Planning build for CAD modelling

[niculw]

Hey Forums

 

Im planning a build for my girlfriend, she is graduating with a master in materials and manufacturing. She wants a computer to do CAD modelling on that will run smoothly, reliably and for many years. She wants to be able to run the entire suite of CAD programs; Fusion360, Solidworks, Creo, Ansys, Comsol, Catia and maybe 3dsMax. So basically everything.

 

I created this suggested build, with at 970 evo plus as boot drive and for programs, 2 baracuda 4tb in raid 1 for redundant project storage. Was thinking raid 10 but that might be too expensive with 4 drives.

I also selected a wx7100 because screw nvidia, Ideally i want the new w5700 when it drops, but that might not be super worth it for her case with close to no rendering, i don't know. Im not gonna do overclocking, as i want it to be as stable as possible, hence 3800x over 3700x.

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/kGqW3t

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 3.9 GHz 8-Core Processor  (€395.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€199.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory  (€163.60 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€104.93 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€92.70 @ Mindfactory)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€92.70 @ Mindfactory)
Video Card: AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 8 GB Video Card  (€400.00 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case  (€91.89 @ Alternate)
Power Supply: Corsair AX 850 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€283.79 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12B redux-700 33.49 CFM 120 mm Fan  (€13.79 @ Aquatuning)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12B redux-700 33.49 CFM 120 mm Fan  (€13.79 @ Aquatuning)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12B redux-700 33.49 CFM 120 mm Fan  (€13.79 @ Aquatuning)
Total: €1865.88

 

Total budget is around 2000€. We are from Denmark, but Germany may seem cheaper.

 

What do you guys think? anything i should change?

 

EDIT: added programs

[Streetguru]

11 minutes ago, niculw said:

Power Supply: Corsair AX 850 W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€283.79 @ Amazon Deutschland)

Well that is completely unnecessary, a gold unit with good reviews will be just fine, the higher tiers are more for like servers/data centers and stuff.

Just get an H500 from coolermaster, no need for all the extra fans, also pick up a Neptwin or Scythe Fuma 2 CPU cooler

The 3700X has the same performance

 

There should be 1TB NVME drives at that same price

 

Unless you are doing like load simulations, or actual ray tracing rendering an 8GB RX 470/480/570/580 should have enough GPU acceleration on it's own.Suppose the WX 7100 isn't too expensive anyways though.

And you probably want NAS hard drives, may have higher long term reliability compared to the consumer drivers, like Iron Wolfs, or WD Reds

 

 

 

[niculw]

30 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Well that is completely unnecessary, a gold unit with good reviews will be just fine, the higher tiers are more for like servers/data centers and stuff.

Here i was looking at efficiency at given load, to not waste power, yes it is way over the top. But for work i would say certified reliablity over good reviews. Maybe im wrong.

 

30 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Just get an H500 from coolermaster, no need for all the extra fans, also pick up a Neptwin or Scythe Fuma 2 CPU cooler

She wants discreet, and most importantly quiet. Plus i dont wanna choke the GPU or CPU.

 

30 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

The 3700X has the same performance

No. As i said no overclocking, and with a higher base clock, the 3800x should perform better in alot of the use cases. If i were to overclock, i would agree, but she doesn't think 70€ is worth the risk.

 

30 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Unless you are doing like load simulations, or actual ray tracing rendering an 8GB RX 470/480/570/580 should have enough GPU acceleration on it's own.Suppose the WX 7100 isn't too expensive anyways though.

Solidworks wont accept non workstation GPUs. I want workstation drivers and reliability. Again this is a workstation, reliability > price/performance. She will be doing stress simulations, warp simulation, thermomechanical simulation etc. 

 

[TVwazhere]

31 minutes ago, niculw said:

She wants to be able to run the entire suite of CAD programs; Fusion360, Solidworks, Creo, Ansys, Comsol, Catia and maybe 3dsMax. So basically everything.

Does she know exactly which software she will be using, or is it a "We wont know till she gets a job and figures out which software they use"?

 

Programs like solidworks are definitely optimized for Workstation GPU's, but Autodesk Programs dont care too much if the GPU is a Quadro or a Geforce for example. (Assuming this build is for an unknown CAD application, it's best to stick with a Quadro or Firepro, in your case you seem to lean towards FirePro).

 

You can always get the Solid Side panel version of the Define C. Populate the front fan slots with good static pressure fans like Noctua NF-P12's for example which are also quiet, and you can get good airflow performance, stay relatively quiet and blend in completely in an office environment. If airflow is the priority over noise dampening, the Meshify C is the way to go. Both cases are relatively compact, so they'll fit better on a work desk than a lot of other cases.

 

I'd definitely recommend even a small Air cooler for the CPU even though you're not OCing to keep things cool and quiet. The Wraith MAX does a good job and idle and partial load, but under sustained workloads it can become distinctly audible at times. 

[niculw]

2 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Does she know exactly which software she will be using, or is it a "We wont know till she gets a job and figures out which software they use"?

Yes it is that exactly

3 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Programs like solidworks are definitely optimized for Workstation GPU's, but Autodesk Programs dont care too much if the GPU is a Quadro or a Geforce for example. (Assuming this build is for an unknown CAD application, it's best to stick with a Quadro or Firepro, in your case you seem to lean towards FirePro).

FirePro over the Radeon Pro line?

5 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

You can always get the Solid Side panel version of the Define C. Populate the front fan slots with good static pressure fans like Noctua NF-P12's for example which are also quiet

Yeah that sounds like the way forward. i haven't payed to much attention lately to GN's case reviews

 

7 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

I'd definitely recommend even a small Air cooler for the CPU even though you're not OCing to keep things cool and quiet. The Wraith MAX does a good job and idle and partial load, but under sustained workloads it can become distinctly audible at times. 

I didn't know this, maybe a U12A then?

[Kilrah]

SW doesn't care much about GPU being workstation or gaming, and anyway it's not what's going to limit you much. The GPU is only used in rendering angle changes of an already "processed" model aka when you look around and reorient it. That's rarely a problem, a good old 970 works perfectly for it, what's gonna take most of your time and often frustrate you when working in it is reconstructing, and that's... a freaking single-core process (unfortunately for pretty obvious reasons). So for SW what you want is best possible single-core performance, regardless of their posted recommended specs that mention high end Quadros and don't talk about the CPU beyond it "having to" be a Xeon for some reason, although Xeons typically are multi-core-load optimized with ironically poor single thread performance... whoever writes those has no freaking idea of what they're talking about.

[Streetguru]

36 minutes ago, niculw said:

Here i was looking at efficiency at given load, to not waste power, yes it is way over the top. But for work i would say certified reliablity over good reviews. Maybe im wrong.

A good gold unit will be like 99.99% reliable already, platinum/titanium is maybe <5% more efficient at a given load, probably closer to 1-2% on average, and is like 99.999% reliable

 

for rough comparisons. But if you had to run 100 or 1000 platinum/titanium units, it's going to matter more.

An RX 580 8GB is likely fine for GPU acceleration and is ~$100 EUR used. If you get into blender or other rendering you want multiple GPUs with higher amounts of VRAM preferably. Assuming the software can make use of that many GPUs, it would also ignore crossfire/sli.
 

 

[niculw]

3 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

If you get into blender or other rendering you want

No blender, no rendering. Basically only viewport performance

[Streetguru]

Just now, niculw said:

No blender, no rendering. Basically only viewport performance

Then ya you shouldn't need much unless you are doing massively complex models or something.

Maybe a used Vega 56 at most, because it can extend it's VRAM, and it's just a decent compute card in general.


Wish someone would just make a CAD overhaul for blender.

[TVwazhere]

37 minutes ago, niculw said:

FirePro over the Radeon Pro line?

Sorry, Radeon Pro. FirePro was phased out a few years ago.

39 minutes ago, niculw said:

I didn't know this, maybe a U12A then?

A U12A, while arguably the best 120mm CPU cooler on the market currently in terms of noise to performance, would probably be a bit overkill for a R7 3800x that wont be OC'd. The U12S or Dark Rock 4 Would both perform admirably, but if you want max performance and future readiness (say, she gets the R9 3900 or 3950x) then the U12A would be a good cooler for that as well (though we dont have many Air cooled 3950x references to go off for sources).

[niculw]

1 hour ago, TVwazhere said:

Sorry, Radeon Pro. FirePro was phased out a few years ago.

Haha no problem, they released radeon pro w5700, im kinda hoping for a refresh of the other cards with RDNA, but might not happen  

1 hour ago, TVwazhere said:

if you want max performance and future readiness (say, she gets the R9 3900 or 3950x) then the U12A would be a good cooler for that as well

Yeah that was what i was thinking, so she can keep it current for as long as possible, also why i only populate 2/4 ram slots and 1 pcie socket

i think im going balls to the wall for cooling due to define c constriction, going with a U12A, and 3x A12x25 PWM case fans.

 

On top of this ill move to Reds instead of consumer tier hdd. 
 

Also i realize the titanium PSU might be abit over the top, moving to a Fractal Design ion+ 760 platinum  

 

Thus ending with: 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/HpcNPn

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3800X 3.9 GHz 8-Core Processor  (€389.00 @ Mindfactory) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U12A 60.09 CFM CPU Cooler  (€99.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI ATX AM4 Motherboard  (€199.00 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Memory: G.Skill Trident Z 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory  (€153.62 @ Mindfactory) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (€104.93 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Storage: Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€119.89 @ Alternate) 
Storage: Western Digital Red 4 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  (€119.89 @ Alternate) 
Video Card: AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100 8 GB Video Card  (€400.00 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case: Fractal Design Define C ATX Mid Tower Case  (€86.89 @ Alternate) 
Power Supply: Fractal Design Ion+ 760 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  (€129.90 @ Caseking) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  (€29.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  (€29.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM 60.1 CFM 120 mm Fan  (€29.90 @ Amazon Deutschland) 
Total: €1892.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-20 01:49 CET+0100

[Streetguru]

2 hours ago, niculw said:

 

https://techgage.com/article/amd-radeon-pro-w5700-performance-review/


This also goes over like every X570 board.

 

[brob]

The Dark Rock Pro 4 is less expensive and slightly better than the NH-U12A. 

 

Over current protections are set high on the Ion+ 760W psu.

[TVwazhere]

12 hours ago, niculw said:

Also i realize the titanium PSU might be abit over the top, moving to a Fractal Design ion+ 760 platinum  

Yeah I recently switched from a Bronze efficiency to a Platinum rated PSU in a system that's folding proteins for cancer research 24/7 (Project ITNOS) and the efficiency was noticeable on a power meter, but due to my relatively low kw/cent rate, it will take a long time to recover the cost of the unit. A plat to titanium efficiency jump will hardly be notable especially for a system that will most likely not be under full load for most of the day.