WORKSTATION BUILD HELP

[john101]

Hey, I'm looking to build a workstation designed for engineering with programs in mind such as Auto-cad. It needs to be able to crunch numbers really fast as my current Workstation needs around 8-10 hours to do analysis reports and render 3D drawings. I have usually around 8 programs opened at once so multitasking is quite essential to keep in mind for my next build. 

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend me specs for the build as I need to get one ASAP.  I have a current budget of $3000 AU.   

Thank You in advance  

 

EDIT

These are some of the programs I use on a daily basis:

• AutoCad
• Revit
• ETABS
• Strand7
• SPACE GASS
• RC Building
• PT 3D
• Slabs
• Drains
• Robot Structures Software

[slightlyjaded]

Okay 3k AUD does limit things otherwise I'd recommend mine with a firepro instead of the 980...

 

I can't recommend x99 enough though, anytime crunching numbers is involved x99 will romp over the competitors. I would recommend the 5930 at this price point. You're not going to get an actual workstation board at this price point, but even the consumer boards on x99 are compatible with industry grade cards in most cases.

 

After you paying for the cpu, DDR4 ram, and a baller SSD, I'd recommend you salvaging as much as you can from your current rig.... and then upgrade what you can afford.

[ClownFace1511]

Maybe look at a Quadro for cad? It has good support.

[slightlyjaded]

The 5930 doesn't really have much of an advantage besides extra PCI-e lanes, better off with a 5820 to save some $$$.

While It is just my opinion and I'm very old, and old school. It is my opinion that the hardest parts to upgrade in any rig are (in order) The motherboard, the cpu, and the boot drive (The last is just because it's time consuming, and annoying, no other reason) While a baller graphics card is nice, it's essentially a writeoff when you do upgrade. Whereas I feel spending money on core components at the initial build will save you money in the long run. Yes I agree the 5820k is better value for money initially, I feel it is a bad investment for anyone that might want to invest later within the x99 platform.

[slightlyjaded]

I would disagree, the ONLY difference between the 5930K and 5820K is a slight clockspeed difference 3.5GHz vs 3.3GHz (I this is an insignificant difference considering they both have Turbo boost.) and fewer PCI-e lanes 40 vs 28, unless he is investing in 4-way SLI than he would be better off not buying the 5930K.

Yes but as a workstation build, He's probably going to have a few esoteric components. with x99 I'd always assume at least a x16 graphics card, and a M.2 SSD....That's 20 lanes used up before they get to any of the hardware they need to use as part of their business. Unless they have clearly outlines specs as part of their job quotes I don't consider 8+4(pCIe gen2.0 lanes) enough of a buffer)

 

As I said personal opinion, and it's usually better to outline your reasons for your opinion. I'd like to hear your reasons why 28 lanes is enough... I'm not disagreeing, In some cases the 5820 is more than enough.

[slightlyjaded]

In my opinion 28 PCI-e gen 3 lanes are more than enough, and going down to 8x or lower doesn't effect performance on most add-in cards. I'm currently running 2 GPUs and a wireless PCI-e card with only 20-Lanes, 40 Lanes seems unnecessary unless I'm going to be doing something insane. Besides what other PCI-e devices will he be using?

I figure we're giving advice, we should give our reasons.

 

As for other devices....RAID cards, sound cards (different I know but they could be a sound recording proffessional) A Tesla for discrete computing, they might need thunderbolt connectivity because everyone else is using a fricking Mac.

[slightlyjaded]

Here's a good video, it demonstrates GPU performance when not running in full 16x mode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rctaLgK5stA

It's a video describing graphics performance in game....Something that is sort of not limited by x8-x16....A workstation using a graphics card for compute performance can saturate an x16 PCIe gen 3.0. Just my opinion.

[slightlyjaded]

Good points and I agree, but john101 hasn't implied that he uses any of the aforementioned add-in cards so would it not be easier to assume that because he hasn't mention it that he won't using them?

 

 

Hey, I'm looking to build a workstation designed for engineering with programs in mind such as Auto-cad. It needs to be able to crunch numbers really fast as my current Workstation needs around 8-10 hours to do analysis reports and render 3D drawings. I have usually around 8 programs opened at once so multitasking is quite essential to keep in mind for my next build. 

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend me specs for the build as I need to get one ASAP.  I have a current budget of $3000 AU.   

Thank You in advance  

Good point, and I agree.....

 

OP we need more info. What hardware are you using now? What programs do you want to use? And what time upgrades do you really want to achieve versus the price difference? I'm sure we can build a decentish x99 computer for about 2-2.5 AUD. The extra upgrades will be spent of a quicker render time.

[slightlyjaded]

Well not necessarily, PCI-e is just an interconnect. all the raw computing is done on the GPU and sent to the CPU via PCI-e.  Even in purely synthetic GPU tests it doesn't produce any meaningful impact on performance.

While I do agree that for a gamer there is no difference (we run SLI). In a single card workstation build running 3D rendering or CAD programs you can saturate that x16 connection. If you start talking about twin independent graphics cards then that's way more than the base x99 chip can handle. At 3k spent it's a bit of a stretch to think it could saturate that many lanes, and I'd assume you're correct, but I always build my computers with an eye to later upgrades.  As I stated earlier, 5820 is probably more than enough, but I feel more comfortable recommending the 5930.