Hi all,
I need help figuring out what sort of hardware upgrades or possibly a new PC I would need to run 3d drawings in AutoCAD 2011.
The current system I am using is:
Dell Inc. OptiPlex 745
3.40 gigahertz Intel Pentium D
16 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache
3 GB RAM
256MB ATI Radeon X1300PRO [Display adapter]
256MB ATI Radeon X1300PRO Secondary [Display adapter]
AutoCAD 2011 on Windows XP
Cadalyst Total Index of 103
AutoCAD runs extremely slow and crashes while working on 3D drawings. I mainly work on 3D drawings of electrical enclosures in the 2D wireframe view I don't need to do any rendering or anything like that.
Any suggestions for hardware upgrade or recommended PC requirements to run 3D CAD efficiently?
Thanks,
Raf
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Do you have a budget in mind?
I put the system in my sig together for just under $1400 USD by ordering parts from Newegg.com and assembling them myself (add a DVD burner & a card reader to what's listed - &, my degree is in studio art, not engineering, so it's not hard to put stuff together if you can use a screwdriver, and are patient.). It would handle straight ACAD w/ 3d wireframe pretty well.
If you're looking to save a bit, look for an I-3 system, but add a decent video card.
Most would advise a system with Win 7 64 & 8 gig of ram as a minimum. Many are going with a SSD for faster program loading, but I'd rather spend the money on a faster HD.
HTH,
Reid
What do you guys think of this as an upgrade:
Dell Precision 690 Tower
With option for swapping th FX4600 for a FX 3450 (not sure which card would be better?)
Price $550 CAN
It has cheap going for it, but it's older tecnology - basically one step above what you have & one step behind what you need.
You don't need the dual xeon processors for acad - acad uses one core only.
The 8 gig of ram is good
250 GB SATA HD - is a bit light. I'd go with a Western Digital Caviar drive with at least 500 gig of storage, spining at 7,500
The video card is good, but won't do a lot of rendering.
The 750 Watt ps is overkill for that system.
Vista is a dead OS - Go with Win 7 64 bit Pro (no home editions or 32 bit)
We are most likely going to go with the following system from newegg
quad i7 3.4GHz
2 x 4gb DDR3 SDRam
max smilodom ATX case w/ 500W power
GeForce GTX 560 1gb Gddr5
Western Digital Caviar 2TB HD
Win 7 64bit Pro
All for $1300 can
Thanks for all the feedback!
I have 2 machines with the dual xeon 5150s. I am diappointed. I agree with the other posts. The Optiplex and Precision lines have the same failure rate as consumer grade machines. Look into a Dell Studio or Alienware, or as previously mentioned, configure and build one yourself. Newegg can help make sure everything is compatible.
There is an Acer Predator on Amazon for under $1,000, but it is Win 7 Home Premium.
Win 7 x64 Pro
Intel Core i5 or i7
Minimum 8 GB triple channel RAM (make sure chip set supports it)
Consumer-grade graphics card (FireGL and Quadro are overpriced) nVidia GTX 560 or better
Solid-State Hard Drive for OS and apps, and second standard 7,200 rpm drive for file storage.
I think that RAM is the most important. Always leave room for more.