Workstation CPU request.

[Rabidgoat]

Hello LTT world,

 

Ive seen many a review and suggestion for "workstation" builds but from what I understand they all* focus on programs optimized for parallel processing. As a mechanical designer by trade I am frequently stuck with an already built "top of the line" pc with 8 cores, 16gb of ram, am Nvidia Quadro 4000 and a frozen program with one core redlining while the 7  others idle. I've used Nvidia's gpu utilization program and that thing barely hits 70%.

 

So my understanding is this, CPU clock speed trumps cores and unless you're using 8 year old quadros, you have enough VRAM. 

 

Does anyone have any input or suggestions regarding this?

 

Best regards,

The goaty one

[NoRomanBatmansAllowed]

Well, if what you say is true, get yourself a 7600k/7700k and overclock the hell out of it.

[Rabidgoat]

I'll give that a shot if my next corporate overlord let's me. Thank you for the input!

[ARikozuM]

What programs do you use?

[Rabidgoat]

2 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

What programs do you use?

Lately, solidworks. I've experienced the same thing on Creo/Pro Engineer.

[ARikozuM]

8 minutes ago, Rabidgoat said:

Lately, solidworks. I've experienced the same thing on Creo/Pro Engineer.

@nerdslayer1

Sounds like a software problem with Solidworks, am I right? Or is this for every program?

38 minutes ago, Rabidgoat said:

As a mechanical designer by trade I am frequently stuck with an already built "top of the line" pc with 8 cores, 16gb of ram, am Nvidia Quadro 4000 and a frozen program with one core redlining while the 7  others idle. 

 

[The Sloth]

OP it will depend on what you are working on, 

55 minutes ago, Rabidgoat said:

Ive seen many a review and suggestion for "workstation" builds but from what I understand they all* focus on programs optimized for parallel processing.

most focus on heavy multitasking while doing complex work 

 

55 minutes ago, Rabidgoat said:

I am frequently stuck with an already built "top of the line" pc with 8 cores, 16gb of ram, am Nvidia Quadro 4000 and a frozen program with one core redlining while the 7  others idle. I've used Nvidia's gpu utilization program and that thing barely hits 70%.

your PC will only use resources if you need it, you also have to take into account the complexity of the project. most programs like CAD, SolidWorks are not well optimized, they even have features disabled that only Quadros can use. 

55 minutes ago, Rabidgoat said:

So my understanding is this, CPU clock speed trumps cores and unless you're using 8 year old quadros, you have enough VRAM. 

 

that will entirely depend on what part you are designing, what program you use, how your workflow is, there is no single solution for a "workstation" build. for things like CAD, Solidworks, Inventor, MATLAB, Revit.. etc a CPU such as a 5960x clocked at 4.5 ghz will do the trick, best of two worlds. 

 

13 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Sounds like a software problem with Solidworks, am I right? Or is this for every program?

 

you are right, these programs are notorious for shitty optimization. 

 

TLDR- OP it's not a simple answer, it will depend on what you do. 

[Rabidgoat]

6 hours ago, nerdslayer1 said:

OP it will depend on what you are working on, 

most focus on heavy multitasking while doing complex work 

 

your PC will only use resources if you need it, you also have to take into account the complexity of the project. most programs like CAD, SolidWorks are not well optimized, they even have features disabled that only Quadros can use. 

that will entirely depend on what part you are designing, what program you use, how your workflow is, there is no single solution for a "workstation" build. for things like CAD, Solidworks, Inventor, MATLAB, Revit.. etc a CPU such as a 5960x clocked at 4.5 ghz will do the trick, best of two worlds. 

 

you are right, these programs are notorious for shitty optimization. 

 

TLDR- OP it's not a simple answer, it will depend on what you do. 

Yeah I agree CAD programs aren't optimized for multi core use. We recently had a dassault systems rep come to the company to chat(sell us more stuff) and I did ask that question. 

The response he got from his technical team was that it depends on what functionality of the program someone is using. FEA and flow analysis will use multiple cores while large assemblies and D size drawings with multiple views will only use one.

 

I guess my original question was what cpu has the highest clock speed.

[The Sloth]

3 hours ago, Rabidgoat said:

I guess my original question was what cpu has the highest clock speed.

highest clocked CPU wouldn't help look for balanced between cores and clock, i suggest a 6core CPU such as a 5820k, you can clock it at 4.5 to 4.8ghz easily. 

[bimmerman]

Solidworks is primarily single threaded; it prefers fast cores over multiple cores.

 

I would go with a fast CPU without overclocking-- stability is most important on a workstation, and can pretty much guarantee that overclocking will invalidate your next-day business support....plus piss off IT. The last thing you want is your workstation to crash if you haven't saved your changes! What CPU do you already have?

 

I hate to say it, but if you're already pegging your 'top of the line 8 core cpu' at 100% on one core, the very fastest CPU on the market is only <3 generations newer and will only give you a 10% improvement in single-core performance at best. I would suggest reducing your assembly complexity if you can-- use lightweight mode and large assembly mode?

[Rabidgoat]

On 6/28/2017 at 8:14 PM, bimmerman said:

Solidworks is primarily single threaded; it prefers fast cores over multiple cores.

 

I would go with a fast CPU without overclocking-- stability is most important on a workstation, and can pretty much guarantee that overclocking will invalidate your next-day business support....plus piss off IT. The last thing you want is your workstation to crash if you haven't saved your changes! What CPU do you already have?

 

I hate to say it, but if you're already pegging your 'top of the line 8 core cpu' at 100% on one core, the very fastest CPU on the market is only <3 generations newer and will only give you a 10% improvement in single-core performance at best. I would suggest reducing your assembly complexity if you can-- use lightweight mode and large assembly mode?

The problem I've seen is the CPUs the companies use are something like 3.2ghz. so a 4 or 4.4 would be more than 8% I'd hope. 

 

Yeah I've tried light assembly mode. It does work, but I'm getting tired of workarounds haha.

[scottyseng]

3 hours ago, Rabidgoat said:

-snip-

Yeah, some software prefer faster single core over multicore due to bad optimization (not counting rendering). All the more reason for the large software companies to get their stuff working better...Autodesk, Adobe, Solidworks, etc...

 

For me, Revit actually is faster on my 2700K (4.9 GHz) over my Xeon E5-2695V3 (14 core, 28 thread, 2.2 GHz). I think just flat out stops at 8 cores for editing, but I never tested it. I do know it doesn't really go too well with adding more cores to it aside from rendering / the interactive renderer.

[ARikozuM]

1 hour ago, scottyseng said:

Yeah, some software prefer faster single core over multicore due to bad optimization (not counting rendering). 

I wouldn't say "bad" optimization. Even Autodesk prefers single-threaded performance for real-time functions over having to use HT.

[bimmerman]

10 hours ago, Rabidgoat said:

The problem I've seen is the CPUs the companies use are something like 3.2ghz. so a 4 or 4.4 would be more than 8% I'd hope. 

 

Yeah I've tried light assembly mode. It does work, but I'm getting tired of workarounds haha.

 

Ahhh yea that's a problem. The company probably won't let you overclock, so I'd look for a newish processor that has a relatively high single or two core boost clock. The Ryzen 1800x I think turbos into the 4GHz range stock, the i7 7700k turbos to 4.5?, the newer X299 chips do something similar but at ridiculous price. If some of the software you use can take advantage of the multiple cores, the 1800x may be pretty good. If most of your work is single-thread-limited (i.e. CAD) then I'd go for the 7700k or similar level chips.

 

My work computer is a Precision 5520 with the Xeon-- 3GHz base but turbos to 4, and is a Solidworks beast for what I need to do. I don't deal with crazy large assemblies with complicated mates very often though.

[The Sloth]

17 minutes ago, bimmerman said:

If most of your work is single-thread-limited (i.e. CAD) then I'd go for the 7700k or similar level chips.

nope, most people who work in this field has more than one program open, a 7700k is very easy to bog down compared to something like an 1800x.