New Computer for AutoCad 2011 (spec review please)

[rubberdown]

Hi All, I am hoping to build the following configuration for use with AutoCad 2011. My budget is around NZ$2000. Would the specs below be good use? Critiques' most welcome 🙂 Monitor = LG W2343T = 278.99 Motherboard = Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD3 = 244.67 CPU = Intel Core i7 2600 3.4GHz Socket 1155 Box = 454.92 ATX Case = Antec Three Hundred (Black) = 84.38 Power Supply = Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650W = 156.48 OS = Win 7 Pro = 199 Video Card = nVidia Quadro PCI-E FX 380 512MB = 267 Memory = Hynix DDR3 PC10660/1333MHz 4GB x2 = 137.88 Hard drive = Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 64MB 1TB = 129 (Also attached) nb. The prices above are in NZ$. Thanks much!

[Anonymous]

2 things. Quadro cards are not required for Autocad any more. Better choices abound. especially with more on-board memory, whch can become important if you ever add a second monitor. 8gb memory is on the low side for a system at that power level.

[Anonymous]

You really don't need a terabyte hard drive, unless it's going into a server, or you game or listen to lots of music, or videos or have photography as a hobby.  The Black caviar branding are fairly solid, but I'd look to spend a similar amount of money on a Veliciraptor 300 to 600 gig HD.

Also, is the LG monitor 23"?  For real production work, one really needs two monitors.  You might get by well with a single 32", but the progam menus have bloated to such an extent that two monitors of 24" size are pretty much necessarry, unless you want to spend all your time panning & zooming, or are used to doing scrimshaw on a postage stamp.  (Sorry, but as my eyes get older, I find more monitor really helps).

Reid

[Anonymous]

Funny how the old 19 inch monitors had more usable area than a widescreen 22 inch. Problem is that so many of the menus using classic interface need to be horizontal, and the ribbon interface is also horizontal which leaves you with a working area that isn't proportioned the same as the paper sizes we all use. I have 2 old style 19's

[rubberdown]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I will look to put more RAM and also see if I can get another monitor perhaps.

In terms of the Graphics cards my concern is that it needs to work well with AutoCad 2011 so the Quadro is pretty much the only well recommended card thats mentioned in these forums often enough. I don't see an Autodesk supported list of cards so its a bit hard to know which 'range' of cards I can purchase(?)

[Anonymous]

see http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/hc?siteID=123112&id=6711853&linkID=9240618 for graphics card compatibility. 2011 doesn't need OpenGL.

[rubberdown]

Thanks for the list Namssurt. I filtered by Certified cards. Supported, Recommended. AutoCad 2011, Windows 7 64bit.

Then I search for AMD and NVIDIA cards. In NZ we use this very popular website which gives a cumulative view of multiple Computer retailers.

Once filtered, I got the following list for :

AMD: http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?k=350#rparams=l=s66286434

and

NVIDIA: http://pricespy.co.nz/category.php?l=s66286339&cols=532,531,6716&o=produkt_pris_inkmoms

From the above lists it appears to me that the NVIDIA Quadro 380 & NVIDIA Quadro 580 would still be the most reasonable buy (compared to the FirePro/FireGL brands of AMD) - let me know if any other suggestions? The Radeon range I could not find as the model numbers were not the same/similar as on the AutoCad list. The product selection in NZ might not be as great as in some of the other countries which is a problem too.

[Anonymous · Accepted solution]

Don't limit yourself to certified cards. The certification is meaningless on ACAD 2011 and is a remnant from when OpenGL was a necessity. Once you search all tested cards it will open up a lot of extra choices, many with check plus ratings, and the non-Quadro, non-FireGL cards are significantly cheaper.

[rubberdown]

I will lookout for other brands - It has helped to have a few experts 'look over' the specs before I start purchasing. Thank you.

[pendean]

Why limit yourself to a horizontal top-of-screen RIBBON location? Move it, it's designed to be flexible.

or

Why limit yourself to a horizontal Ribbon with all Panel Button visible? Since you want to use classic "all things hidden", do the same with the Ribbon.

Curious how we all sometimes allow ourselves to be limited by the OOTB look of applications 🙂

[rubberdown]

Hi Pandean, I do not follow. Are you talking about settings within AutoCad that allows configuration of menu items? How is that related to the Computer Specs (above)? Thanks

[Anonymous]

he is replying to my comments about how wide screens don't work as well as older 4:3 ratio screens.

[Sinc]

I've tested a GeForce 9600 GT and Quadro 580 side-by-side, and could discern no difference in Civil 3D, except the Quadro cost more than twice as much.

[rubberdown]

I have found the Radeon HD4850 =$251 and GeForce GTX260 =$265 to be supported, tested. The only issue is that on the Graphics Hardware List the version are older than the current latest version on the Manufactures site.

i.e. in the Hardware list in comments its got: AMD refers to driver 8.14.0010.708 as ATI Catalyst Driver Version 9.11
but the current version is Catalyst Version 11.2!

Would it be a problem if I were to use the latest version of the drivers?

(the other problem is that I cannot find the older version drivers)

[rubberdown]

Unfortunately I have not found a GeForce 9600 GT in a store in NZ otherwise I would have ordered it! 🙂

[Anonymous]

With a little studying you can find out that the functionality level of the architecture of the 9600 is the same as the 9700 and 9500 for example and the major difference is the speed. So if you can find a 9500 or 9700 you will probably find that it will be equivalent in its compatibility rating even if it runs slightly slower or faster.

[rubberdown]

Hi namssurt,

Yes that is a good suggestion - however I have not been able to find similar series here.

I have only the (attached) list to choose from - based on all the NVIDIA and AMD cards from the Autodesk site and within my price range and in stock.

Based on that I might just go for the Radeon HD4850. Although I would be tempted to go for a 1GB card too.

[Anonymous]

I don't know if you noticed, but every Nvidia card is check plus rated. I will warn you that most are GTS cards and the GTS is the slowest of any given model series. I believe that the GTS 250 cards offered will perform all functions at a reasonable speed, but improvement is available by moving to a 260 or better.  As for the HD4850, it is part of the HD 4800 series, and the whole series is rated check plus, so there should be no problems there.