Gaming/Workstation PC on the tightest budget

So, I have an I7 4790k and 16 GB of ram. However I have nothing else as my PC was fried. My budget is as close to £0 as possible, as I have been unable to get an apprenticeship in IT, and cannot get a part time job in IT whilst I’m in college.

I may be able to salvage myself a motherboard and PSU, but thats it.

What is the best, cheapest GPU that will do me well for my CAD work? (and maybe a bit of gaming)

Please help, this would mean so much to me.

-MLW

The PC is good enough for most things, I wouldn’t replace it. As for GPU, it depends on the games you intend to play, but for budget you might be able to pickup an older GTX 680 for cheap which will handle most things pretty well. In my area (AU) they seem to be selling used for about $150 AUD.

For CAD work, again depends on what you’re doing, you might want a Quadro, it depends on the package you’re using and the complexity of your drawings.

What CAD package(s) are you using? For instance b Fusion 360 uses DirectX so almost anything will work but others are more finicky. I’m currently running the aforementioned software and SolidWorks on a Vega 56, and the 1070 before it but those aren’t cheap. Are you using large assemblies? How much parametric data is involved? Basically we need more info. You can get into a Kepler based Quadro for less than a hundred bucks US.

Could probably use a 1050 or something like that. Cheap, the same as a 960, pretty ox IMO.

@ELFBANE are you in the UK? I have a stack of parts I need to sell. I’ll be happy to try and help an L1 techs member out if I can. I live in Buckinghamshire.

You do know the iGPU inside the 4790k is probably fine for CAD though? I do have a GTX 960 and R7 260x spare at the moment amongst stacks of other parts.

Edit; I don’t mean the iGPU will be any good, just that you might be able to get by…

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@BGL
Yes i am in the UK, bedfordshire.
The problem I have is I cant use the Igpu directly as Im running Fusion 360 in a windows VPN on linux as my ssd (with windows on it) died, so im running a spare linux drive right now.

As for complexity if i export to stl its about 50,000 tris per model. Will go up fast though, as I’m modeling an eco race car for my college team (im part of the team) which involves not only the basic shell. But also the chassis, mechanics, drive-train, electronics, driver, and anything else they want me to stuff in.

I could do some tests on my Vega 56 if it would help at all.

Since F360 uses DirectX for acceleration (on Windows, not sure what it’s using on Mac offhand) a professional level GPU won’t do anything for you, so avoid the certified drivers tax.

I have seen multiple posts on the Fusion forums from people whose iGPU’s are choking, and it will cause display errors. They aren’t currently good enough.

Really any low-level gaming GPU will work just fine though, but you might have to turn off some of the fancier display options such as Ambient Occlusion and Antialiasing. Not really an issue, I find the former is a detractor to image quality in a CAD environment anyway, although the AA is nice, but not necessary.

@elfbane
Sounds like a cool project.

What do you actually need to get your system properly back up and running properly? It sounds like you have a basic system running now?

BGL

@BGL I would need some form of SSD or hdd. My current “backup” is 3+ years old, a z97 mobo, maybe. My krait SLI got fried, so Im using a cheap junker. And a GPU.

I could probably get away with just some sort of GPU.

OK, are any of the following any use?

Gigabyte 4GB GTX 960 (Windforce OC),
MSI 2GB R7 260X

Which motherboard are using? I have an Asus Z87-Plus spare which is fairly decent - 8 phase VRM’s and is 4790K compatible.

@BGL

My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-Z97-D3H. So that asus board would be great.
And as for gpu The 960 would be better because it has more vram.

Thankyou for all this help.