Upgrade my Specs for Architectural based Programs

[Demolisher82515]

Dear All,

 

I have these specs for the my current PC on which i use alot of Auto CAD, Adobe PhotoShop, Sketch Up and Lumion.  Please guide me as to what can i change or improve in the list mentioned below;

Component		Selection
CPU			Intel Core i7-6700K 4 GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler			Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard			Asus Z170-DELUXE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory			Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage			Corsair Force LE 960 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage			Crucial MX300 1.05 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage			Crucial MX300 1.05 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card			MSI GeForce GTX 1080 8 GB GAMING X 8G Video Card
Case			NZXT S340 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply			Corsair RMx 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power

[Privatech]

Hello!

 

Storage:
The SSDs are a good option since you are going to work a lot with data. I would replace boot 2.5" SSD with a faster M.2 SSD drive where the programs and OS(Windows) should be stored. (You can keep the boot drive SSD just add the M.2 drive and put the OS and programs on it).

 

Video Card:

The GTX 1080 is meant for gaming AND for working but mostly for gaming. If you want to improve your performance with rendering then i suggest you replace or buy a quadro video card that increases rendering in 3D programs A LOT as well as video and picture rendering. If you do not play games then I'd recommend doing it. Personally I've experienced quadro capabilities and they are much better than the GTX series as well as RTX.

[Demolisher82515]

34 minutes ago, Privatech said:

Hello!

 

Storage:
The SSDs are a good option since you are going to work a lot with data. I would replace boot 2.5" SSD with a faster M.2 SSD drive where the programs and OS(Windows) should be stored. (You can keep the boot drive SSD just add the M.2 drive and put the OS and programs on it).

 

Video Card:

The GTX 1080 is meant for gaming AND for working but mostly for gaming. If you want to improve your performance with rendering then i suggest you replace or buy a quadro video card that increases rendering in 3D programs A LOT as well as video and picture rendering. If you do not play games then I'd recommend doing it. Personally I've experienced quadro capabilities and they are much better than the GTX series as well as RTX.

Hi,

 

Which card do you recommend, P4000 or RTX card?

[schwellmo92]

It's really hard to recommend what you may need to upgrade as that depends on a case-by-case basis. What you should do to identify your bottlenecks is to run a monitoring tool (even task manager) in the background while you perform your standard workflows in each of the softwares. If you experience what you perceive as a perform dip or are waiting on something to render flick over to task manager and check each of the below.

1. Is your CPU at 100%? -> get a new CPU with better multi-core performance.
2. Are any CPU threads at 100%? -> get a new CPU with better single-core performance (I would advise just OC'ing the snot out of your current in this case).
3. Is your RAM usage at 100%? -> get another 2x8GB sticks of RAM.
4. Is your GPU at 100%? -> upgrade to a 2080 Ti.
5. Is your GPU RAM usage at 100%? -> upgrade to a Quadro/2080 Ti.
6. Are any of your disks at 100%? -> get M.2 NVMe drive and put whatever file(s) are the culprit on that drive (i.e. project files, software installation, etc).

[Demolisher82515]

5 minutes ago, schwellmo92 said:

It's really hard to recommend what you may need to upgrade as that depends on a case-by-case basis. What you should do to identify your bottlenecks is to run a monitoring tool (even task manager) in the background while you perform your standard workflows in each of the softwares. If you experience what you perceive as a perform dip or are waiting on something to render flick over to task manager and check each of the below.

1. Is your CPU at 100%? -> get a new CPU with better multi-core performance.
2. Are any CPU threads at 100%? -> get a new CPU with better single-core performance (I would advise just OC'ing the snot out of your current in this case).
3. Is your RAM usage at 100%? -> get another 2x8GB sticks of RAM.
4. Is your GPU at 100%? -> upgrade to a 2080 Ti.
5. Is your GPU RAM usage at 100%? -> upgrade to a Quadro/2080 Ti.
6. Are any of your disks at 100%? -> get M.2 NVMe drive and put whatever file(s) are the culprit on that drive (i.e. project files, software installation, etc).

Thanks i really appricate the help, I will look into this.

[jones177]

For what you do I like your specs. I did large projects so I needed a lot more ram. 

 

I think you only need a bit more ram(32) and maybe an eight core plus CPU.

The only real gain you will get with a new CPU is in your CPU rendering and depending on your workflow it may be pointless.

 

I used Quadro cards for CAD since they have better AA in view ports but if your projects are not complex you don't need them. I think the last one I bought was in 2013 and it was used. 

 

I use RTX 2080 ti for gaming but the last cards I bought for work were GTX 1080 tis. They were so successful I bought 3 of them.  If I was buying for work only I would go with a 2080 Supers. 

 

The biggest upgrade I did for CAD was when I got a 4k monitor in 2015. It made spotting errors a lot easier.

[Demolisher82515]

6 minutes ago, jones177 said:

For what you do I like your specs. I did large projects so I needed a lot more ram. 

 

I think you only need a bit more ram(32) and maybe an eight core plus CPU.

The only real gain you will get with a new CPU is in your CPU rendering and depending on your workflow it may be pointless.

 

I used Quadro cards for CAD since they have better AA in view ports but if your projects are not complex you don't need them. I think the last one I bought was in 2013 and it was used. 

 

I use RTX 2080 ti for gaming but the last cards I bought for work were GTX 1080 tis. They were so successful I bought 3 of them.  If I was buying for work only I would go with a 2080 Supers. 

 

The biggest upgrade I did for CAD was when I got a 4k monitor in 2015. It made spotting errors a lot easier.

So I should double my ram from 16 GB to 32 GB and if I am upgrading the CPU then I have one mind (Core i7- 8700K). What do you think?

[jones177]

1 minute ago, Demolisher82515 said:

So I should double my ram from 16 GB to 32 GB and if I am upgrading the CPU then I have one mind (Core i7- 8700K). What do you think?

I had at least one computer with 32 gbs but I would get Autocad files that I could not load even with 32. Fortunately I had friends in the industry that had a lot more ram and they would remove layers I did not need to get the file size down.

It depends on the jobs that you do. You only need it if you are running out.

I bought 32gbs last week because it may go up in price again but for now I don't need it.  

 

I use two 6 core CPUs(i7 8086k) in my computers but if I was buying today I would go eight core plus. Now I would get an i9 9900k since I like 5ghz CPUs.

I had an i7 6700k and replaced it with a i7 8086k(6 core). I got it for smoothness in games only. It was not a big productivity upgrade.

I am also not a fan of the i7 8700k since there seems to be a big performance swing depending on the silicon. My i7 8700k is sitting in its box.

[Demolisher82515]

4 minutes ago, jones177 said:

I had at least one computer with 32 gbs but I would get Autocad files that I could not load even with 32. Fortunately I had friends in the industry that had a lot more ram and they would remove layers I did not need to get the file size down.

It depends on the jobs that you do. You only need it if you are running out.

I bought 32gbs last week because it may go up in price again but for now I don't need it.  

 

I use two 6 core CPUs(i7 8086k) in my computers but if I was buying today I would go eight core plus. Now I would get an i9 9900k since I like 5ghz CPUs.

I had an i7 6700k and replaced it with a i7 8086k(6 core). I got it for smoothness in games only. It was not a big productivity upgrade.

I am also not a fan of the i7 8700k since there seems to be a big performance swing depending on the silicon. My i7 8700k is sitting in its box.

Since core i9- 9900K is a 8 core CPU with 16 thread, i was looking along the lines of purchasing a core i7 -8700K and i double checked this today by watching one of the linustechtips videos on YouTube, where Linus recommends  core i7 - 8700K.

 

 

[jones177]

24 minutes ago, Demolisher82515 said:

Since core i9- 9900K is a 8 core CPU with 16 thread, i was looking along the lines of purchasing a core i7 -8700K and i double checked this today by watching one of the linustechtips videos on YouTube, where Linus recommends  core i7 - 8700K.

 

 

That is an early 2018 video when the i7 8700k was top of the Intel consumer lineup. Now the i9 9900k is top of the line.

There are Ryzen CPU like the 3700x that have more cores and about the same IPC as the i7 8700k so you have lots of choices now.

 

I would only stay with Intel for the 5ghz and that is for gaming.

 

[Demolisher82515]

Just now, jones177 said:

That is an early 2018 video when the i7 8700k was top of the Intel consumer lineup. Now the i9 9900k is top of the line.

There are Ryzen CPU like the 3700x that have more cores and about the same IPC as the i7 8700k so you have lots of choices now.

 

I would only stay with Intel for the 5ghz and that is for gaming.

 

I appreciate the suggestion and just to add one more thing, i hardly game on the PC since there is isn't any time for me too, but my main focus and work is the rendering for projects on Lumion,  Sketch Up and  Auto CAD.  So adding i9 - 9900K and another set of Ram and a Quadro Card would do the work for me, right? 

[Eumel2]

This video is slightly outdated, so its missing the big corecount 3rd gen ryzen chips.

 

For CPU performance you would want either a R7 3900X or wait for the R9 3950 which should come out soonish

[jones177]

4 minutes ago, Demolisher82515 said:

I appreciate the suggestion and just to add one more thing, i hardly game on the PC since there is isn't any time for me too, but my main focus and work is the rendering for projects on Lumion,  Sketch Up and  Auto CAD.  So adding i9 - 9900K and another set of Ram and a Quadro Card would do the work for me, right? 

Yes.

I only used GTX cards to play games after work and I did nich design that did not get too complicated.

 

I designed trade shows and trade show booths. I needed to use Autocad since that is the format that buildings and associations sent plans in and I would clean them up and import them into 3ds Max. I never used Lumion but I did us Vray. Most of the work I did was with Mental Ray in 3D Max since most projects did not have the budget for anything else.

I only used Sketchup to convert clients drawings to 3D Max.

 

I retired last year so my last CPU I used was for work was the i7 8700k but I used a i7 6700k in one of my computers from 2016 to half way threw 2018. 

I used 2 computers since I did more than one project at a time and with trade show booths I sometimes did over 10 a day. That meant a lot of Photoshop and illustrator work as well. One computer rendered as I edited images, created textures and sent off finished projects to clients with the other.

 

Good Luck with you build.

 

 

[schwellmo92]

4 hours ago, Demolisher82515 said:

I appreciate the suggestion and just to add one more thing, i hardly game on the PC since there is isn't any time for me too, but my main focus and work is the rendering for projects on Lumion,  Sketch Up and  Auto CAD.  So adding i9 - 9900K and another set of Ram and a Quadro Card would do the work for me, right? 

You should do what I suggested before just upgrading the entire system, some of those components may not need to be upgraded for your workflows. Also Quadro cards are a complete waste of money unless you need the extra VRAM capacities they come on, do not get a Quadro unless you specifically need the VRAM they are terrible value.

[Privatech]

On 8/27/2019 at 2:06 PM, Demolisher82515 said:

Hi,

 

Which card do you recommend, P4000 or RTX card?

Sorry for the late reply.

 

If you want real time rendering then stick with the GTX. But if you want to render stuff faster then go for a quadro. Your card is about 869$. An quadro equivalent would be something like Quadro RTX 4000. Still id suggest with the 1080. Its one of the best graphics cards on the market beating even RTX 2060s and 2070s. Replace with a RTX 2080 in about 2 or 3 years.

[Demolisher82515]

15 hours ago, Privatech said:

Sorry for the late reply.

 

If you want real time rendering then stick with the GTX. But if you want to render stuff faster then go for a quadro. Your card is about 869$. An quadro equivalent would be something like Quadro RTX 4000. Still id suggest with the 1080. Its one of the best graphics cards on the market beating even RTX 2060s and 2070s. Replace with a RTX 2080 in about 2 or 3 years.

Thanks for the info.