Trying to build a CAD computer - HELP

Rickster said:
To a point, but Im trying to show how quadro cards make the most of the card, did you see the CPU/GPU usage in that vid?

The 780 stresses the CPU whilst only using 1/4 of the GPU, while the Quadro is the opposite.

Same goes for Quadro vs. GeForce in gaming. Sure Quadro can play games but not even as good as Geforce.


Do you think nvidia is so stupid that they will just make cheap WS <R10K cards when people will just buy Geforce Cards?
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Sorry didn't watch the whole video and also wasn't sure which side of the fence you were on
 
Do any of you actually operate Cad software or actually use any kind of Cad Workstation?
 
Electric said:
Do any of you actually operate Cad software or actually use any kind of Cad Workstation?
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I used CAD software, but I had a GTX580 because I was told buy the best card on the market at the time.

Little did I know that gaming cards are crippled.

If they take that GTX580 and give it the drivers that they Quadro cards use.... Motherfckr that would be something to witness
 
Thor187 said:
I used CAD software, but I had a GTX580 because I was told buy the best card on the market at the time.

Little did I know that gaming cards are crippled.

If they take that GTX580 and give it the drivers that they Quadro cards use.... Motherfckr that would be something to witness
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I asked because I am a Mechanical designer by trade.
I work on a Cad workstation for 14 hours a day.

Lots of guys in here giving advise with 0 knowledge.
 
Electric said:
I asked because I am a Mechanical designer by trade.
I work on a Cad workstation for 14 hours a day.

Lots of guys in here giving advise with 0 knowledge.
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No I figured that's why you asked. Totally agree with you.
 
Electric said:
Do any of you actually operate Cad software or actually use any kind of Cad Workstation?
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Yep. Every day. Most software (ProE, Rhino) still runs quite well on older pc's...but if I start using complex meshes in C4d or start rendering with Vray - that's when the older pc starts to struggle. But just for modelling and basic renders - the requirements are quite average.

Currently using a Quadro FX 1700 which still performs more than adequately.

agentrfr said:
But you need tons of ram (32gigs is around your target)
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I'm using 4GB RAM without much issue. It's not something that seems to have a huge impact on most of my modelling.

Would be helpful to get more detail on what the OP's CAD workflow is, what other software they're using, rendering requirements, budget etc.
 
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Electric said:
Do any of you actually operate Cad software or actually use any kind of Cad Workstation?
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Another yes here. Quadro 4000 graphics, 2 x 6 core Xeon processors, 20GB RAM.

If the OP is intending to do relatively undemanding work then a cheap system is possible. As the complexity of the work goes up then so does the cost of the hardware.
 
Ram 32gb R 3 682.00
MB R 2 800.00
Cooling R 718.00
730w PSU R 766.00
240gb SSD R 1 433.00
Case R 652.00
Quadro K2200 R 7 993.00
i7 Devil`s Canyon R 4 956.00
4k screen R 10 323.00
Total: R 33 323.00
 
Urist said:
Ram 32gb R 3 682.00
MB R 2 800.00
Cooling R 718.00
730w PSU R 766.00
240gb SSD R 1 433.00
Case R 652.00
Quadro K2200 R 7 993.00
i7 Devil`s Canyon R 4 956.00
4k screen R 10 323.00
Total: R 33 323.00
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This looks cheaper than a pre-built workstation. It does not have the Xeon / ECC type hardware, but this will not make a difference for CAD work.

Maybe the only thing to add to this would be a storage drive if he is going to be doing a lot of work on it.
 
LOL you guys offer some terrible advice. I have a quadro K4000, and its useless for 3D. For the same price I would get better viewport performance if it was a regular geforce. Quadro only make sense when doing high end simulation work or something that can take advantage of the specialty options they offer. For general 3D (i.e. cad), gaming cards offer way better value. Here speak to these professionals, not the random hardware guys here who know nothing about 3D.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=23&t=1290591

R8k for a quadro K2200? Fking rip off. It only has 640 cuda cores and 128bit ram bus, not to mention the old kepler architecture. That will net you pretty rubbish performance at a pretty high price. For what?
 
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There is a difference between 3D rendering software and CAD software.

If the software runs on DirectX then a GeForce card is best. If it runs on OpenGL then a Quadro is best. A lot of the 3D software runs on DX, while the CAD software that the OP asked about is OpenGL based.
 
agentrfr said:
Something like a GTX 970 is more than enough horse power.
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This
Really no need for $$$ Quadro unless you are doing some really really hectic stuff. This is from personal experience, and I've done some hectic things myself.
 
garyc said:
There is a difference between 3D rendering software and CAD software.

If the software runs on DirectX then a GeForce card is best. If it runs on OpenGL then a Quadro is best. A lot of the 3D software runs on DX, while the CAD software that the OP asked about is OpenGL based.
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LOL nope. Viewport performance should a lot better on the same priced geforce. There is no way to justify a ****ty gpu just becuase of the drivers even for cad modeling.
 
Thor187 said:
/waits on someone technical to smite crysis
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In simple terms, Gaming GPU's are optimized better for drawing textures (Pre-Baked) really fast.
Workstation cards are optimized more for displaying complex geometry. lots and lots of it.
It also has a lot more RAM and a much better optimized driver & instruction set specific to 3D Modeling & Rendering applications.

crysis is simply talking rubbish. He thinks simply comparing the specs between a gaming GPU and a workstation GPU is all there is too it.
Sorry, no - it doesn't work like that. They're optimized for different things. One renders textures and baked textures very well, the other does geometry very very very well.

Here's an article that explains it well.
Professional vs consumer cards


So what is the difference between a consumer-grade graphics accelerator and its professional counterpart? From a hardware standpoint, the answer is “not much” – certainly not as much as in the late 1990s and early 2000s when companies such as 3Dlabs, Intergraph and ELSA were building hardware specifically aimed at professional users.

These days, most pro cards share hardware with their consumer counterparts, although the chips are usually hand-picked from the highest-quality parts of a production run. Also, they carry a lot more RAM than their consumer counterparts – which is actually very important, as I will discuss later on in this article.

However, the biggest differences between professional and consumer cards are their driver set and software support. While consumer hardware is tuned more towards fill rate and shader calculations, pro cards are tuned for 3D operations such as geometry transformations and vertex matrices, as well as better performance under GPGPU APIs such as CUDA, OpenCL, and DirectCompute.

Pro cards are also extensively optimized, tested and certified for use with CAD and DCC applications – which, in the case of the cards on test, include 3ds Max, Maya, Softimage, AutoCAD and SolidWorks. This not only increases performance, but offers excellent stability and predictability when compared to their desktop counterparts, particularly when running CAD packages. When I polled other users, the general consensus was that while these applications will work on consumer graphics accelerators, performance with non-professional cards is sub-par, and viewport glitches and anomalies are quite common. These issues are much less frequent with pro cards, and when they are identified, are usually addressed rather quickly, since manufacturers offer much more extensive customer support for their professional products.
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http://www.cgchannel.com/2011/10/review-professional-gpus-nvidia-vs-amd-2011/
 
Keeper said:
In simple terms, Gaming GPU's are optimized better for drawing textures (Pre-Baked) really fast.
Workstation cards are optimized more for displaying complex geometry. lots and lots of it.
It also has a lot more RAM and a much better optimized driver & instruction set specific to 3D Modeling & Rendering applications.

crysis is simply talking rubbish. He thinks simply comparing the specs between a gaming GPU and a workstation GPU is all there is too it.
Sorry, no - it doesn't work like that. They're optimized for different things. One renders textures and baked textures very well, the other does geometry very very very well.

Here's an article that explains it well.


http://www.cgchannel.com/2011/10/review-professional-gpus-nvidia-vs-amd-2011/
Click to expand...

Thank you so much, can I have my hammer back now after that ferocious smiting you handed out along side education.
 
http://pdxeffects.com/computer-specs-best-sw-performance/

The specs I posted should be more than good enough for solidworks.

Its slightly better than the pc I have at work, which i`ve used to do architectural renderings with high-poly trees and crowds. The geometry you typically find in solidworks is less organic and therefore simpler and easier for a pc to handle.

Sometimes mine takes a long time to render though, but that`s because of the cpu. Best to have a dedicated box for rendering.
 
I'll say it again, you do not need a workstation card unless you are doing really hectic stuff. I mean I'm seeing people throwing around 32GB RAM in here, I've not once used more than 14GB at work (where I actually use this stuff every day) and that was for a full model of a large vehicle (wiring, body, interior, engine, etc etc)

I also have Solidworks at home, and not once have I had an issue. But again, just in case you missed it, I'm not doing insane things at home so a gaming GPU is fine. It all depends on what the OP is looking to do
 
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