Minimum Recommended Specs?

[DevilishBooster]

A little while ago I started learning IT stuff on my own at home using Code Academy, but now I'm about to start actual structured courses through an education company. I'll be learning programming/coding, network administration, and possibly moving into CAD as well at a later point. My current rig is aimed towards gaming, so I'm thinking I'm going to build a separate computer to use just for my IT stuff. Since I know I'm going to be compiling code, running virtual desktops and other CPU intense tasks, I was wondering is anyone knows where I should start my parts picking process. Will I be ok with a 4 core CPU? Should I go higher? If I'm going to be compiling code and having multiple virtual machines running at one time, would it benefit me to spend the money on a high end Nvidia GC with lots of CUDA cores? Basically, since I'm just getting started on learning all this stuff, I can't answer my own questions. Lol. Also, I'm planning on making it as small a rig as possible and I'm going to make it an Intel rig since my current setup is AMD, and I really want to be able to compare the two types of systems for myself. Thanks in advance for the help.

[Zayzo]

A little while ago I started learning IT stuff on my own at home using Code Academy, but now I'm about to start actual structured courses through an education company. I'll be learning programming/coding, network administration, and possibly moving into CAD as well at a later point. My current rig is aimed towards gaming, so I'm thinking I'm going to build a separate computer to use just for my IT stuff. Since I know I'm going to be compiling code, running virtual desktops and other CPU intense tasks, I was wondering is anyone knows where I should start my parts picking process. Will I be ok with a 4 core CPU? Should I go higher? If I'm going to be compiling code and having multiple virtual machines running at one time, would it benefit me to spend the money on a high end Nvidia GC with lots of CUDA cores? Basically, since I'm just getting started on learning all this stuff, I can't answer my own questions. Lol. Also, I'm planning on making it as small a rig as possible and I'm going to make it an Intel rig since my current setup is AMD, and I really want to be able to compare the two types of systems for myself. Thanks in advance for the help.

Why not just sell your old system? 

[DevilishBooster]

Why not just sell your old system? 

Because I like it so far... And there's nothing wrong with having a gaming rig and then a rig for productivity.

Unless you want to buy my current rig....

[Zayzo]

Because I like it so far... And there's nothing wrong with having a gaming rig and then a rig for productivity.

Unless you want to buy my current rig....

I just think it'd be money saved. Having two rigs is kind of a pain in the butt tbh. Using one for all your needs is a much better experience imo 

Your call though. 

[Enderman]

why not just upgrade your gaming rig and use it for both...

[xQubeZx]

I would agree with the others on just having one, but if you were to do a second you would probably be fine with a 4 core i5 or i7 beacuse compiling code don't take that much power usally and I don't think you will run that many virtual machines (and if you do probably not so powerful ones) And for GPU you probably wont need a super powerful one either (maybe a gtx 950) But I don't really know whats good like I do this stuff on my system and its not a super beast system but more like a gaming rig. (Would recoomend 16gb of ram for multitasking though)

[DevilishBooster]

why not just upgrade your gaming rig and use it for both...

 

I just think it'd be money saved. Having two rigs is kind of a pain in the butt tbh. Using one for all your needs is a much better experience imo 

Your call though. 

In order for me to "upgrade" my current rig I would have to buy new mobo, CPU, and GC. Basically most of what I need to build a second system. Besides, I never said I wasn't going to sell my current rig, I just am looking at having 2 different systems right now. And having one more rig will just be a drop in the bucket because I have 5 older computers set up in my work area that I have used to messing around with Linux Distros and older Win OSs for fun (along with enough parts to build at least another 5 older systems). Right now I'm just trying to plan out the Intel systems targeted towards my IT studies, whether or not I sell my current rig.

 

My current rig is:

ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer Mobo

AMD FX-6350 Black Edition CPU

8GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 1866MHz DDR3

Sapphire Dual-X R9 280 OC Edition

Intel 530 Series m.2 OS SSD 180GB

2 Crucial M550 Series 256GB in RAID 0

3 Storage HDDs

Win 8.1 Pro

[DevilishBooster]

I would agree with the others on just having one, but if you were to do a second you would probably be fine with a 4 core i5 or i7 beacuse compiling code don't take that much power usally and I don't think you will run that many virtual machines (and if you do probably not so powerful ones) And for GPU you probably wont need a super powerful one either (maybe a gtx 950) But I don't really know whats good like I do this stuff on my system and its not a super beast system but more like a gaming rig. (Would recoomend 16gb of ram for multitasking though)

Yeah, I was already calculating that I'm going to need more RAM, more than I would need a super powerful CPU.

[Scia]

I just think it'd be money saved. Having two rigs is kind of a pain in the butt tbh. Using one for all your needs is a much better experience imo 

Your call though. 

 

I disagree, separating work and play is something I always do [MBP Work, Tower gaming] helps you getting into work mode and has really improved my productivity.

[Zayzo]

I disagree, separating work and play is something I always do [MBP Work, Tower gaming] helps you getting into work mode and has really improved my productivity.

That's more of a personal thing. I don't have that issue. 

[DevilishBooster]

I disagree, separating work and play is something I always do [MBP Work, Tower gaming] helps you getting into work mode and has really improved my productivity.

Exactly. If I'm doing schoolwork and need to focus, and I have all my games on the same rig, with my ADD it's very likely that I will get distracted easily and not get enough work done.

I just think it'd be money saved. Having two rigs is kind of a pain in the butt tbh. Using one for all your needs is a much better experience imo 

Your call though. 

[xQubeZx]

Yeah, I was already calculating that I'm going to need more RAM, more than I would need a super powerful CPU.

Alright, well if you are going to CAD you will want a decent CPU otherwise it wont be fun. So I would reccomend atleast a i5 but really an i7 or a low end xeon would be optimal for CAD. For virtual machines more cores and threads are always better so if you are going to have a couple of VM they will benefit of the i7 or the Xeon. The code compiling will work on almost everything. A GPU like the 950 would be a decent choice beacuse you get some CUDA cores but if you don't intend on gaming or doing heavy 3d modeling (game design) you wont need more than a gtx 950 probably not even that. Then for RAM you want at least 16gb of RAM but if you are going to have lots of VM's you might even want more. 

 

Then really you would want two screens. Its really much better to code when you can spread it all out and I think the most workload you intend to do benefit from that. (That would also be a reason for the 950)

[DevilishBooster]

Alright, well if you are going to CAD you will want a decent CPU otherwise it wont be fun. So I would reccomend atleast a i5 but really an i7 or a low end xeon would be optimal for CAD. For virtual machines more cores and threads are always better so if you are going to have a couple of VM they will benefit of the i7 or the Xeon. The code compiling will work on almost everything. A GPU like the 950 would be a decent choice beacuse you get some CUDA cores but if you don't intend on gaming or doing heavy 3d modeling (game design) you wont need more than a gtx 950 probably not even that. Then for RAM you want at least 16gb of RAM but if you are going to have lots of VM's you might even want more. 

 

Then really you would want two screens. Its really much better to code when you can spread it all out and I think the most workload you intend to do benefit from that. (That would also be a reason for the 950)

Thanks.

That's is all in the direction that I was thinking, I just wanted to check. Nothing worse than building a whole new rig, only to find out that it's not up to the task/what you needed. Lol. I'll take a look at the i7s and see what would be in my price range.