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Desktop, Laptop, or what?


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Thanks, those look perfect. I used Nvidia on the last desktop I had and it did great. Things have changed just a little since then, though.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

I looked up the Dell model you have on Crucial's site then searched the part number on Amazon. So, that should be the exact kit you need. Pull the 4G stick out and install the two 8G sticks from that kit.

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Depends on what your budget is for a graphics card. At different price points one "beats" the other. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.htmlis a good starting reference point I also like looking at http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html for quick reference of where cards are at. If you're sticking with 1080p monitor you're more than good with a RX480 or a GTX1060.

Edited by Chevyguy85
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I just built a tower at work that is more than capable of doing what you want to do with it. The specs are:

 

Intel Core i7-7700K processor (4.2 GHz - turbo up to 4.5 GHz)

16 GB Ram

120 GB SSD Hard drive as the boot drive

1 TB 7200RPM mechanical hard drive for data storage

Nvidia GTX 1080 8 GB graphics card (Upgraded for free from GTX 1060 card when I placed the order)

Liquid cooler for processor

Windows 10 Professional

 

Keep in mind that there is no support for windows 7 anymore, as far as I'm aware (one reason why I went with windows 10, the other is I hate windows 8 so I was kind of out of options). As of now (3 months of use) I have not experienced any bugs or glitches with Windows 10 Pro.

 

With all that said, I don't use Solidworks everyday but I run AutoCAD and I don't have a single issue with the Nvidia GTX 1080 ("Gaming card") with either program. I can run multiple windows of AutoCAD with numerous windows and tabs of internet browser, word processing, excel spreadsheets, outlook email, and other engineering programs all open at once and have not had any problems as far as bogging the system. I personally like the "gaming cards" because the processor speeds are typically faster and in most instances perform better than the "workstation" cards for 80% of users. Basically, what I'm saying is you can get more card for less money by going the gaming route.

 

One other thing where a lot of people screw up and build computers they aren't happy with is they don't get enough processor. Just an area to think about when it comes to what you want the machine to be capable of doing. For me, multitasking with single threaded programs was key so a faster speed with fewer cores is what I needed. If you are using programs capable of using multiple threads then a slightly slower processor with more cores will work better. Just food for thought that I wish I had learned a long time ago when I built and ordered machines that weren't meant to do what they were doing.

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Great tips, thanks. I think your machine could handle about 3 times my load. That's really my only major concern with this machine. I'm not sure if 3ghz will keep up. I think I'm going to add the RAM and graphics card and see how it does.

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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Downside to building right now is ram and ssd prices have been on the rise for a few months now :(

 

This is very true, although I find that if you step down to slower RAM and smaller SSD's the prices aren't increasing as fast. Best way to build right now is find a company that builds them and spec the parts you want. The machine I built above was about $1,600 shipped with software already installed. I priced building a similar machine buying the parts individually and installing everything myself and it was well over $2,000. The graphics card, hard drives, RAM, and software options were cheaper on the iBuyPower website than I could purchase them individually.

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I have an Acer laptop for school and it works great. They have some out now that are even more powerful for less money. I think this one was almost $600, but I was eyeing one up a month ago that was a little better for $440. I use to always use desktops, but now that I've had a few laptops ill never go back.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just built a tower at work that is more than capable of doing what you want to do with it. The specs are:

 

Intel Core i7-7700K processor (4.2 GHz - turbo up to 4.5 GHz)

16 GB Ram

120 GB SSD Hard drive as the boot drive

1 TB 7200RPM mechanical hard drive for data storage

Nvidia GTX 1080 8 GB graphics card (Upgraded for free from GTX 1060 card when I placed the order)

Liquid cooler for processor

Windows 10 Professional

 

Keep in mind that there is no support for windows 7 anymore, as far as I'm aware (one reason why I went with windows 10, the other is I hate windows 8 so I was kind of out of options). As of now (3 months of use) I have not experienced any bugs or glitches with Windows 10 Pro.

 

With all that said, I don't use Solidworks everyday but I run AutoCAD and I don't have a single issue with the Nvidia GTX 1080 ("Gaming card") with either program. I can run multiple windows of AutoCAD with numerous windows and tabs of internet browser, word processing, excel spreadsheets, outlook email, and other engineering programs all open at once and have not had any problems as far as bogging the system. I personally like the "gaming cards" because the processor speeds are typically faster and in most instances perform better than the "workstation" cards for 80% of users. Basically, what I'm saying is you can get more card for less money by going the gaming route.

 

One other thing where a lot of people screw up and build computers they aren't happy with is they don't get enough processor. Just an area to think about when it comes to what you want the machine to be capable of doing. For me, multitasking with single threaded programs was key so a faster speed with fewer cores is what I needed. If you are using programs capable of using multiple threads then a slightly slower processor with more cores will work better. Just food for thought that I wish I had learned a long time ago when I built and ordered machines that weren't meant to do what they were doing.

 

You should be fine with a gaming card especially a beast like the 1080, i have a 1070GTX on my home setup and run a 980GTX for my work setup and both handle my Autodesk suite of MEP and Revit just fine. I think the days of needing expensive open gl cards like the quadro are gone, i just don't see the need for spending thousands on a workstation card like you said.

 

And windows 7 is still supported, i still get updates every Tuesday night from Microsoft, it's XP and i think vista that has been shelved.

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  • 6 months later...

Update!

Just got an Asus GTX 1060 OC Ti 6GB, a 650W psu, and a Samsung Evo 850 SSD.

Based off what I've seen so far, the old 3ghz Pentium dual core will not do the heavy lifting I want it to.

I've decided to forego getting a new Xbox, since the only newer games I'm interested in are single player. 4 years ago, Halo would have tied me to the Xbox, but H5 was a sorry excuse for a game, so I have no reason to stay on console.

Next up is to pick out a case, mobo(leaning MSI), and grab a processor and some RAM. I'm considering going liquid cooled, but not set on that yet.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

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From what your saying your doing with your computer, i would suggest going with a desktop. Up side to going with a desktop is going to be if something fails you are able to easily replace the part and carry on with your work.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S8 using Tapatalk

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Here is the finished (for now) replacement:

Yqm2BSz.jpg

MSI X370 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard

AMD Ryzen 7 1700X cooled by Noctua NH-D15

2X 8GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200 RAM

ASUS GTX 1060 6GB

Samsung 850 Evo 250GB & Seagate Barracuda 2TB

Fractal Design Meshify C, 2X Noctua NF-P14s redux front fans

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