Powerful computer

[buildmaster5000]

I built a machine that has:

• i7-960 at 3.2 Ghz
• 8GB of DDR3 1600 ram
• average, not frills hard drives (one 500GB for programs/OS and a 2TB RAID 1 for file storage)
• GTX 480 graphics (total overkill, but the team gave it to me....)
• 1000W power supply

I will honestly say I have not really used CAD software on it, but I have streamed video and played online games at the same time with no problems at all. Honestly, I would bet that any quad core processor over 3Ghz will serve you fine if the rest of the machine is built roughly to the same standards (read: don't skimp on the rest of the components a good processor will be key). Also, prices have dropped so much it gets easier every week to build a machine.

[AdamHeard]

Glenn, Hawaii sounds like a great option, still have to finish school first though! What happens after that is still up in the air.

Originally Posted by scottydoh

Again, it all depends on what you're using the computer for. Outside of my FIRST involvement, I'm an architecture student, and a majority of my work is done in Autodesk Revit Architecture. And when it comes to renderings (the most resource hogging) Revit (and the render engine Mental Ray) could care less about my GPU, all it wants is CPU power.

With that being said, the System requirements pretty much covers it. Get a good CPU, memory is cheap these days, so get as much as you can, and a decent GPU and you'll be fine for most "FIRST scale" models.

That's not really a fair argument, as rendering is a completely different process and isn't affected by the computer's ability to push pixels to the screen. A slow GPU can make even a very high end computer a pain to CAD on as it's constantly struggling to keep up with you rotating, zooming in, etc...

[Nemo]

You can get the most bang for your buck by getting the most powerful CAD specific graphics card in your price range and a healthy amount of RAM. Spending extra on the processor will probably provide less performance per dollar.

This summer I put together a computer specifically to work on Inventor models at home and have been very happy with it. I was looking for good value, and this is the meat of what I ended up buying:

ATI FirePro V4800 ($160)
AMD Phenom II x4 965 3.4 GHz ($130)
BIOSTAR A870U3 motherboard ($65)
8 Gb RAM (G Skill model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL) ($55)

I have been very pleased with the build. It has no problems with robot assemblies with hundreds of parts, and its frame rate is really nice with smaller stuff. It is also at least decent while running the most complex assemblies I've created or the ones you can download courtesy of teams 148/228/973/etc. It doesn't run those larger assemblies at a sick frame rate or anything, but I'm also not waiting around for it to zoom or rotate (or restart from a crash) like I was on my old computer.

The processor could have been any number of other chips - I picked this one because I liked the performance vs price. I thought about spending twice as much on a Core i5, but now I'm glad I didn't. It is important to note that Inventor makes very little use of multiple processors, although I suppose that could change in future versions. And I like having spreadsheets and browsers open while I play with Inventor.

When you research video cards for Inventor, you will quickly identify the ATI FirePro line and the nVidia Quadro line. There is a price jump from $160 to $400 in each company's product line, ignoring older models. Both of the $160 cards can handle my most complex models pretty nicely.

If you are interested in a pre-built computer, you will want to be careful. You will pay a little extra for the convenience of having HP build it, of course. A bunch of workstation builds have weirdly chosen components, with unimpressive graphics card on the low end and pointlessly expensive processors on the high end. Our school just bought a handful of HP workstations with Core i5 processors, 4 GB RAM, and Quadro 600, and that particular workstation is about the most balanced build I can find if you want a decent amount of power for under $1000. I opened up a complicated robot assembly on one of them, and it ran nicely. I don't know the model number of that workstation, but you can search it up for something like $700-800. HP doesn't sell any low-mid models with 8 gigs of ram, but you can get the extra 4 GB for $30 if desired.

Happy shopping!

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by scottydoh

How is that unfair? I clearly stated that I was doing something very different from the example you stated.

My response was based on the fact that he asked about inventor, presumably for conventional CAD design and not rendering.

[mesamb1]

Do I get to be the first to talk about your 'L' level cash for your CPU? (better performance is had on CPU's with higher L1,L2 and L3 Cache[particularly L1 level]).

Yalib, it sounds like you are just getting started with inventor. May I recommend that you get your foot in the door before you build a high end computer. If your desktop/laptop meets the minimum requirements download inventor and start to play with it. If you notice a lag in commands, menus, and selecting you likely need more RAM then what you have. If you notice items lags/issues with graphics, you likely need a graphics card with a) dedicated memory b) a higher speed processor. Your CPU is not likely an issue. At inventors minimum specs, your L level cache is more an issue then your CPU processing speed(L level is basically where binary commands about to be processed get stored on the CPU).

if you have to by a computer, listen to the good advice on the thread. Let me add get a desktop computer with a motherboard with alot of expansion room. Your computer will be able to last longer, and you can upgrade the insufficient parts easily. These will have 16ish PCI express slots, no on board graphic capabilities, 4 memory slots.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by scottydoh

You win. I retract my statement before this blows up in typical forum fashion.

mesamb1 is on to something there, its not like you're going to be modeling jet fighters here, even a below average computer should handle basic parts and small assemblies no problem.

Yeah, what I usually recommend to students who have a desktop at home that is mediocre, but no (or no decent) gpu, is to pick up a decent used quadro on ebay for $50 or so. They're often amazed at the difference that makes for them. Down the road if they want a nicer computer, building is discussed.