CAD computer specs? - Page 2

TERRA Operative · 10th February 2006, 8:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by proffesso

and since he's not a hardware kind of guy...tell him to goto a workstation supplyer - Dell, Emagen, Xenon, Boxx - 24 hour support is good.

Yea, pity that Silicon Graphics no longer make their NT boxes. Quad 1Ghz processors back in the day with an audio/video pipeline of 3.2 Gb/sec (SGI's equivalent to AGP) FTW. Ran NT4 (now would run XP) so fully compatible with Win based software. Awesome for a gaming rig.

I was going to get one but they were discontinued a few months before I was ready to buy.

Axfiniti · 10th February 2006, 8:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TERRA Operative

Yea, pity that Silicon Graphics no longer make their NT boxes. Quad 1Ghz processors back in the day with an audio/video pipeline of 3.2 Gb/sec (SGI's equivalent to AGP) FTW. Ran NT4 (now would run XP) so fully compatible with Win based software. Awesome for a gaming rig.

I was going to get one but they were discontinued a few months before I was ready to buy.

Ahhh.... SGI.... cant imagine the day I can afford one...
I wonder if they are going to throw those Itanium2 chips out anytime soon ?
I've got nothing against Itanium (hack, I cant even afford one), but could be a real possibility they go Xeons across the whole range ?? (especially if one day they can get the Xeons to scale as well as the Itaniums)....

fredhoon · 10th February 2006, 8:47 PM

It all depends on what sort of CAD work the guy intends to do. At my office we are purely 2D using AutoCAD 2004-2006 (some LT versions).

Generally our CAD pc's are as follows:

Intel P4 3.0G
1024MB RAM
80G 7200rpm 8MB Cache
128MB Ati 9250, 9550, nVidia Geforece 4MX series video cards (newer ones with DVI and D-Sub)
17", 19" and 2x 19" LCD screens (2x screens only on dual head card machines)

These systems are fine for our level of work but slow to a crawl when we use large cadastra backgrounds or multipul embedded x-refs. 90% of the time they are fine. We also have about 5 celeron systems with 512MB RAM, some P4 systems have 512 - they run fine but hte extra RAM helps.

There are about 30 machines all up all server from three desktop/servers (not real servers, just slightly more powerful desktops) with Raptor OS drives and RAID 1 storage drives. 2 of the servers are at there limit and i'm currently looking at replacing them with a dedicated dual cpu file server. We are hopefully employing a qualified IT bloke next week to sort that out.

For our level of 2D cad simple $70 128MB videocards are fine, the Celeron systems run on-board graphics. The only computer i am having problems with is using an Intel board, most of the others are Abit motherboards or HP machines.

For for more intensive 2D/3D CAD or rendering i suggest you listen to professo, TERRA, pathag or Axfinity.

AManEatingDuck · 11th February 2006, 11:06 AM

Thanks for all the responces, i'll pass this information onto my friend.

by the looks of things this will only be a small company 2 - 3 CAD machines. The software he'll be using will be Photoshop CS, AutoCAD and 3d Vis.

so basiclly were looking at

3 GHz P4 or 3200+ AMD (64bit chip) or higher
1 gig ram (2x512)
Nforce 4 chipset or eqivelent P4 board (Abit, Asus, MSI)
Quadro FX 330 64MB or Quadro FX 540 128MB
80 or 120gig HDD x 2 (Raid 1)
DVD burner
500w+ PSU (enermax, antec....)
Nice looking case

How about screens?
LCD or CRT?

3t3rna1 · 11th February 2006, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AManEatingDuck

How about screens?
LCD or CRT?

I did a CAD computer for an uncle, it was just an autocad machine though.
I got Samsungs latest 4ms 19 inch LCD... colours were brilliant. Definately above the normal consumer standard (or the 19 inch LG monitor at home

).
Atomic gave it a decent write up aswell.

proffesso · 11th February 2006, 11:26 AM

2gb ram, minimum.

seriously he wont be able to open those 3 apps at once without it. they are ram hungry programs.

Darko · 11th February 2006, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AManEatingDuck

Thanks for all the responces, i'll pass this information onto my friend.

by the looks of things this will only be a small company 2 - 3 CAD machines. The software he'll be using will be Photoshop CS, AutoCAD and 3d Vis.

so basiclly were looking at

3 GHz P4 or 3200+ AMD (64bit chip) or higher
1 gig ram (2x512)
Nforce 4 chipset or eqivelent P4 board (Abit, Asus, MSI)
Quadro FX 330 64MB or Quadro FX 540 128MB
80 or 120gig HDD x 2 (Raid 1)
DVD burner
500w+ PSU (enermax, antec....)
Nice looking case

How about screens?
LCD or CRT?

Without a doubt, use CRT monitors for any CAD or rendering work.
LCDs may be great for normal desktop work or gaming (if it's a good one) but they are terrible with CAD /3D rendering, bad colour representaion and simply too bright.

fredhoon · 11th February 2006, 11:48 AM

Agreed on the 2G RAM.

Photoshop alone can use in excess of 1G, let alone AutoCAD + photoshop. I'm unsure as to what 3D vis is all about however if it renders stuff and your mate wants to render in the background while using AutoCAD or Photoshop i suggest Dual Core processors.

LCD's definatly - simply because of the desk space. With an LCD at the back of the table one has more room to cover with paper maps that one references from while drafting.

On my side of the office we use only 19" Samsungs, up stairs has mostly 2x 19" per desk. Across the road have a mix of LG, Hyundi and Viewsonic 19" & 17" monitors. None have dead pixels but the Samsungs are clearly superior!

proffesso · 11th February 2006, 12:56 PM

yeah im all for LCD's these days too.

use a CRT if your proofing a magazine print...if your just looking at wireframes and floorplanes...LCD is much, much easier on the eyes.

we use LCD's production, because really...its 99% there...

Axfiniti · 11th February 2006, 1:11 PM

LCDs

only because I stare at the screens for 15-18 hours a day (radiation)

Aetherone · 11th February 2006, 1:21 PM

2gb of ram, 2 processors (at least) for starters.

The quadro's are a damn good investment too, although if you were wanting more budget orientated, matrox still have the finest 2d reps.
A pair of Dell 24's to top it off and you'd have a reasonably nice workstation. Quality LCD's are so much better than generic CRT's (which most ones today are ... pure junk). HQ CRT's are still expensive and difficult to find.

Aeth..

fredhoon · 11th February 2006, 1:21 PM

i used to stare at an old dell 21" CRT which flickered occasionally and was discoloured in one corner. I wasn't worried so much about the radiation, it was the refresh, even at 90Hz i'd get sore eyes and a mildly throbbing head if i didn't take a break every 3-4hrs.

I also notice that i don't squint as much at an LCD.

TERRA Operative · 11th February 2006, 1:32 PM

For clarity of picture, use an LCD, for accuracy of colour, use a CRT.
Although, LCD's are getting close.

3D Studio Vis is a stripped down version of 3D Studio Max used for arcitectural visualisation.
I thought Vis was integrated into Max a while ago and discontinued as a seperate product? If your friend can, tell him to get the latest Studio Max, as it does all Vis can do as well as radiosity, caustics, light tracing, HDRI mapping, particle systems, physical simulation (soft body dynamics) etc etc. Plus all the fancy special effects.

As previously stated, RAM is the single most important thing (followed closely by CPU speed), especially for rendering. Once the computer hits the virtual memory, your production times will crash.

maddhatter · 11th February 2006, 1:46 PM

One of the engineering mobs I look after in town computer wise - their autocad guru (and i mean holy shit fastest hands ever... If this bloke discovered Counterstrike, you'd acuse him of cheating instantly) has a xeon ~1.8 512 MB ram and onboard video. The PC isn't the problem - the mouse isn't fast enough for him. (optical)

another company I look after designs houses and what not, and their autocad gurus are on generic P4 2.4's.

My girlfriends dad (machine programmer for a metalworks place) has a P3 866 laptop as his weapon of choice for autocad...

Don't know if this will help you or not...

TERRA Operative · 11th February 2006, 1:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredhoon

i used to stare at an old dell 21" CRT which flickered occasionally and was discoloured in one corner. I wasn't worried so much about the radiation, it was the refresh, even at 90Hz i'd get sore eyes and a mildly throbbing head if i didn't take a break every 3-4hrs.

I also notice that i don't squint as much at an LCD.

Did you have fluoroescent lighting? Often the different frequencies can interfere, producing a flickering effect. (fluoros do flicker, their 'refresh rate' is 50Hz)
You need a 2 tube fitting, with a phase correction capacitor on one tube. So when one is off, the other is on, and vice-versa.

10th February 2006, 8:47 PM	#18
fredhoon Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Brisbane Posts: 1,593	2D AutoCAD It all depends on what sort of CAD work the guy intends to do. At my office we are purely 2D using AutoCAD 2004-2006 (some LT versions). Generally our CAD pc's are as follows: Intel P4 3.0G 1024MB RAM 80G 7200rpm 8MB Cache 128MB Ati 9250, 9550, nVidia Geforece 4MX series video cards (newer ones with DVI and D-Sub) 17", 19" and 2x 19" LCD screens (2x screens only on dual head card machines) These systems are fine for our level of work but slow to a crawl when we use large cadastra backgrounds or multipul embedded x-refs. 90% of the time they are fine. We also have about 5 celeron systems with 512MB RAM, some P4 systems have 512 - they run fine but hte extra RAM helps. There are about 30 machines all up all server from three desktop/servers (not real servers, just slightly more powerful desktops) with Raptor OS drives and RAID 1 storage drives. 2 of the servers are at there limit and i'm currently looking at replacing them with a dedicated dual cpu file server. We are hopefully employing a qualified IT bloke next week to sort that out. For our level of 2D cad simple $70 128MB videocards are fine, the Celeron systems run on-board graphics. The only computer i am having problems with is using an Intel board, most of the others are Abit motherboards or HP machines. For for more intensive 2D/3D CAD or rendering i suggest you listen to professo, TERRA, pathag or Axfinity. __________________ Go soothingly on the grease mud as there lurks a skid demon. oldPCDB Last edited by fredhoon; 10th February 2006 at 8:48 PM. Reason: referenced a new post above mine

11th February 2006, 11:06 AM	#19
AManEatingDuck Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Auckland, NZ Posts: 267	Thanks for all the responces, i'll pass this information onto my friend. by the looks of things this will only be a small company 2 - 3 CAD machines. The software he'll be using will be Photoshop CS, AutoCAD and 3d Vis. so basiclly were looking at 3 GHz P4 or 3200+ AMD (64bit chip) or higher 1 gig ram (2x512) Nforce 4 chipset or eqivelent P4 board (Abit, Asus, MSI) Quadro FX 330 64MB or Quadro FX 540 128MB 80 or 120gig HDD x 2 (Raid 1) DVD burner 500w+ PSU (enermax, antec....) Nice looking case How about screens? LCD or CRT? __________________ Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith, I'm a locksmith

11th February 2006, 11:26 AM	#21
proffesso Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Watsonia, Melbourne Posts: 8,618	2gb ram, minimum. seriously he wont be able to open those 3 apps at once without it. they are ram hungry programs. __________________ If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.

11th February 2006, 11:48 AM	#23
fredhoon Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Brisbane Posts: 1,593	Agreed on the 2G RAM. Photoshop alone can use in excess of 1G, let alone AutoCAD + photoshop. I'm unsure as to what 3D vis is all about however if it renders stuff and your mate wants to render in the background while using AutoCAD or Photoshop i suggest Dual Core processors. LCD's definatly - simply because of the desk space. With an LCD at the back of the table one has more room to cover with paper maps that one references from while drafting. On my side of the office we use only 19" Samsungs, up stairs has mostly 2x 19" per desk. Across the road have a mix of LG, Hyundi and Viewsonic 19" & 17" monitors. None have dead pixels but the Samsungs are clearly superior! __________________ Go soothingly on the grease mud as there lurks a skid demon. oldPCDB

11th February 2006, 12:56 PM	#24
proffesso Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Watsonia, Melbourne Posts: 8,618	yeah im all for LCD's these days too. use a CRT if your proofing a magazine print...if your just looking at wireframes and floorplanes...LCD is much, much easier on the eyes. we use LCD's production, because really...its 99% there... __________________ If at first you don't succeed, remove all evidence you ever tried.

11th February 2006, 1:11 PM	#25
Axfiniti Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Melbourne Posts: 85	LCDs only because I stare at the screens for 15-18 hours a day (radiation) __________________ www.axfiniti.com - Bringing Ideas to Market

11th February 2006, 1:21 PM	#26
Aetherone Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Adelaide, SA Posts: 6,243	2gb of ram, 2 processors (at least) for starters. The quadro's are a damn good investment too, although if you were wanting more budget orientated, matrox still have the finest 2d reps. A pair of Dell 24's to top it off and you'd have a reasonably nice workstation. Quality LCD's are so much better than generic CRT's (which most ones today are ... pure junk). HQ CRT's are still expensive and difficult to find. Aeth..

11th February 2006, 1:32 PM	#28
TERRA Operative Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Niraikanai Posts: 6,538	For clarity of picture, use an LCD, for accuracy of colour, use a CRT. Although, LCD's are getting close. 3D Studio Vis is a stripped down version of 3D Studio Max used for arcitectural visualisation. I thought Vis was integrated into Max a while ago and discontinued as a seperate product? If your friend can, tell him to get the latest Studio Max, as it does all Vis can do as well as radiosity, caustics, light tracing, HDRI mapping, particle systems, physical simulation (soft body dynamics) etc etc. Plus all the fancy special effects. As previously stated, RAM is the single most important thing (followed closely by CPU speed), especially for rendering. Once the computer hits the virtual memory, your production times will crash. __________________ I DO NOT support internet filtering!!! Tereno Empireo Rapidmova Reakcii Armeo Check out my Youtube channel!

11th February 2006, 1:46 PM	#29
maddhatter Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: 21.1607°S, 149.0648°E Posts: 4,555	One of the engineering mobs I look after in town computer wise - their autocad guru (and i mean holy shit fastest hands ever... If this bloke discovered Counterstrike, you'd acuse him of cheating instantly) has a xeon ~1.8 512 MB ram and onboard video. The PC isn't the problem - the mouse isn't fast enough for him. (optical) another company I look after designs houses and what not, and their autocad gurus are on generic P4 2.4's. My girlfriends dad (machine programmer for a metalworks place) has a P3 866 laptop as his weapon of choice for autocad... Don't know if this will help you or not... __________________ postcount=postcount+1;