Design machine needs major upgrades.

AstroTurf

AstroTurf

Lucky Shot
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
32,113
Reaction score
6,119
Hi,

Our one designers computer is in need of some more upgrades.
Currently runs 2 Nvidia GTS 250's in SLI (with 2 monitors).
12GB RAM
I7

Mostly for CAD/CAM type programs (3d modeling, verctor's, huge photos etc).

What I want to do in the eternal upgrading of this machine is get him a good sized Solid State Drive and if anyone has any other suggestions, please shout.

What SSD Should I get him? looking at around 256GB but no idea which one to buy him and from where.

His computer gets an upgrade on average twice a year to keep up with the software he uses so was wondering what else I should stick in there for performance and stability increases.
 
There are a lot of different generation of i7 CPU's available nowadays.

Before upgrading the CPU, I would suggest that the designer looks at the CPU usage graphs in like Task Manager. If his applications are in fact maxing out some of the cores, then it could be worth while getting a Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge CPU and to overclock it to like 4.4GHz at least.

In terms of SSD's, the OCZ Vertex 4 would be a very good option. Look at Rebeltech/Wootware for pricing, or go to pricecheck.co.za/shopmania.co.za/jump.co.za to find the best prices on it.
 
Some of the CAD/CAM suppliers have lists of tested and approved hardware. If there is such a list on their website then this would be a good starting point for upgrades.

One thing that looks strange is the graphics card choice. Any decent software of this type offers Quadro support, which should help things. Also mainstream graphics cards do not offer the precision required for CAD work.
 
+1 to what garyc said about the graphics cards.

Especially if the designer is doing lots of 3D modelling or designs with lots of vectors/polygons, it would drastically reduce the rendering times when using a real workstation graphics card (AMD FirePro/Nvidia Quadro). The high end ones would cost you tens of thousands of Rands, but those I can only recommend if you're rendering jobs all the time on very large projects.
 
Yea, may change the GPU to something a bit more pro in the not to distant future.

As I said, his machine gets an upgrade about twice yearly (whenever there is a major release of the software he uses).

Right now though I think it will just be Getting him a SSD and then look into the rest at a later date.
 
Aqua_lung said:
hackintosh or mac pro
Click to expand...

Both suck when it comes to CAD and CAM in our line of business.
Our programs (that are the best in the market for what we do) simply do not get made for the mac.
 
AstroTurf said:
Both suck when it comes to CAD and CAM in our line of business.
Our programs (that are the best in the market for what we do) simply do not get made for the mac.
Click to expand...

I just thought it would be funny if I posted it... Apple have neglected the pro market for sometime.
 
The SSD 101 is basically
Most of them source their flash and buy their SATA controllers from either Marvel, Sandforce .
Others have their own inhouse tech like OCZ's Nginx used on the Vertex 4.
Other factors to considers is iOPS and projected read/writes (lifespan).
Some support SATA2 and others SATA3 (backward compatible with SATA2)
Because this is production pc, used often, warranty will also be an important factor for me.
Currently general SSD speeds are 250Mb/s for a SATA2 and 500mb/s for a SATA3
Read/Write speeds is not the only performance indicator. Synchronous and/or Asynchronous and iOPS, trim support influence performance.
If you want faster than 800Mb/s look at the OCZ revodrives.
 
Last edited:
AstroTurf said:
Both suck when it comes to CAD and CAM in our line of business.
Our programs (that are the best in the market for what we do) simply do not get made for the mac.
Click to expand...

The architecture department at Tuks uses Mac's exclusively in their IT lab. Different strokes for different blokes:) Prefer Windows though as there are way too many apps which are only windows compatible.
 
AstroTurf said:
Artcam, featurecam, eurocut, rhograv/besgrav and various others.
Click to expand...

I wonder if any one of them use GPU processing?
If not i will spend more on a high end CPU and less on the graphics card.
 
Why not move to GPUs designed for rendering?


Be warned they are not designed to play games on, so don't make that move if he uses the machine for other graphics than designing or documents...
 
Below are the hardware requirements for Artcam. Looks like the GPU upgrade may be a good idea.

Recommended Hardware

Processor Type & Speed: Intel Core i5 Quad-Core (or equivalent)
RAM: 4GB or more
Graphics Card: 1GB fully OpenGL 2.0 compliant graphics card for business use*
(Nvidia Quadro / AMD FirePro or higher)
Hard Disk Size: 500 GB or more
Screen Display: 1920 x 1200
OS: Windows 7 64-bit (x64)
Additional Hardware/Software: Wacom pressure sensitive tablet for Interactive Sculpting (if desired)

Advanced Recommended Hardware (For High End Users)

Processor Type & Speed: Intel Core i7 Quad-Core (or equivalent)
RAM: 8GB or more
Graphics Card: 1-2GB fully OpenGL 2.0 compliant graphics card for business use*
Hard Disk Size: 500 GB or more
Screen Display: 1920 x 1200
Operating System & Version: Windows 7 64-bit (x64)
Additional Hardware/Software: Wacom pressure sensitive tablet for Interactive Sculpting (if desired)
 
droid said:
I wonder if any one of them use GPU processing?
If not i will spend more on a high end CPU and less on the graphics card.
Click to expand...

Artcam does. getting the SSD for now and GPU in a month or two
 
garyc said:
Below are the hardware requirements for Artcam. Looks like the GPU upgrade may be a good idea.

Recommended Hardware

Processor Type & Speed: Intel Core i5 Quad-Core (or equivalent)
RAM: 4GB or more
Graphics Card: 1GB fully OpenGL 2.0 compliant graphics card for business use*
(Nvidia Quadro / AMD FirePro or higher)
Hard Disk Size: 500 GB or more
Screen Display: 1920 x 1200
OS: Windows 7 64-bit (x64)
Additional Hardware/Software: Wacom pressure sensitive tablet for Interactive Sculpting (if desired)

Advanced Recommended Hardware (For High End Users)

Processor Type & Speed: Intel Core i7 Quad-Core (or equivalent)
RAM: 8GB or more
Graphics Card: 1-2GB fully OpenGL 2.0 compliant graphics card for business use*
Hard Disk Size: 500 GB or more
Screen Display: 1920 x 1200
Operating System & Version: Windows 7 64-bit (x64)
Additional Hardware/Software: Wacom pressure sensitive tablet for Interactive Sculpting (if desired)
Click to expand...

Seems like a nice program. Do you think you are going to stick with the two GT250's or get something else?
 
droid said:
Seems like a nice program. Do you think you are going to stick with the two GT250's or get something else?
Click to expand...

I'll get him something else soonish.

The two cards in there at present are fine at the moment (renders/models just fine with them).
Takes a while to open bigger files though so will get him to work with the files off the drive and have the folder backup to a server daily.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X