Engineering Workstation Components

[sgill15]

Budget (including currency): $500

Country: USA

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: CAD programs (Solidworks mainly), MATLab, Simulink, MS Suite/general workstation usage, Light-gaming at 1080p at the most, potentially in the future physics simulations like CFD

Other details (inherited an older desktop from a family member. I have everything I need, but I will need a new cpu, motherboard, and gpu to run the programs I need to run): 

 

Hi, I inherited an older desktop from a family member, and I plan to upgrade it to use it as my CAD workstation at home. I am moving into my senior year of engineering and will need to do extensive modeling in solidworks for my senior design. I also plan to have this be a useable system for other engineering work if necessary down the line. I am definitely needing to upgrade the cpu (and motherboard) and gpu.

 

In terms of CPU: Right now, I am not going to be doing any extensive physics simulations, and so I am fairly certain that I am mostly limited by single core performance. My plan is to buy a lower-core cpu with high clock speeds (to save a buck) with the potential to upgrade later (with the same motherboard) to a higher core, better performance cpu. My plan is to go I3 13100, and then if necessary, later upgrade to the 13600, 137001 or 13900 if required. My main goal is to have useable performance but being as relatively cheap as possible. However, if I can get a better/newer component for just a small bump in price, I'm totally ok with that. For instance, the price difference between the 12100 and the 13100 is like $10-20 when I looked at it, so I think the 13100 is the better option. Does this seem reasonable? Any alternatives that I'm totally missing? I recognize older cpus might be great value and be great for me right now, but I am trying to give myself the option to upgrade down the line without replacing my motherboard, so I figured keeping it lga 1700 would be good. Thoughts?

 

In terms of GPU: I'm really lost. I know almost nothing about workstation cards, and I've had trouble finding good breakdowns and reviews of the relative performance between different cards, which series are current, which models are entry level, etc. All the channels I follow like LTT haven't done good videos on this that I could find in like 5+ years. Right now, I'm happy keeping it very entry level, so these seem to be the 5 cards I've seen be in my budget and performance range. the P400, P620, T400, T600, and W6400. From these, I think that the T600 and W6400 are the best (I could be totally wrong, though), with the W6400 being slightly better and cheaper. I understand that the P400 is the cheapest of these (around $140 I've seen), but I'm comfortable spending up to the $200 to $250 price range and getting the best I can (and upgrading later when I get that engineering money). Is the W6400 the best option for me? If I'm totally off the mark, please let me know. I feel lost with not knowing what to look for and not seeing any great performance comparisons in the use cases I'm going to be working in. (BTW, gaming is not really a priority in any sense, but I would like to partake occasionally. I've seen people try some of these (T600 and W6400) for gaming, and the performance is beyond suitable for me. Pretty much, if some games can run reasonably well at medium settings 1080p, I'm happy)

 

Thank you for any help you can give! I hope I've done enough research to justify asking for help at this point. 

[SorryBella]

39 minutes ago, sgill15 said:

inherited an older desktop from a family member

No info on the specs? You really should because a lot of old desktop parts still holds up thanks to the ATX standard.

[sgill15]

10 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

No info on the specs? You really should because a lot of old desktop parts still holds up thanks to the ATX standard.

The rest of the specs all definitely hold up! The motherboard, cpu, and gpu definitely do not. The CPU is a 2 core AMD from well before the Ryzen days. The gpu is awful and is worse than even integrated graphics. I suppose I will need to get ram as well since the ram I have is DDR3, but I'm not too worried about that.

[SorryBella]

1 minute ago, sgill15 said:

The rest of the specs all definitely hold up! The motherboard, cpu, and gpu definitely do not. The CPU is a 2 core AMD from well before the Ryzen days. The gpu is awful and is worse than even integrated graphics. I suppose I will need to get ram as well since the ram I have is DDR3, but I'm not too worried about that.

Oh, yikes. But yeah $500 isnt that workable for all new parts, are you fine with some used? Also, PSU and case model. We gotta calculate if it fits.

[brob]

Without knowing details of the existing system it is not reasonable to make suggestions for new parts.

 

1 hour ago, sgill15 said:

My plan is to go I3 13100, and then if necessary, later upgrade to the 13600, 137001 or 13900 if required.

 

Not reasonable. While a motherboard suitable for an i9-13900 will comfortably handle an i3-13100, the converse is not true. The same holds for PSU and CPU cooler.

[sgill15]

5 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

Oh, yikes. But yeah $500 isnt that workable for all new parts, are you fine with some used? Also, PSU and case model. We gotta calculate if it fits.

Yep, its a full ATX case, so everything should fit good (I have no idea what model though). Absolutely, I'm counting on some of the components being used or refurbished. The PSU is a 500W Gold, so I think entry level components will work fine. I don't intend to do any overclocking or anything like that, so that shouldn't be an issue. $500 is what I was thinking for an average range. I don't have a set budget. I was thinking 250 for both the motherboard and CPU and around 250 for the GPU. 

[sgill15]

1 minute ago, brob said:

Without knowing details of the existing system it is not reasonable to make suggestions for new parts.

 

 

Not reasonable. While a motherboard suitable for an i9-13900 will comfortably handle an i3-13100, the converse is not true. The same holds for PSU and CPU cooler.

Hmm, I don't see why a LGA 1700 motherboard wouldn't work for both a 13100 and a 13900. I've never seen anything indicating that I would need to upgrade motherboards within the same generation of CPU from LTT videos. Regardless though, I don't think I will end up with a 13900 in the future. I just mentioned it as a possibility. I'm anticipating upgrading to a 13700 in the future. I would certainly have to upgrade the PSU and cooler if I do that though, I completely agree. 

[SorryBella]

Just now, sgill15 said:

The PSU is a 500W Gold, so I think entry level components will work fine.

Yeah not knowing what model is it its hard to know if theyll deliver said 500W reliably. Not like 500W is a lot of power budget in the modern times. If you mainly do solidworks, id definitely go for a brand new A2000 or used P5000 first, which should be runable on 500W. And then you can update the CPU later on to this.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-13700 2.1 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($349.99 @ Best Buy) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($46.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock B660 Steel Legend ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($119.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($56.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Gigabyte UD750GM 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ B&H) 
Total: $663.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-22 23:09 EDT-0400

[sgill15]

3 minutes ago, SorryClaire said:

Yeah not knowing what model is it its hard to know if theyll deliver said 500W reliably. Not like 500W is a lot of power budget in the modern times. If you mainly do solidworks, id definitely go for a brand new A2000 or used P5000 first, which should be runable on 500W. And then you can update the CPU later on to this.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-13700 2.1 GHz 16-Core Processor  ($349.99 @ Best Buy) 
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler  ($46.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock B660 Steel Legend ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($119.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($56.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Gigabyte UD750GM 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($89.99 @ B&H) 
Total: $663.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-22 23:09 EDT-0400

Thanks, I'll keep this in mind.

[brob]

47 minutes ago, sgill15 said:

Yep, its a full ATX case, so everything should fit good (I have no idea what model though). Absolutely, I'm counting on some of the components being used or refurbished. The PSU is a 500W Gold, so I think entry level components will work fine. I don't intend to do any overclocking or anything like that, so that shouldn't be an issue. $500 is what I was thinking for an average range. I don't have a set budget. I was thinking 250 for both the motherboard and CPU and around 250 for the GPU. 

 

Any idea how old the PSU is and if it is 80+ rated?

 

How many fans are in the case? Is the PSU located in the top or bottom?

 

You will need at least a CPU, motherboard, memory, and GPU.

 

41 minutes ago, sgill15 said:

Hmm, I don't see why a LGA 1700 motherboard wouldn't work for both a 13100 and a 13900.

 

The power delivery requirements of a 4 core i3-13100 and a 14 core i5-13600, let alone a 16 core i7-13700 or 24 core i9-13900 are very different. 

 

This system meets the budget but with some notes. Upgrading beyond an i5-13500 is not reasonable. If you don't have an SSD the system will be painfully slow. If you must be under $500, change to a 2x8GB memory kit.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-13100 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($109.99 @ Best Buy) 
Motherboard: MSI PRO B760M-P DDR4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($116.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($52.97 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: AMD 100-506189 Radeon PRO W6400 4 GB Video Card  ($229.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $509.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-04-22 23:44 EDT-0400

 

47 minutes ago, sgill15 said:

The PSU is a 500W Gold

 

80+ Gold simply refers to the electrical efficiency of the unit. With few exceptions, I would hesitate to use a PSU more than 5 or 6 years old.