A PC For AutoDesk Revit - Custom or Prebuilt?

[PowerBeard]

Being a Mac guy (helping out a friend) and venturing into the water of Windows machines I am leery of buying a prebuilt machine.

 

That being said, I am not sure the work load requires going through the trouble of building from scratch.

 

AutoDesk says the system requirements for CAD & Revit are basically, "Highest affordable CPU speed rating recommended" and the RAM needs to be no less than 4GB.

 

The video card is more specific. They only list 5 cards that are "Certified" to work with this version of Revit.

 

• AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100    
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100
• Radeon Pro WX 4100
• Radeon Pro WX 5100
• Radeon Pro WX 7100

 

Beyond that, the standard stuff would be needed, 250GB SSD, maybe a 1TB second drive.

 

Any ideas on a prebuilt machine with one of those video cards?

 

Or a build list to make one? 

 

Budget for either must be at or below $1300

[TurbulentWinds]

15 minutes ago, PowerBeard said:

Being a Mac guy (helping out a friend) and venturing into the water of Windows machines I am leery of buying a prebuilt machine.

 

That being said, I am not sure the work load requires going through the trouble of building from scratch.

 

AutoDesk says the system requirements for CAD & Revit are basically, "Highest affordable CPU speed rating recommended" and the RAM needs to be no less than 4GB.

 

The video card is more specific. They only list 5 cards that are "Certified" to work with this version of Revit.

 

• AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100    
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100
• Radeon Pro WX 4100
• Radeon Pro WX 5100
• Radeon Pro WX 7100

 

Beyond that, the standard stuff would be needed, 250GB SSD, maybe a 1TB second drive.

 

Any ideas on a prebuilt machine with one of those video cards?

 

Or a build list to make one? 

 

Budget for either must be at or below $1300

I'll get on that, give me a minute. ..

[PowerBeard]

Looking at what Puget Systems suggests my budget is WAY LOW.

 

I guess I'm looking at $3000?????

[TurbulentWinds]

Just now, PowerBeard said:

Looking at what Puget Systems suggests my budget is WAY LOW.

 

I guess I'm looking at $3000?????

I don't think so . . . You should be easily able to pull it off for $1300

[TurbulentWinds]

I think Ryzen is going to be a better bet for you because of the workload nature. I don't have much AMD experience tho so have someone check my work

[TurbulentWinds]

And never mind, the above looks good.

[DailyProcrastinator]

Someone had a similar question yesterday here is the thread link:

 

[DailyProcrastinator]

23 minutes ago, PowerBeard said:

Being a Mac guy (helping out a friend) and venturing into the water of Windows machines I am leery of buying a prebuilt machine.

 

That being said, I am not sure the work load requires going through the trouble of building from scratch.

 

AutoDesk says the system requirements for CAD & Revit are basically, "Highest affordable CPU speed rating recommended" and the RAM needs to be no less than 4GB.

 

The video card is more specific. They only list 5 cards that are "Certified" to work with this version of Revit.

 

• AMD Radeon Pro WX 2100    
• AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100
• Radeon Pro WX 4100
• Radeon Pro WX 5100
• Radeon Pro WX 7100

 

Beyond that, the standard stuff would be needed, 250GB SSD, maybe a 1TB second drive.

 

Any ideas on a prebuilt machine with one of those video cards?

 

Or a build list to make one? 

 

Budget for either must be at or below $1300

I personally primarily use my main computer for cad as well, it is overkill but a good 4-6 core processor is a good option and depending on the level of designs you do 16GB of RAM should be enough. Cad files in use can take up lots of RAM though, so if you have multiple designs open at once you may need 32GB, for now start with 16GB. You will also not need a very high-end graphics card at all. Unless you also want to game I recommend a GTX 1050 Ti.

 

Fortunately, you have a good budget at $1300 so I would go for a Ryzen 7 1700.

[brob]

 

Just now, PowerBeard said:

Looking at what Puget Systems suggests my budget is WAY LOW.

 

I guess I'm looking at $3000?????

Not necessarily. 

 

If you used the recommended hardware tool and asked about Revit 2018 only AMD gpu are listed. I suspect this is because they are in the process of certifying hardware. Ask about Revit 2017 and Quadro gpu are included.

 

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Revit-2018-CPU-Comparison-1002/ suggests an Intel cpu will offer the best Revit performance.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($319.89 @ B&H) 
Motherboard: Asus - Prime Z370-P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($139.89 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($148.55 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($98.94 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: PNY - Quadro P2000 5GB Video Card  ($409.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Corsair - 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($56.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($52.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1227.23
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-18 19:51 EDT-0400

[DailyProcrastinator]

If it specifies for a Radeon WX card this is a great option, I would not go for a Intel CPU, go Ryzen 7, way better performance for the money spent.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/QkCztJ