kamokevin

I'm getting my AA in electro-mechanical design specializing in SolidWorks and AutoCAD so I've got a good bit of knowledge when it comes to CAD programs. I've scarcely used Inventor, but it's almost identical to SW and requires the same hardware to run smoothly. You're gonna want a CPU with as many cores as you can get, preferably hyperthreaded, but on an $850 budget, an i7-4790K will probably be as good as it gets. An i5-4690K would probably be a better fit. Another important factor is memory. I would recommend at least 16GB of RAM because both SW and Inventor are memory hogs especially when working on complex models or part heavy assemblies as well as part rendering and complex flow simulation. Which brings me to my next point: video cards. If you want to do any photoview rendering you'll need an approved video card, typically an Nvidia Quadro or AMD FirePro card for their OpenCL capabilities. You'll have to do some research as to which you need based on how you'll be using the software you listed. Get an SSD for your core programs and OS, a no frills case and PSU. If this build isn't intended to be a hardcore gaming build, look for a cheaper motherboard without any unnecessary features that still has a decent build quality (I would recommend ASUS personally) and at least 2 PCI-E x16 slots so you can add a GeForce card for gaming.

If I were to win the giveaway, the processor would be used for my first PC build. I was planning on building one for gaming early next year, but considering this is a 6 core hyperthreaded CPU, I'd make my first build a CAD workstation build. Soon I'll be graduating with my AA in electro-mechanical design which requires the use of CAD software such as SolidWorks. Since SolidWorks is such a resource hog at times and can take advantage of hyperthreading (photo realistic part rendering for example) I'd make an X99 build and take advantage of DDR4 memory, of which SW needs plenty! I also do a fair amount of photo editing but not to the extent where this processor would be necessary. I've been working with SW and AutoCAD for about 5 years now always on sub-par, pre-built machines and would love to change that!