1. IT Picked WHAT Computer?
Anna Wood
RenderBay.com
Charles Culp
SWtuts.com

2. Comparison of Three Systems
Cheap, Expensive and Poorly Specified, and the Suggested System
Dell Optiplex
Dell T7600
Dell T3610
Core i (4 cores), 8 GB RAM
Dual Xeon E (16 cores total), 32 GB RAM
Xeon E5-1620v2 (4 cores), 16GB RAM
Intel Integrated Video
NVIDIA Quadro K5000
AMD FirePro W5000
500GB HDD
2TB HDD
256MB SSD
$699
$6,246.40
$1799 (without SSD)

3. About Anna and Charles Anna Wood Charles Culp
Design Engineer/CAD Admin for Auer Precision in Mesa, AZ
RenderBay.com
Product Development Engineer/CAD Admin at Essex Industries in St Louis, MO
Designs ergonomic pilot controls
SWtuts.com

4. Goals for Today
Understand which components are important for a CAD Workstation
Understand the enhancements in recent technology
Understand which components provide the best value
Compare a poorly built workstation with a good workstation
Provide a list of good available systems, and a custom system
Feel free to ask questions at any time

5. Thank You

6. Thank You
Thank you also to Bill McEachern for providing the flow simulation benchmark, and Russ Johnston for providing the V3 Simulation benchmark

7. CPU It is all about Intel
Tom’s Hardware compares single core operations
Passmark now has a single thread benchmark:
Both show blowouts in favor of Intel

8. Intel
Today’s systems have Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, or Haswell CPUs. These also known as 2nd, 3rd, or 4th generation Core i5 or Core i7 processors. These are the E3 or E5 series in the Xeon line, with v2, v3, or v4 at the end of the name.

9. How Many Cores? Two is enough for modeling, but four doesn’t hurt
Four is enough for occasional FEA, there is a new solver in SolidWorks 2014 (Large Problem Direct Sparse Solver) that uses more than four cores
For rendering, the more the merrier

10. CPU Benchmarks Modeling Benchmark:
solidworks-benchmark-punch-holder/
FEA Benchmark (V3):
Simulation Benchmark:

11. Best CPU for Modeling

12. Best CPU Value for Modeling
This graph does not represent true value

13. Best CPU for SolidWorks Simulation

14. Best CPU for Flow Simulation

15. Best CPU for Rendering

16. Video Cards How much is enough Frame rates and user experience
What requires expensive video cards
Changes to SolidWorks 2014
Benchmarks:
Die Assembly
Press Assembly
Engine Assembly
Cinebench R15

17. Video Cards AMD FirePro NVIDIA Quadro Intel Integrated V3900 V4900
W5000
W7000
W8000
W9000
Quadro 600
Quadro 2000
Quadro 4000
Quadro 5000
Quadro 6000
Quadro K600
Quadro K2000
Quadro K4000
Quadro K5000
Quadro K6000
HD P4700 (E3-1285v3) HD P4600 (E3-1275v3, E3-1245v3)
HD P4000 (E3-1245v2, 1275v2)
V $155
W5000 $440
W7000 $800
Q K600 $161
Q K2000 $430
Q K4000 $800
Q K5000 $1800
And this doesn’t even include mobile options

18. Video Card Testing
Video Card Testing on a Boxx 4150XT, Core 4.3 Ghz 16 Gigs RAM, Intel 530 SSD Quadro Driver AMD Driver
And this doesn’t even include mobile options

19. Video Cards, SolidWorks 2013

20. Video Cards, SolidWorks 2014 SP2

21. Video Cards, SolidWorks 2014 SP2

22. Video Cards, SolidWorks 2014 SP2

23. Video Cards, Cinebench R15

24. SSD & HDD Overview
SSDs create a significant improvement over HDD, 85% depending on usage
Which brand SSDs are the best? Don’t worry about it too much, that is only a 25% gain
Intel is used by pro’s for high reliability
“SSD’s fail early” is a myth. As a whole they are as reliable, and maybe more reliable, than HDD when used in desktop machines

25. SSD & HDD Overview

26. Comparison of Three Systems
Cheap, Expensive and Poorly Specified, and the Suggested System
Dell Optiplex
Dell T7600
Dell T3610
Core i (4 cores), 8 GB RAM
Dual Xeon E (16 cores total), 32 GB RAM
Xeon E5-1620v2 (4 cores), 16GB RAM
Intel Integrated Video
NVIDIA Quadro K5000
AMD FirePro W5000
500GB HDD
2TB HDD
256MB SSD
$699
$6,246.40
$1799 (without SSD)

27. DIY vs Prebuilt vs Premium
DIY – General Modeling
Prebuilt
Premium
$907.65 $
$ and up
Parts Warranty (varies)
3 year warranty
No guarantee on component compatibility
No compatibility concerns
No compatibility risk
Perfectly tuned to your performance needs
Limited offerings for components
Overclocking means ~35% speed increase

28. DIY System CPU Core i7-4770 3.4-3.9 GHz Microcenter $249.99 Link
Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3
Amazon
$84.99
Memory
2x8GB Crucial Ballistix
$134.95
Primary Disk
SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
$164.62
Video Card
AMD FirePro V4900
$155.98
DVD
LG 24X
$22.14
Power Supply
Seasonic G-Series 360W
$54.99
Case
CFI - USB 3.0 on front
$39.99
$907.65

29. Prebuilt Options What happened to the Dell T1700? Dell T3610/T3600
HP Z230 SFF
Lenovo E32
$1799
$2271
$2249
Xeon E5-1620v2 3.7 GHz
Xeon E3-1240v3 3.4GHz
16 GB ECC
16 GB Non-ECC
1TB 7,200 HDD (eek)
128 GB SSD
256 GB SSD
AMD FirePro W5000
NVIDIA K600

30. Prebuilt Disclaimer Page
Everything was priced on January 20th, I included all discounts and sales at that time.
Prices for all prebuilt systems include Windows 7 Professional. This is approximately a $140 for purchasing the OEM version of Windows 7 on the open market.
The price difference between the Dell and the HP and Lenovo is likely due to the lack of an SSD drive.

31. Premium Option - Boxx Boxx 4150 Xtreme Boxx 4920 Xtreme $3208 $4815
Core 4.3 GHz
6-Core; Core 4.5 GHz
16 GB RAM
180 GB SSD
NVIDIA Quadro K600

32. Premium Options - @Xi Computer
Mtower – Custom Build $
Intel® Core™ 4.3GHz Hi-Perf. Sealed Water Cooling
3 Years System HW Warranty w/Express Advance Parts Replacement
16GB DDR3 1866MHz
Xi® MTower™ CM-HAF 922 Case
AMD® FirePro™ W5000
ASUS® Z87-C Motherboard
250GB Solid State Drive Samsung® 840 EVO
Windows 7 Professional

33. Conclusions CPU is King. More cores do not decrease rebuild times
That means processor design & speed are important
RAM is a matter of how much is enough
SSD prices have plummeted, buy one
Homebuilt systems add versatility
Overclocked systems mean faster SolidWorks modeling

34. More Questions? http://www.swtuts.com/?p=700
Tom’s Hardware, AnandTech, c|net