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CPU/GPU for Engineering and Gaming

imflyinn

Posted a while back looking for help picking parts for a pc that needs to be suitable for both engineering work (intense 3-d modeling and rendering) and also do decent for gaming in the mean time. I will be back in a couple weeks for advice on picking the entire pc (will be ordered on black Friday) but for now I just have a couple questions:

1: Ivy Bridge or Haswell CPU? I would like to stick with an i7 Intel Cpu. Budget will be $300, assuming the older generation is on sale would I be better off getting a higher-end Ivy Bridge or lower end Haswell for the same price?

2: gtx 970, 780, or 780ti? Assuming again that the older generation will be on sale with a budget of $400, which would be better for the engineering work? I have done a ton of research on the fps's generated by each in gaming but for engineering which would be better? I see the 780s have more CUDA cores that I think means faster rendering but I could be wrong.

 

Any and all help is greatly appreciated! 

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for the gpu. id get a 970 or 980. for the cpu. ehh. idk. you could go with an i7 4790k. otherwise you could get a 5820k for 100$ higher. though that brings ddr4 and X99.....  also its a 6 core. and there is room for upgrade... your choice

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what is the budget for the whole pc ? is it from nothing ? or an upgrade ?

~New~  BoomBerryPi project !  ~New~


new build log : http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/533392-build-log-the-scrap-simulator-x/?p=7078757 (5 screen flight sim for 620$ CAD)LTT Web Challenge is back ! go here  :  http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/448184-ltt-web-challenge-3-v21/#entry601004

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@imflyinn Go with the haswell and 980/970 because it's better. Both of them consume less power and have better performance.

My Current PC Codename: Scrapper

Spoiler

Intel i5-3570 | Some LGA 1155 MOBO Some Generic DDR3 8GB 1600Mhz | PowerColor RX 560 2GB | Recycled HP Case Crucial MX100 128GB 1TB WD Blue 7200RPM | Some Generic 500w PSU | Intel Stock Cooler

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@imflyinn I am always excited when I see people looking to build a PC for an engineering purpose. I graduated with my mechanical engineering degree about 18 months ago. I use my personal machine on the weekends for a lot of modeling and analysis using solidworks, Creo 2.0, Solidworks simulation, and ansys. 

 

A mega dollar CPU does not add as much as you may think, in my office we still use i5 3570's but at home I use an i7 4790k which does offer a bit more performance but the GPU makes a larger impact than the CPU does. If you can stretch your budget anywhere the GPU is the place to do it. I used a GTX-570 through most of my college and recently (like yesterday) upgraded to an Asus GTX-980. Modeling on a consumer GPU is inherently less productive than on a Quadro or a Firepro, but still workable. For simulation work, I have yet to come across a software package that does not support CUDA acceleration. However if I was building a new machine to start college I would look very hard at using a cheap Quadro (K420) and a consumer card like a GTX-970 in conjunction. You will want to either use two monitors (one for gaming, hooked up to the 970, and one for school work hooked up to the Quadro) this way you can still utilize the 970 for both gaming and CUDA acclerated applications like analysis, then get the better modeling performance of the Quadro. 

 

It all comes down to budget. How much do you want to spend and where are you located. I would be glad to answer any questions or help you in any way I can :)

CPU: i9-13900k MOBO: Asus Strix Z790-E RAM: 64GB GSkill  CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i

GPU: Asus Strix RTX-4090 Case: Fractal Torrent PSU: Corsair HX-1000i Storage: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro

 

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Total build budget is going to be around 1250, not including monitor, keyboard, etc. I am thinking about starting with 8gb of ram to start out with and upgrade in the summer when I have more money to save my budget for other parts, along with waiting on a ssd until then unless there is a great deal on one coming up. But other than that I would rather build for the future now than have to rip everything apart and upgrade in the near future

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@imflyinn I am always excited when I see people looking to build a PC for an engineering purpose. I graduated with my mechanical engineering degree about 18 months ago. I use my personal machine on the weekends for a lot of modeling and analysis using solidworks, Creo 2.0, Solidworks simulation, and ansys. 

 

A mega dollar CPU does not add as much as you may think, in my office we still use i5 3570's but at home I use an i7 4790k which does offer a bit more performance but the GPU makes a larger impact than the CPU does. If you can stretch your budget anywhere the GPU is the place to do it. I used a GTX-570 through most of my college and recently (like yesterday) upgraded to an Asus GTX-980. Modeling on a consumer GPU is inherently less productive than on a Quadro or a Firepro, but still workable. For simulation work, I have yet to come across a software package that does not support CUDA acceleration. However if I was building a new machine to start college I would look very hard at using a cheap Quadro (K420) and a consumer card like a GTX-970 in conjunction. You will want to either use two monitors (one for gaming, hooked up to the 970, and one for school work hooked up to the Quadro) this way you can still utilize the 970 for both gaming and CUDA acclerated applications like analysis, then get the better modeling performance of the Quadro. 

 

It all comes down to budget. How much do you want to spend and where are you located. I would be glad to answer any questions or help you in any way I can :)

Real_Phillbert thank you for offering help, I have been looking for a fellow engineer to give me a hand choosing these parts and will definitely need to take you up on that :) I don't have the budget now to run a dual gpu setup but wouldn't be opposed to picking up a quadro in the future. I am looking into an internship now and will be using all of those same programs for sure in the (hopefully) near future. As for the monitor I am looking into getting a 29:1 aspect ratio monitor instead of using a dual-monitor setup, any thoughts on that?

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what is the budget for the whole pc ? is it from nothing ? or an upgrade ?

The pc is completely from scratch, this is my first ever build

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Real_Phillbert thank you for offering help, I have been looking for a fellow engineer to give me a hand choosing these parts and will definitely need to take you up on that :) I don't have the budget now to run a dual gpu setup but wouldn't be opposed to picking up a quadro in the future. I am looking into an internship now and will be using all of those same programs for sure in the (hopefully) near future. As for the monitor I am looking into getting a 29:1 aspect ratio monitor instead of using a dual-monitor setup, any thoughts on that?

I dont know on the 21:9 monitors, my concern is not that the monitor is no good but I dont know how or if you can drive one monitor with two gpu's, down the road. Unless you would just plan on getting another dedicated monitor for the quadro. Perhaps someone else has more experience with switching between two gpu inputs on a single monitor will hop in with their input.

 

You certainly can run engineering applications on a consumer GPU, it is just a bit slower in modeling than a quadro. Like I said, I did the majority of my schooling using a 570.

 

I am glad to hear that you are getting an internship, it is not only a big deal for your pocket book but also for attracting employers after graduation.

 

What kind of budget are you looking to spend?

 

Some times I get distracted so if I dont respond for a while just put an @ symbol followed by my username (Real_PhillBert) and I will get a notification and will return. This also holds true if you have questions further down the road, just give me a shout :)

CPU: i9-13900k MOBO: Asus Strix Z790-E RAM: 64GB GSkill  CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i

GPU: Asus Strix RTX-4090 Case: Fractal Torrent PSU: Corsair HX-1000i Storage: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro

 

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I dont know on the 21:9 monitors, my concern is not that the monitor is no good but I dont know how or if you can drive one monitor with two gpu's, down the road. Unless you would just plan on getting another dedicated monitor for the quadro. Perhaps someone else has more experience with switching between two gpu inputs on a single monitor will hop in with their input.

 

You certainly can run engineering applications on a consumer GPU, it is just a bit slower in modeling than a quadro. Like I said, I did the majority of my schooling using a 570.

 

I am glad to hear that you are getting an internship, it is not only a big deal for your pocket book but also for attracting employers after graduation.

 

What kind of budget are you looking to spend?

 

Some times I get distracted so if I dont respond for a while just put an @ symbol followed by my username (Real_PhillBert) and I will get a notification and will return. This also holds true if you have questions further down the road, just give me a shout :)

@Real_PhillBert Total budget not including monitor, keyboard, etc is around $1250. I know the monitor can divide in half and can supposedly act as two totally seprate screens but I will have to do more research on that

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@Real_PhillBert Total budget not including monitor, keyboard, etc is around $1250. I know the monitor can divide in half and can supposedly act as two totally seprate screens but I will have to do more research on that

Ok here is what I threw together for your budget

 

 
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($229.98 @ OutletPC) As I said before you wont notice much of a difference between an i5 and an i7 so the i5 is the more budget friendly choice
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($107.93 @ OutletPC) This Mobo provides ample space between the GPU's for cooling if/when you want to add a quadro.
Memory: Kingston Fury Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($79.99 @ Amazon) A good upgrade later on when you are doing more analysis would be another 2x8 kit to bring it up to 16Gb
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($235.66 @ Newegg) I would have liked to have gotten into the new maxwell GPU's but the budget becomes a limitation. I would stay Nvidia because Cuda has been better supported by the engineering applications than openGL.
Case: Fractal Design FD-CA-CORE-3500-BL-W ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.98 @ NCIX US) Not flashy but a good case.
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($58.00 @ Newegg) I usually would have liked to see a semi/fully modular PSU, but these are tough to beat for the money.
Monitor: Dell S2240M 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($114.99 @ Amazon) These are great inexpensive IPS monitors, for both gaming and engineering work.
Monitor: Dell S2240M 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($114.99 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Corsair Raptor K30 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($37.99 @ Newegg) Add a mechanical keyboard to your christmas list, once you go mechanical you will never go back.
Mouse: Razer ABYSSUS Wired Optical Mouse  ($35.02 @ NCIX US) 
Total: $1267.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-23 12:06 EDT-0400
 
I know you are looking for a 21:9 monitor, so you could substitute those two dell's for this LG
 
 
But it is slightly more expensive.
 
I hope this gets you pointed in the right direction. :)

CPU: i9-13900k MOBO: Asus Strix Z790-E RAM: 64GB GSkill  CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i

GPU: Asus Strix RTX-4090 Case: Fractal Torrent PSU: Corsair HX-1000i Storage: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro

 

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Ok here is what I threw together for your budget

 

 
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($229.98 @ OutletPC) As I said before you wont notice much of a difference between an i5 and an i7 so the i5 is the more budget friendly choice
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($107.93 @ OutletPC) This Mobo provides ample space between the GPU's for cooling if/when you want to add a quadro.
Memory: Kingston Fury Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($79.99 @ Amazon) A good upgrade later on when you are doing more analysis would be another 2x8 kit to bring it up to 16Gb
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($235.66 @ Newegg) I would have liked to have gotten into the new maxwell GPU's but the budget becomes a limitation. I would stay Nvidia because Cuda has been better supported by the engineering applications than openGL.
Case: Fractal Design FD-CA-CORE-3500-BL-W ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.98 @ NCIX US) Not flashy but a good case.
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($58.00 @ Newegg) I usually would have liked to see a semi/fully modular PSU, but these are tough to beat for the money.
Monitor: Dell S2240M 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($114.99 @ Amazon) These are great inexpensive IPS monitors, for both gaming and engineering work.
Monitor: Dell S2240M 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($114.99 @ Amazon) 
Keyboard: Corsair Raptor K30 Wired Gaming Keyboard  ($37.99 @ Newegg) Add a mechanical keyboard to your christmas list, once you go mechanical you will never go back.
Mouse: Razer ABYSSUS Wired Optical Mouse  ($35.02 @ NCIX US) 
Total: $1267.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-23 12:06 EDT-0400
 
I know you are looking for a 21:9 monitor, so you could substitute those two dell's for this LG
 
 
But it is slightly more expensive.
 
I hope this gets you pointed in the right direction. :)

 

@Real_PhillBert Thanks, definately gets me in the right direction! Do you think that I will need a cpu cooler and an ssd for sure when I start? I was thinking about adding an ssd in later to increase my budget for other parts now

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@Real_PhillBert Thanks, definately gets me in the right direction! Do you think that I will need a cpu cooler and an ssd for sure when I start? I was thinking about adding an ssd in later to increase my budget for other parts now

You could skip the SSD and get a GTX-970 if you really want to. An SSD doesnt add to the performance of the PC but hugely increases the usability of it. when I went from an HDD boot drive to an SSD I went from ~55Mbps reads to ~520Mbps. The PC was much more responsive an a ton faster to open programs.

 

I would not recommend skipping the CPU cooler. With a CPU cooler you can OC the CPU and increase CPU performance noticeably for free. Are you comfortable overclocking?

CPU: i9-13900k MOBO: Asus Strix Z790-E RAM: 64GB GSkill  CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i

GPU: Asus Strix RTX-4090 Case: Fractal Torrent PSU: Corsair HX-1000i Storage: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro

 

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I would definitely add an ssd first so you won't have to deal with a fresh install later. Stock Intel fan would be fine until you start taxing your cpu. I agree with Phil about the gpu. I went through engineering school with an i5 and 660ti and it was fine.

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@Real_PhillBert I am unsure of overclocking. I am open to it if it will help me but have no prior experience. I think that I will go up to a 970 for sure just because of gaming. I won't count the monitor and keyboard/mouse towards my budget to make room for a little better performance (Assuming Santa is good to me come Christmas time if not those I can upgrade with time when I start working again no problem)

 

@OhhTee could I even put in an ssd after the fact if I plan on loading the OS and engineering programs and possibly Photoshop onto it, or would doing that cause huge problems?

 

Btw I have only used Solidworks on my laptop (Ivy Bridge i7 with a nvidia mobile gpu ) and a school computer (The sticker said i5 but the awful performance kinda scared me about i5's) so pretty much anything that I get will seem like a giant upgrade to me

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@Real_PhillBert I am unsure of overclocking. I am open to it if it will help me but have no prior experience. I think that I will go up to a 970 for sure just because of gaming. I won't count the monitor and keyboard/mouse towards my budget to make room for a little better performance (Assuming Santa is good to me come Christmas time if not those I can upgrade with time when I start working again no problem)

 

@OhhTee could I even put in an ssd after the fact if I plan on loading the OS and engineering programs and possibly Photoshop onto it, or would doing that cause huge problems?

 

Btw I have only used Solidworks on my laptop (Ivy Bridge i7 with a nvidia mobile gpu ) and a school computer (The sticker said i5 but the awful performance kinda scared me about i5's) so pretty much anything that I get will seem like a giant upgrade to me

 

You could do it after the fact, but it will be a little more work than if you did it at the beginning. If you wait, you would need to backup any work you don't want to lose and having used some of those programs; they can get very large, very quickly. The software is too easy to take care of since you would just be reinstalling and updating as needed. It's the little things that make moving the OS from one drive to another time consuming.

 

From my experience on performance, the CPU doesn't make a huge impact (it makes an impact, but not as much as other parts). A good i5 or i7 would be plenty, I would focus more on a good GPU and as much RAM as you can afford. Which brings up another thought that I don't quite understand myself. It might be possible to get a small SSD to use for a scratch disk. I have no experience doing this, but I have heard about it and it seems that it is a good way to boos performance as well.

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@Real_PhillBert I am unsure of overclocking. I am open to it if it will help me but have no prior experience. I think that I will go up to a 970 for sure just because of gaming. I won't count the monitor and keyboard/mouse towards my budget to make room for a little better performance (Assuming Santa is good to me come Christmas time if not those I can upgrade with time when I start working again no problem)

 

@OhhTee could I even put in an ssd after the fact if I plan on loading the OS and engineering programs and possibly Photoshop onto it, or would doing that cause huge problems?

 

Btw I have only used Solidworks on my laptop (Ivy Bridge i7 with a nvidia mobile gpu ) and a school computer (The sticker said i5 but the awful performance kinda scared me about i5's) so pretty much anything that I get will seem like a giant upgrade to me

Sounds like you have a pretty solid plan.

 

The reason I ask about over clocking was that maybe a Xeon like an E3-1231 would be a good choice. Those are ~$20 more than the i5-4690k but are basically a i7-4790k that is locked and doesnt have an onboard GPU. So that would be a good option if you are concerned about the performance of the i5's. 

CPU: i9-13900k MOBO: Asus Strix Z790-E RAM: 64GB GSkill  CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i

GPU: Asus Strix RTX-4090 Case: Fractal Torrent PSU: Corsair HX-1000i Storage: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro

 

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@Real_PhillBert would not having an onboard GPU affect anything because I will be running a good full time GPU?

Nope, it would make no difference at all. Plus then you could run an H97 Mobo because the Xeon is locked anyway.

CPU: i9-13900k MOBO: Asus Strix Z790-E RAM: 64GB GSkill  CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i

GPU: Asus Strix RTX-4090 Case: Fractal Torrent PSU: Corsair HX-1000i Storage: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro

 

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