Posts by velvetsurfer87

mellowtiger83 said:Is that i7 you had—or maybe still have—really not cutting it anymore? Honestly, buying a whole new motherboard and CPU right now would be a massive waste of money, especially since you’re sitting on a processor that’s still perfectly capable.

If you're truly hell-bent on an upgrade, look into picking up an NVIDIA Quadro or perhaps an AMD workstation card instead. Or, if you must, just bump up the RAM.

Leave the CPU and the motherboard exactly as they are.

I actually left the company where that computer was located, so I don't have access to any of it anymore. Now, I need to put together something fresh for my own office setup. 🙂

crimsonstag84 said:Samsung 870 EVO, R500/W350, 240GB, 7mm, 2.5"
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB DDR4
EVGA GTX 1060, 3GB GDDR5
Corsair PSU, 650W, TX-M Series
ASUS ROG Z370, 1151
Intel Core i7 8700 k (12MB Cache, 3.70 GHz), s.1151
Zalman Z1 NEO Midi-Tower ATX case, no PSU, black
Seagate Barracuda 1 TB 3.5"

crimsonstag84, just one quick question: do I actually need a dedicated CPU cooler for this processor? If so, could you give me a recommendation so I can get my order placed? 🙂

Edward Stewart said:True, it is certainly more potent than the 5820K, but you would need to overclock it (and manage the cooling) past 5GHz just to catch up to an AMD Ryzen 7 1700 running at 3.8-3.9GHz, which is much easier to keep cool.
If your workflow leans heavily on the GPU for V-Ray, then those $333 savings might be better spent on a more robust graphics card. It all depends on your specific projects, but for serious rendering work, you won't find success just by 🙂 tinkering with settings.

Would this setup actually make more sense with an AMD Ryzen 7 1700, considering the Intel option requires overclocking, heavy cooling, and all that extra hassle?

crimsonstag84 said:Samsung 870 EVO, maybe around $50 or $40, 240GB, 7mm, 2.5"
Maybe it's just me, but I think we should go with the Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB DDR4 instead.
The EVGA GTX 1060 with 3GB of GDDR5.
Maybe just a Corsair 650W TX-M series power supply? I guess that would do it.
The ASUS ROG Z370 motherboard, socket 1151.
It’s an Intel Core i7 8700k (12MB Cache, 3.70 GHz) on the LGA 1151 socket, I guess.
Zalman Z1 NEO Midi-Tower ATX case, black, no PSU included.
The Seagate Barracuda 1 TB 3.5" hard drive.

Total: $3365 PCMag

You could probably stretch things out a bit more with the case if you wanted to... this one is decent, but nothing to write home about. Maybe go with a Razer BlackWidow instead. $75 More room to breathe. Maybe something more expansive, with a few extra features thrown in.

Thanks for the breakdown. I’ll definitely go with a larger case—maybe even a bigger one, since there's plenty of space to fit it in. Up until yesterday, I was running an i7-5820K on the 2011 socket with an NVIDIA GTX 960, which I was pretty happy with, but this setup you've put together is quite a step up.👍

It's a bit of a broad question, really; it all depends on which rendering software ends up being your bread and butter. Some people rely solely on the CPU (Quote : Smartic), others split the load between both (V-Ray), and some lean entirely on the GPU (Lumion or OctaneRender). Because of that, you either pair a high-core-count processor with a mid-range graphics card, or vice versa. For $10k, you can pull together a very capable machine using an AMD Ryzen 7 1700 and 16GB of RAM.
For basic 2D drafting in AutoCAD, even a much weaker machine would suffice, whereas Revit sits somewhere in the middle because you're already working in 3D (you aren't just rendering drawings, you're building a 3D model based on those blueprints).
Anyway, crimsonstag84 beat me to the punch and suggested a specific, solid build.

Edward Stewart, it's clear you have a real handle on the technical side of things 👍. That configuration from crimsonstag84 should handle everything just fine. I've dabbled a bit in V-Ray for presentations, but I haven't had much time with the others yet. I'll give them a look if they turn out to be simpler or faster to use.😁

Evening, everyone,

I’m looking for some guidance on putting together a workstation build tailored for 3D design work—specifically running Revit, AutoCAD, and occasionally some heavy-duty rendering software.

Budget-wise, I’m not looking to go overboard just for the sake of it; I’d prefer something that hits that "sweet spot" of value for money. I'm thinking somewhere in the ballpark of $1,000 $0.00 though I wouldn't mind stretching it a bit more if the performance gains are actually tangible 🙂. On the flip side, I won't complain if we end up landing on something a little cheaper 🙂.

Best regards, 👍>

fadedorca66 said:Not really worth it. I'd just go with 2x4GB RAM instead, since APUs basically live and die by dual channel speeds and memory bandwidth.
And yeah, you definitely need one. Mine was running crazy hot with the stock cooler and sounded like a jet engine taking off.

Thanks to everyone for the help. I'm heading out to pick up the parts this afternoon and then I'll get to building.😁

Robert Rodriguez2 said:In both the Intel and AMD builds, the graphics are built into the CPU. It should be plenty for basic 3D simulations. 🙂

Would I actually notice a difference if I went with everything you suggested but swapped out the CPU for this

procesor AMD A10 x4 6800 k box, Black edition, s. FM2, 4.1GHz, 4MB cache, GPU 8670D, quad Core

or is that just throwing money down the drain?

Also, is it true that these processors actually require a brand new cooler??

Robert Rodriguez2 said:What's your workload in AutoCAD?
Doing heavy 3D rendering?
Just basic 3D modeling?

If not, you definitely don't need an i5.🙂
1 x Asrock FM2A88M EXTREME4+, FM2,FM2+, AMD A88X (Bolton-D4), DDR3
1 x AMD Trinity A8-Series x4 5600 3.60GHz 4cores, FM2
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL9 Ballistix Sport, 1.35V, bl
1 x Kingston SSD 120GB HyperX Fury, 2.5", SATA 3 6G
1 x Spire Kepler Rev.2 ,hladnjak, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm ,92mm

$776

It's a decent quad Core with integrated graphics, 8GB RAM, and an SSD. It covers everything for 2D work and light AutoCAD 3D stuff. It'll handle any standard office tasks you throw at it too.🙂

We don't actually use 3D for our projects—we stick strictly to 2D. We do run some 3D simulations in other software, but those are much more straightforward, and this configuration should handle them just fine.

I feel like I've completely lost the thread here. I don't see a dedicated graphics card listed anywhere; is the graphics being handled by the processor itself? If so, is that integrated chip actually going to be powerful enough to keep things running smoothly?

Larry Ortiz5 said:And how much cash are we talking about here? 🙂

My bad, I completely forgot to mention 🙂

Honestly, whatever I end up picking is going to be a massive upgrade over the relic I'm currently running. I'm not entirely sure where market prices are sitting these days—is it realistic to aim for a build somewhere around $833? I could stretch the budget a bit if it makes sense, though I'd definitely prefer to keep it under 🙂
if possible.

Best,

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to swap out an old office workstation here at the firm. It’s an aging Dell system running a Pentium 4 3.0 with 3GB of DDR2 and a GeForce card with integrated cooling—which, frankly, is absolute junk at this point. These parts have definitely reached the end of their useful life.

Our workflow relies heavily on AutoCAD and similar design software, so we often run two programs simultaneously, which tends to drag the entire system down to a crawl.

Here’s what we’re thinking about keeping:
- The mid-tower case. It’s about seven years old now; I’m not entirely sure if it makes sense to ditch it since it's still in pretty good shape, but I'm open to ideas.
- The CORSAIR VS450 power supply. It’s relatively new, so we’ll stick with that.
- The DVD drive and the HDD are fairly recent, so those should stay too.

Since I haven't stayed deeply immersed in hardware specs lately, I could really use some solid recommendations for:
- Processor
- Motherboard
- Case, assuming you think a replacement is actually necessary.
- RAM
- Graphics card

Any advice or specific build suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,