Workstation build dilemma

[le Kennane]

Hey guys, 

I am an architecture student working in a rather tight budget (500-600 USD) to get the best bang for the buck in terms of the performance and portability of a device. First of all, I am not sure whether I should go for a laptop or a pc build machine, because I usually take my work with me when I leave home from uni , which is every  week or two.

I use programs such as AutoCAD, Revit, Photoshop, Rhino, Lumion, 3ds Max, ArchiCAD etc. so it would be used for 3D rendering and conceptual design, oh and for the occasional gaming session or two. 

Also, sometimes laptops are in use within classes for  "on the fly" demonstrations, in which I use my current laptop ( a shitty HP 250 G3 ), and I felt that a change was inevitable because the workload gets larger and larger.

My biggest dilemma is contained within the price to performance ratio - If I decide to get a pc, I lose the portability aspect, and if I get the laptop, there is no possibility for an upgrade, the performance is worse and I'll probably end up overpaying the entire thing. I was thinking of maybe upgrading my current laptop with additional sticks of RAM, and going with the pc build. 

You can find an example of what I was thinking of here: http://www.userbenchmark.com/PCBuilder/Custom/S50944-M258318.188434.19175.169682.47004vsS0-M?tab=CPU

I look forward to hearing your comments, especially from architects/graphics designers/people involved in 3d design!

[Firewrath9]

Faster ram, 3000 or so, more hdd space, mabye 1-2 TB, mabye a low end quadro

[Ruo94]

As a fellow architect student, I understand the struggle. 
If you are on a budget, I'd say get a decent laptop instead. You wouldn't do heavy rendering until much later (but that depends on the school doh). I think that kind of setup can benefit you more, since it allows you to spend more time in your studio. 

I built myself a PC 4.5 years ago on ~1.4k CAD and it served me well for the entire time. However I still had to get myself an ok laptop (~800cad, i7 6th gen, 8gb ram, iGPU). I ended up using my laptop a lot more during school year. It didnt have the same speed and power, but i felt it saved me time because i was much more productive in my studio. 

[le Kennane]

16 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

Faster ram, 3000 or so, more hdd space, mabye 1-2 TB, mabye a low end quadro

I looked at the performance in the programs mentioned above with low end quadros and the gtx 1050 ti, and they had almost the same performance but the gtx was 30% cheaper. Also, additional space and ram is something that can always be managed, but since I'm on a tight budget, I had to cut corners somewhere... 

[Blasteque]

@le Kennane

I would also recommend upgrading your laptop where you can and building a PC like you outlined.  You'll keep using the PC for years and the laptop will get replaced after you graduate.

6 minutes ago, Firewrath9 said:

Faster ram, 3000 or so, more hdd space, mabye 1-2 TB, mabye a low end quadro

Yes, hard drives are cheap, go for 1-2 TB.  As for quadro, although I understand the thinking of use workstation graphics for a workstation, from my experience in using Solidworks, 3DsMax, and Solidworks Visualize, a decent gamer card will do fine.  Save the money.

[Firewrath9]

29 minutes ago, Blasteque said:

@le Kennane

I would also recommend upgrading your laptop where you can and building a PC like you outlined.  You'll keep using the PC for years and the laptop will get replaced after you graduate.

Yes, hard drives are cheap, go for 1-2 TB.  As for quadro, although I understand the thinking of use workstation graphics for a workstation, from my experience in using Solidworks, 3DsMax, and Solidworks Visualize, a decent gamer card will do fine.  Save the money.

if you watched linuses do you need a xeon and a quadro, even a p1000 will outperform a 1080 ti. a p400 or p600 are good budget cards

i love this video, a 580 would work too or a 570/560.

 

[le Kennane]

Hey guys, 

I found these two laptops as good offers online, and I'd like to get your opinion on them : 

1.) HP zBook 

specs: 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4800MQ 2,70 GHz
Ram: 32 GB DDR3
SSD: 512 GB

VGA: Nvidia Quadro K1100M 2GB 

Display: 15,6'' 1920x1080

Webcam,Wi-Fi, DVD-RW

 

2.) Acer E17 

specs: 

CPU: Intel Core i7-7500u 2,70 GHz
Ram: 16 GB DDR4
HDD: 1 TB

VGA: Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M 2GB

Display: 17,3'' 1920x1080 Full HD

[Ruo94]

What are the specs?
I would always go for the first 1 because of the SSD. also, the zBook can be used as a pen/tablet configuration when you wanna photoshop so thats a plus (i would personally use that a lot)

[Blasteque]

@le Kennane

The larger display will make a big difference to you.  That said, the SSD will also make a big difference.  How easily can you add an SSD to the Acer?

[le Kennane]

27 minutes ago, Blasteque said:

@le Kennane

The larger display will make a big difference to you.  That said, the SSD will also make a big difference.  How easily can you add an SSD to the Acer?

Not sure if physically possible at all...