I want portability, thus easing the transition between different work environments.
I'm in no market for a notebook, since I mostly work with 24" displays.
I'm trying to build something for +/- €1000 (hardware only).
I want your opinion on a setup / hardware configuration that might suit my needs.
***SYSTEM***
The CPU choice is very definitive, this is not to be discussed 😉.
I really like the GTX 560, since price-wise it's the sweet spot for me. I use rendering software (e.g. Bunkspeed Shot) which can greatly benefit from its 384 CUDA cores (because of this, AMD videocards are out of the scope). 2GB of video memory is awesome when rendering really complex scenes smoothly.
Selecting the best case will be the toughest part I guess. I think the SG07 is quite functional, but I 'm not exactly blown away by its aesthetics. I do like that it comes with a 600W PSU, though. Judging from the specifications from Silverstone it might be suitable for the Palit GTX 560 (the Gainward is a 2.5 slot high card, which I think is too big for this case).
For me the PC-Q11 is far better looking, but I'm not sure if it is wise (or possible at all) to put a GTX 560 card in that case (there doesn't seem to be an awful lot of room to fit a high-power videocard).
The Shuttle essentially is the most appealing to me. It looks really smooth / classy, has a fantastic build quality and seems to be really friendly to assemble. The only "drawback" is the 300W PSU. Is this anywhere near enough to power the selected components? Is Shuttle using finely tuned PSUs optimized for SFF purposes (I haven't got any hands-on experience with Shuttle yet)? Shuttle says this about dual-slot graphic cards in the SH67H7:
"The creative engineers at Shuttle have worked out how to fit large and incredibly powerful dual-slot graphics cards into this compact PC. The special dimensions of the cards and the unusual fan size cause no problems at all in this Mini-PC." This leaves me to think there might not be a problem at all?
Any recommendations or suggestions are more than welcome!
greetz,
driesel
I'm considering building a small-sized workstation for my 3D CAD jobs.
I want the system to be small because to some extent I want portability, thus easing the transition between different work environments.
I'm in no market for a notebook, since I mostly work with 24" displays.
I'm trying to build something for +/- €1000 (hardware only).
I want your opinion on a setup / hardware configuration that might suit my needs.
***SYSTEM***
- Asus P8H67-I Deluxe (mini-ITX)
- Intel Core i5 2500K
- Palit XpertVision GeForce GTX 560 Ti or Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Ti Phantom2048MB GDDR5
- 8GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 SODIMM
- Crucial RealSSD C300 2.5" 64GB
- Western Digital Scorpio Black WD5000BEKT
- Silverstone SG07 or Lian Li PC-Q11A (with Corsair Enthusiast TX650 V2) or Shuttle XPC Barebone SH67H7
The CPU choice is very definitive, this is not to be discussed 😉.
I really like the GTX 560, since price-wise it's the sweet spot for me. I use rendering software (e.g. Bunkspeed Shot) which can greatly benefit from its 384 CUDA cores (because of this, AMD videocards are out of the scope). 2GB of video memory is awesome when rendering really complex scenes smoothly.
Selecting the best case will be the toughest part I guess. I think the SG07 is quite functional, but I 'm not exactly blown away by its aesthetics. I do like that it comes with a 600W PSU, though. Judging from the specifications from Silverstone it might be suitable for the Palit GTX 560 (the Gainward is a 2.5 slot high card, which I think is too big for this case).
For me the PC-Q11 is far better looking, but I'm not sure if it is wise (or possible at all) to put a GTX 560 card in that case (there doesn't seem to be an awful lot of room to fit a high-power videocard).
The Shuttle essentially is the most appealing to me. It looks really smooth / classy, has a fantastic build quality and seems to be really friendly to assemble. The only "drawback" is the 300W PSU. Is this anywhere near enough to power the selected components? Is Shuttle using finely tuned PSUs optimized for SFF purposes (I haven't got any hands-on experience with Shuttle yet)? Shuttle says this about dual-slot graphic cards in the SH67H7:
"The creative engineers at Shuttle have worked out how to fit large and incredibly powerful dual-slot graphics cards into this compact PC. The special dimensions of the cards and the unusual fan size cause no problems at all in this Mini-PC." This leaves me to think there might not be a problem at all?
Any recommendations or suggestions are more than welcome!
greetz,
driesel
Last edited:
