Hello everybody, I’m looking to build a computer to run Solidworks, no gaming will be done on this machine. I will be doing everything from modeling and putting together assemblies to running analysis on parts and rendering out images of them. My work would be what I would consider to be somewhat simple components and medium size assemblies. I know that everything except modeling is Multithreaded so I’m debating on going for a 5820K 6 core instead, but I’m not sure I the price increase would be worth it Another big thing that I’m unsure of is what GPU to get, I have a Firepro W5100 on the build right now but am also looking at a Quadro k4200.
If you all could lend me your opinion if upgrading to 6 core CPU would be worth it and GPU would be better for me needs I would greatly appreciate it. My budget is around 2000 but of course the lower the better. Thanks!
I am by no means a solidworks guru, but usually you'd want to make sure that you have adequate ram overhead, and a solid CPU, so your build looks pretty good to me in those regards. I'm not really sure how much the GPU improves solidworks performance, so I'll have to sit out of that discussion. If the GPU is not that integral to improving performance, you could always save some money there and upgrade your CPU.
Hopefully someone else will weigh in since I've been so helpful :-/
I'm not to sure about gaming card for Solidworks, I've read that a lot of people have weird issues with them such as lines not appearing correctly or at all. I think id rather talk the reliability of a workstation card, especially since only thing Solidworks used GPU for it displaying the image, no calculations, so I wouldn't need a top of the line card.
You'll want ra rig that has tons of RAM and a ldecent GPU. I dont remeber if it was 2014-2015 or the newer ones, but ome of the versions eats ram like crazy.
I run solidworks off a gaming card and it does fine. But with a workstation card (what the hell was I using in that rig again?) it works better and seems to perform better despite having less RAM and a slightly weaker CPU.n
You don't necessary need the 5870k if you are just doing CAD, it is most likely overkill... and the overclocking part is useless. Overclocking will add the chance of more errors for complex calcuations and mess everything up. A Xeon would probabtly do fine, or a slightly lower level intel chip. Rendering and Simulations love a good intel chip.
For the record I use a desktop running a FX-8320, 16 GB RAM and a 650 Ti Boost, along with a laptop running an i7-4700 MQ, 8 GB RAM and good HD4600. Along with some other random rigs of various specs. All of them run SW fine, at leat with only a few thousand parts.