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New System Opinions

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Message 1 of 10
jimblim
1162 Views, 9 Replies

New System Opinions

I will be using Autocad Mech, Inventor, Showcase and a video editor, (Premier or Magix ProX). I have heard that Inventor and most video software uses or needs good openGL drivers to run excellent. A $320 dollar difference but what are the advantages/disadvantages for using 2d/3d Autocad with some inventor and some video editing/encoding?

 

I had 2 systems picked out,

GIGABYTE GA-X79-UP4 LGA2011 + 32gig mem

259.00 + 349.00 =  $608.00

 

A: Xeon E5-2630/40 cpu + Quadro 4000 or FirePro 7900

634.00 + 728.00/694.00  = $1375.00+/-

 

B: i7-3930K cpu + EVGA GTX 680 2GB

569.00 + 469.00  = $1038.00

 

System A: $1983.00 XEON

System B: $1646.00 I7

 

Probably spring for a 256 SSD for the main drive as well.

 

Any opinions???

 

I mainly use Autocad Mech,.. drawing in 2d and 3d. I am also novice inventor user and have many large videos I will be editing and making dvd's of (not sure about the software for that yet) I already have a case and pwr supply etc etc.

9 REPLIES 9
Message 2 of 10
entropist
in reply to: jimblim

That xeon cpu is only 2/3 as fast as the i7; it's not a very fair comparison, that i7 will be faster than that xeon.

 

I would carefully verify whether you need openGL or not... I only use civil and acad, so I can't help you there. That quadro 4000 is based on the gtx400 series chip, the gtx600 series is a much newer architecture. Overall 'workstation' cards are massively overpriced, and most don't even come with ecc memory anymore. Unless you truly need openGL, go with a 'gaming' card.

Message 3 of 10
dgorsman
in reply to: jimblim

Inventor is more DirectX these days, and the high-end Quadros like the 4000 are best suited for visualization software like Maya or 3DSMAX.  Not sure if your video editing software will make good use of it, since the point of the high-end video cards is to send objects rather than images to the card, and let the graphics processor figure out what things should look like on screen instead of the main processor.

----------------------------------
If you are going to fly by the seat of your pants, expect friction burns.
"I don't know" is the beginning of knowledge, not the end.


Message 4 of 10
jimblim
in reply to: jimblim

Thanks. I appreciate your responses.

 

 

Message 5 of 10
RaoulM
in reply to: jimblim

Hello jimblim,

 

mostly peoples are thinking they will build a very hardcore sorted rig and this sould do then the work for more programs or sofdtware suites, but this is only the half truth, please trust my words.

 

For Autodesk 3Ds Max and Maya 2013 it will be goo to have a Xeon based system with ECC/REG ram in usage, related to the system stability and then a nVidia Maximus setup to getting the most speed out of it and narrow down the render times or gaining up the performance. (Stability and performance)

 

But for building a video edition or video creation workstation, you need only realy hardcore power, more then other 

aplications this software need only one, pure power, not less or more power, I mean really the most power.

As an example: 

You are able to insert 64 GB of RAM into the GIGABYTE GA-X79-UP4, then please do so and take DDR3-1600.

Some friends of me, are using the GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD5 with 48 GB, because then they were able to insert DDR-2400 RAM, but only able to let the RAM run in DDR-1800 mode, to gaining up the performance little bit more!!! 

 

So the cpu should be the Intel Core i7 3970x and the RAM should be 64 GB DDR-1600 and nothing else and nothing less, for the video editing and creation. There are one insteresting RAM bundle for going this road.

Corsair DIMM 32 GB DDR3-1600 Quad-Kit 
(CMP32GX3M4X1600C10, Dominator)

4 x 8 GB RAM modules = 32 GB RAM DDR-1600 for 264,00 Euro

 

Both by you named software, CS6 Premiere and Magix Pro are using the nVIDIA maximus setup to reaching the maximum speed and the nVIDIA Maximus 2.0 is on the road, so if you can get cheap used hardware from artists or freelancers they need to update their workstations, you will go better by using nVIDIA Qaudro 5000 and Tesla C1060 or Tesla C2050. And let us see that usually Magix is not the first choice for video editing, but is also supporting in the pro version the nVIDIA Maximus setup, so it is perhaps the best choice to go this road.

 

If the money is not present at the time, you are also able to think about to finish this workstation step by step and 

not all at once time, but this is also more related to where and for what you are using this workstation.

Is this more for home use, are you a freelancer or is this more used for your main job you are working in? 

 

Let the colors shine.
Message 6 of 10
jimblim
in reply to: jimblim

I current draw existing machinery in 2d mainly for documentation and future fabrication sometimes changing designs as well. Then I draw the item in 3d mostly to verify everything fits but end up with additional 3d views in dwg for presentation purposes, I make a pdf and might add a fly around movie in showcase. Once in a while I also design from scratch but only in autocad for now, I tried teaching myself inventor... but .. it slowed my workflow immensly so I have put that off for now just to stay productive. (But I definately would love to be productive in Inventor!!)

 

As far as video editing,.. it will not be "professional" but...  stability and performance are crucial to me.

Adobe had that month to month subscription so I may go with Premier. I will be adding movies recorded with my Droid Razor and Kodak Zi8 and editing them and combining them to make videos. Most likely just for you tube but in high resolution as I can for quality. I also will add the video's made with Autodesk products like Showcase but those will be very short pesentations.

 

Message 7 of 10
RaoulM
in reply to: jimblim

Hello again jimblim,

 

pending on the main work you are doing with this machine or plain based on this machine I´ll guess

you the following: I will be better to orient on the main programs you are working together, to set up your new rig.

Likes an Intel Core i7 + 32 GB or 64 GB RAM + GIGABYTE GA-X79-UP4 

 

But to go with a nVIDIA Quadro 4000 card you never coming in trouble and later you are able to add an additional

Tesla graphics card if this is needed or two or three are also able to use if this is urgently needed!

 

The exactly point of view according the system stabillity is in my eyes not so clear in your case!

Speed and performance = Intel Core i7 + many and fast RAM

System stabillity = Intel Xeon E5 + ECC/REG RAM (can also be a whole bunch of ram, related to the mainboard specs.)

To mix now the both things brings you not the same as it is clearly defined one line above, please don`t forget this!

Please don´t think a Xeon compared with very fast DDR3-xxx ram brings you a fast and stabil system, this is 

guess work with no sense.

 

And by the way all other spare parts in this "game" should be also fitting the needs or must work well together with the entire set up! So surely you are able to go with a gaming graphics card, but this one you are not able to upgrade

later then and I think likes nVIDIA mentioning on their webpage a Quadro 2000 + a tesla card are driving out a 

Quadro 6000 easily! So you need also urgent to know, how great are the entire figures and models you have to place inside of the graphic card memory.

 

Good luck for you.

Let the colors shine.
Message 8 of 10
jimblim
in reply to: RaoulM

yea... the XEON 1660 compairs very well to the i7-3930.. but is about 2x the cost,...almost the same between EVGA 680 and Quadro 4000

 

A. Xeon 1660 (3.3 - 3.8 turbo) GA-X79-UP4, 32gig 1600 ECC memory - Quadro 4000

$2300.00

 

B. i7-3930 (3.2 - 3.7 turbo) GA-X79-UP4, 32gig memory - EVGA GTX680 2 or 4 gig

$1600.00

 

Could also buy A with the EVGA or B with the Quadro and it would be about 2k each system.

 

I use Autocad Mech 2013-showcase and inventor, I also edit video and record/edit music (large files) I only play one game (BF3) I currently use an HP Elitebook, 8740w, i7-920xm, 16gig memory, Quadro FX3800m (1gig memory) 120g SSD I can upgrade the video card for about 1k to a K4000m or 5000m. But would have to use ebay.

 

I appreciate any guidance or suggestions.

 

thanks

jim

 

Message 9 of 10
RaoulM
in reply to: jimblim

Hello again jimblim,

 

it is more a wish or a dream of all artists to own a "machine" this is fitting all of their needs, but this is also in my

eyes not seriously and on one or more side you should miss even something that is urgent needed.

 

In normal terms and cases I personally prefer to do two things:

- At first make it stable (workstation)

- At second make it fast (workstation)

 

So if I see the most software and system requirements that are needed or quite reconmended by Autodesk and Adobe

I am on the right side with my thinkink to build a stable and fast machine.

 

But in your case some angle points are existing in my opinion:

 

For video editing it can´t be fast and powerfull enough, but working on sound files will be using a huge amount of

RAM (memory) so for this you are right with going to build a machine on Intel Core i7 3970x and/or 32 or 64 GB RAM

and if this machine is fitting also the needs of the rest of your programs it´ll be the best to run those on this 

machine, to go this way.

 

But pending on my own meaning that at first something should be made stable and then it should be made fast

I prefer the dual Intel Xeon E5-26xx and ECC/REG variant in combination with nVIDIA Quadro + Tesla cards.

 

I haven´t found only one program from the whole Autodesk software that could not be served with those.

Why should I risk to have many point of failure and unkown issues when I must work and earn my money with this

machine or workstation?

 

I would have three machines if this is needed and also urgent to have, but mostly this is pending on the money 

someone is able and willing to spend on or for.

 

And at last if you see the pain to consider what should be inserted in your new workstation it should be perhaps better to think about what is mostly needed and then so on. 

Let the colors shine.
Message 10 of 10
jimblim
in reply to: RaoulM

Dual xeons and Tesla are out of the question unless I win the lottery. But for about 600.00 more then the i7, I can get the stability and be fast enough with the 1660/Quaro400 combo that will help with my 3dCad/Video and music editing.

 

As others have said,.. i7 and GTX 670/680 would be fine,... (and fast + less $$$) But I and not convinced I should go that way and haven't made a decision yet. Probably in a couple weeks.

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