Hardware Recommendations for New PC

[Tippaporn]

Before I order a new PC I thought I'd pick the brains of those more knowledgeable than myself.

I'm looking to build a Windows 7 machine (due to the fact that I want to run XP Mode). My use for this machine will be to run 3D CAD software. So image rendering, number crunching, and multi-tasking are of prime importance. File sizes I work with are up to 200 MB.

An example system from SolidWorks (though I use VISI):

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional
Processor: 2x Intel Xeon E5-2637v2 4Core processor
Memory: 32GB DDR3 SDRAM, 1,600 MHz
Graphics: NVIDIA K5000
Storage: 512GB SATA SSD

A system requirement example for VISI :

Win 7 – 64bit OS

Graphics board supporting either OpenGL or DirectX with a minimum 1280x1024 resolution, supporting at least 65,000 colours.

8-16 Gb RAM

I'm curious about storage. I haven't used SSD drives to date but I will need lots of storage. As I mentioned, file sizes can run up to 200 MB. Automatic saves can generate 25 GB of back-up files rather quickly (though these are purged after a job is complete). Do SSD drives increase performance substantially or marginally? An obvious benefit would the elimination of data loss due to hard drive failure (I imagine).

Cheers,

Tip

[ukrules]

To avoid data loss you might want to consider using a RAID setup.

[Tippaporn]

True dat. Actually, I do use RAID. Would SSD drives eliminate the need for RAID and a 2nd hard drive?

[KittenKong]

SSDs are much faster than traditional drives, but they can also fail. You cant rely 100% on any type of drive. In backups we trust.

In my PC I have a small SSD as the system drive and a 2Gb traditional drive for my data, which is mirrored onto another drive every day and partially backed-up online. I also take a weekly image of the SSD, just in case, though it would not be hard to reinstall the OS and programmes if it failed. Works fine.

[BKKdreaming]

lots of USB 3 ports , maybe firewire if you might end up using a camera that needs that , or a video board to hook up an older video camera that uses BNC/TNC connectors , you might need it for 3D scanning

gigabit internet

WiFi with antenna if you need to send stuff back and forth to tablets / phones

and what ever board / cables you need to hook the computer up to big screen TV

and a real ugly 1990s case to put it all in so no one will steal it !

[innerspace]

Thats server grade gear qupted there...good but pricy and will be hard to find here or at least customise and replace. Dual cpu... few consumer motherboards do that. Xeons good but pricey, i7 cheaper bang for buck. Dont forget eec ram on those...pricy!

SSD is certainly worthwhile and for heavy rendering work will help (once RAM is full).

Less of an issue now but older ssd were at risk if writing too heavily. But they still die, just as hdd do. Some will disagree but personally I would put a rendering scratch disk on a separate ssd to main OS.

Raid is usefull but not a cure for backups. Raid 1 on os ssd gives reliabilty. Raid 0 on scratch ssd gives max speed. Raid 5 or 10 on spinning hdd multi terrabyte bulk storage combines both.

My move for what you are after would be:

High i5 or i7 cpu... k model to overclock later.

Motherboard with 4+ ram slots and plenty of sata 3.

As much highish speed ram as motherboard and budget allow. 4 x 8gb is 32gb...will hold your autosaves in memory while needed. 6 triple channel slots even better!

Boot os ssd and working file/scratch ssd. 128-256gb main and 60gb working.

2hdd in raid 1 or 3 in raid 5 or 4 in raid 10 for bulk storage... or put these in a separate NAS. 1-4tb each.

GPU suited for rendering, maybe quadro or similar if budget stretches.

Cpu cooler, platinum power supply and case with good ventilation and few extra fans.

[Bulldozer Dawn]

This topic is of interest to me also.

I am currently using a high end PC that has a radeon video card installed running two monitors one of the montors is a vga plug and the other is an lcd tv screen with a hdmi plug. Can anyone identify a high end graphics card that has two vga output plugs. I have a lot of vga monitors and want to run two of them.

[crabdog]

This topic is of interest to me also.

I am currently using a high end PC that has a radeon video card installed running two monitors one of the montors is a vga plug and the other is an lcd tv screen with a hdmi plug. Can anyone identify a high end graphics card that has two vga output plugs. I have a lot of vga monitors and want to run two of them.

You would be very hard pressed to find any modern graphics card with two vga outputs. Modern cards come with dual DVI, DisplayPort and HDMI outputs. Fortunately it's very easy to find vga adapters: http://www.invadeit.co.th/product/cables/prolink/dvi-d-plug-vga-socket-adapter-pb001-p022407/

[innerspace]

You will more likely find 1 dvi and 1 vga, maybe with a hdmi or display port ontop.

Dvi has a few types, think its Dvi-D (dual) that has a cross piece on the horizontal pin that sends an analog signal and can be converted to vga with a small cheap adapter.

The purely digital dvi, hdmi or display ports will need an active digital to analog converter that will be bigger, more expensive and possibly need extra power supply.