topic Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016? in AutoCAD Forum

Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 14:36:46 GMT

Good morning,

I was recently hired for a landscape designer position. Currently the company does only hand drawings, but they want me to introduce computer generated designs (Autocad). I will only be doing 2D drawings in Autocad as they want me to learn another program for 3-D rendering. For this reason I believe that Autocad 2016 would be the best choice, in terms of function and price.

The computers here are very old and therefore they want to buy me a new computer. I looked up the system requirements for Autocad 2016 and honestly, computer talk reads like another language to me. I tried to search for a computer with the system requirements but there are so many choices that I really do not know where to start.

Bottom line: Does anyone have any recommendations for what PC system would be best for Autocad 2016 (including tower and display monitor) ? The company prefers Dells, but I am sure I could convince them to use another brand if it's necessary.

Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

-Pat Petrone

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

wispoxy — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 15:09:49 GMT

Hello @Anonymous and Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

Use the recommended or better for the best performance (2D and 3D drafting). If you're an apple user the information is on the bottom.

System requirements for AutoCAD 2016

Operating System	Microsoft® Windows® 10 (requires AutoCAD 2016 SP1) Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 Microsoft Windows 7
CPU Type	Minimum Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon™ 64 processor
Memory	For 32-bit AutoCAD 2016: 2 GB (3 GB recommended) For 64-bit AutoCAD 2016: 4 GB (8 GB recommended)
Display Resolution	1024x768 (1600x1050 or higher recommended) with True Color
Display Card	Windows display adapter capable of 1024x768 with True Color capabilities. DirectX® 9 or DirectX 11 compliant card recommended.
Disk Space	Installation 6.0 GB
Pointing Device	MS-Mouse compliant device
Media (DVD)	Download and installation from DVD
Browser	Windows Internet Explorer® 9.0 (or later)
.NET Framework	.NET Framework Version 4.5
Network	Deployment via Deployment Wizard. The license server and all workstations that will run applications dependent on network licensing must run TCP/IP protocol. Either Microsoft® or Novell TCP/IP protocol stacks are acceptable. Primary login on workstations may be Netware or Windows. In addition to operating systems supported for the application, the license server will run on the Windows Server® 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows 2008 R2 Server editions. Citrix® XenApp™ 6.5 FP1, Citrix® XenDesktop™ 5.6.

Additional Requirements for Large Datasets, Point Clouds, and 3D Modeling

Memory	8 GB RAM or greater
Disk Space	6 GB free hard disk available, not including installation requirements
Display Card	1600x1050 or greater True Color video display adapter; 128 MB VRAM or greater; Pixel Shader 3.0 or greater; Direct3D®-capable workstation class graphics card.
Note:	64-bit Operating Systems are recommended if you are working with Large Datasets, Point Clouds and 3D Modeling.

VMware: Recommended Level Configuration 1

VMware Software	VMware Horizon 6.1 or later VMware vSphere 6 or later
Virtual Machine Operating System	Microsoft® Windows® 7 SP1 64-bit: Windows 7 Enterprise, Ultimate, Professional, or Home Premium Microsoft® Windows® 8 64-bit: Windows 8 Enterprise, Pro, or Windows 8 Microsoft® Windows® 8.1 64-bit: Windows 8.1 Enterprise, Pro, or Windows 8.1
Host Server Recommendation	Performance 2
CPU	3.0 GHz+ Intel® Xeon E5 or later; or AMD® equivalent with SSE2 technology
Memory	384-512 GB
Networking	10 Gb
Storage	~750+ IOPS Per User
GPU	NVIDIA GRID K2 or later
Virtual Machine Settings	Performance 2
Memory	16-32 GB RAM
vCPUs	8 vCPUs
Disk Space	Minimum 700 MB free disk space
Graphics Adapter	NVIDIA GRID K260Q (2 GB) or later
Virtual Machine Connectivity	Internet connection for license registration and prerequisite component download
End User Access	Each client computer should have the VMware® Horizon Client installed.

1 Disclaimer: The VMware application is network-based and performance of AutoCAD for VMware software products may vary with network performance. The software does not include the VMware application, nor does Autodesk provide direct support for issues with the VMware application. Users should contact VMware directly with questions related to procurement and operation of the VMware application.

2 Please see: http://www.nvidia.com/autocadappguide

AutoCAD for Mac 2016 System Requirements

Apple® Mac® OS® X v10.11 or later (El Capitan); OS X v10.10 or later (Yosemite); OS X v10.9 or later (Mavericks)
Apple Mac Pro® 4,1 or later (Mac Pro® 6,1 or later recommended); MacBook® Pro 5,1 or later (MacBook Pro 10,1 with Retina Display or later recommended); iMac® 8.1 or later (iMac 11.1 or later recommended); Mac Mini® 3.1 or later (Mac Mini 4.1 or later recommended); MacBook Air® 2.1 or later; MacBook 5.1 or later (MacBook 7.1 or later recommended)
64-bit Intel CPU (Intel Core Duo CPU, 2 GHz or faster, recommended)
3 GB of RAM (4 GB or above recommended)
3 GB free disk space for download and installation (4 GB or above recommended)
All graphics cards on supported hardware
1280 x 800 display with true color (2880 x 1800 with Retina Display recommended)
Apple Safari 5.0 or later
All Mac OS X supported language operating systems
Apple® Mouse, Apple Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, MacBook® Pro trackpad, or Microsoft-compliant mouse.
Download and installation from DVD
Mac OS X-compliant printer

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

dgorsman — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 15:28:47 GMT

Any computer thats suitable for the rendering application will be more than suitable for 2D AutoCAD use. In very basic terms, for basic AutoCAD use you'd be looking at a low-to-mid range gaming tower e.g. no water cooling, no overclocking, defintely no multiple SLI/Crossfire video cards. Don't skimp or splurge too much on any given component ie. don't get a dual hex-core Xeon motherboard and "only" 32 GB RAM.

The big-box suppliers like Dell and HP are OK if you already have a supply contract for dozens of boxes; volume discounts and service/parts make them a good choice. If you are looking at less than 10 or so, have a look at some of the smaller suppliers like Boxx.

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

pendean — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 18:18:47 GMT

http://hardware.autodesk.com is a good place to start, in addition to other tips provided.

FWIW no one is going to greenlight a specific model or monitor or any specific exact configuration for you around here. There is no such thing as a 'best pc'.

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

les — Tue, 17 May 2016 01:16:20 GMT

Advice from an architect, long time AutoCAD user and system builder - to other architectural CAD users.

Key words to build the system are "rendering" and to a lesser degree "3D"

AutoCAD based products (and Revit too) do not take any signifficant advantage of multicore systems, certainly zero advantage of multui processor sysyems unless you render.

The differnce between rendering and (let's say) rotating 3-d model is as follows.

Rendering: beginning and the end is known to the computer, as you set allthe criteria up front, 100% of a model is in the RAM, so the work can be planned ahead and the load can be spread to as many cores as available. Imagine that the task is to dig 10' wide x 4' deep x 120' long trench Northward from a given location. This can be well planned and you can throw in a lot of workers to do this, and more workers (to a point) the fastest the job will be done. Now rotaing the model: you change the criteria every fraction of a second and the computer has no clue what the next move will be. So it is like telling workers every second to change direction, width and depth of the trench. You simply cannot do this faster by throwing in more hands, workers would quickly trip over each other. So, most "drafting" programs do not use much of multiple cores (AutoCAD can use other cores for regen, redraw and such - makes no real difference). Multicore is still usefull for operating system, background operations and other tasks in hand, but all this usually does not take that much horsepower. I assume that one does not plan to export movie while working on AutoCAD.

A. So if you render, get as many cores, and ram, and ssd space as you can afford (keeping in1 proportion to each other), still paying attention to a reasonably high single core speed. This equals a lot of $$$.

B. you render a little and work a lot with 3d models : get fastest (single core speed) i7 (4 cores/8 threads), 16-32GB RAM, SSD

C. you build 3d models but get them rendered by someone else or on different machine: get fastest (single core speed) i5 (4 cores/4 threads) 16GB RAM, SSD

D. you work on 2d drawings: as suggested by others, get any low to mid range gaming machine and it will do great. I would still get an SSD though.

What did I forget about? Yes the video card! I say following as an AutoCAD junkie since version 9 and one that bought and build systems for my small 7 person firm over the three decades: DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON ANY EXPENSIVE STUFF! Any braging about thousands of dollars spent on professional card comes from ignorance and denial.

MYTH: "Professional card will give you better precision.

REALITY: What? I do snap and offset and I do control the precision while building a model, I do not eyeball. If you render, cheap gaming card may give you artifacts or unforseen effects tough.

MYTH: "Professional card will give you better speed.

REALITY: No, not anymore as Open GL is effectively dead for the AutoCAD, so are the specialized drivers. Use low range to mid range gaming card. the peed now depends vastly on the CPU.

MYTH: "Professional card will give you better reliability

REALITY: Well yes it is not a total myth but I was using great number mid range ggaming cards for years with only one failure. Mid range, low range gaming cards are cheap and I would rather use current technology cheaper card and change it when new technology is available, than stick for years with same old stuff. The FX 3800 that I spent over a $1100 in 2009 a dog crap now (I believe that it was then but I had to try). But it still works 🙂

Go to passmark site to check single core performance for selection of your i7 and i5 (currently Devil's Canyon chips)

Speed of RAM does not matter that much day to day.

SSD speed matters more than RAM speed.

Happy CAD operating!

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 10:40:26 GMT

Hello sir
Tlaqik I have read in this matter and I have a query
What possible thing that should be available Bjahz desktop computer in order to do a good job in the works of three-dimensional and Alaotkad
Ohi, give me another suggestion cut computer 700-800dolar budget and Thanks

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

les — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 15:32:40 GMT

I am assuming building a machine for AutoCAD 3-d modeling, but no rendering:

See attached Newegg cart. Need to add case and power supply 🙂

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Sep 2017 06:37:50 GMT

Hello Community...I saw the response you gave to PPetrone about the type of computer one should have if we are to run AutoCAD 2016. So for myself I am wondering...how much? and do I take the information to BestBuy and lay down a few grand to get me one of these? And do I take this information that I printed out to Best Buy and they would know what to get me? Your answer will help me get started on what to do next.

Thank You,

armiodesigns

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

JDMather — Sat, 02 Sep 2017 16:38:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

.... if we are to run AutoCAD 2016....

Before shopping for suitable computer - do you have AutoCAD 2016? (2018 is the current release)

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Dec 2017 16:32:19 GMT

Hello les! Happy New Year!

I'm an Interior Designer and need a new machine that can run CAD, Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator......I don't render myself but I do use Photoshop everyday to illustrate concepts. Are you able to give me any advice on what kind of machine I need to run CAD et al? I am a PC user not MAC....

A friend found this laptop and thought it would work. Are you able to tell if this is a good choice? https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1328142-REG/lenovo_80wk00fcus_15_6_ips_fhd_1920x1080.html

Thank you in advance and Happy New Year!

CET, ASID

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Dec 2017 16:34:35 GMT

Hello les! Happy New Year!

A friend found this laptop and thought it would work. Are you able to tell if this is a good choice? https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1328142-REG/lenovo_80wk00fcus_15_6_ips_fhd_1920x1080.html

Thank you in advance and Happy New Year!

CET, ASID

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Dec 2017 16:38:38 GMT

I also meant to include that i will need to open and view, maybe adjust renderings in Photoshop but not actually produce renderings from 3D wires.....

Thank you in advance for assistance!

CET, ASID

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Dec 2017 16:39:11 GMT

I also meant to include that i will need to open and view, maybe adjust renderings in Photoshop but not actually produce renderings from 3D wires.....

Thank you in advance for assistance!

CET, A SID

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 00:25:24 GMT

So if your intent is to design landscapes in AutoCAD, I HIGHLY recommend that you look at FXCAD from LandFX. If you already have a copy of AutoCAD LandFX will run on top of it. If not they have an OEM version of AutoCAD (that has every command that a Landscape designer would need without all the other junk Autodesk throws into AutoCAD. You only need upgrade FXCAD every 4 or 5 years rather than every year with Autodesk a BIG SAVINGS $$$! You can also do irrigation design with LandFX's irrigation module. You mentioned your company wants to design in 3D with another product, Many of the Landscape design packages on the market (Including LandFX) have an export for SketchUP. (a much easier 3D program to learn and use by the way -(Autodesk are you listening?)) There are many 3D rendering packages that work with Sketchup. You can do Landscape design with only AutoCAD but your life will be much easier if you do it in LandFX instead!

Re: Best PC configuration for Autocad 2016?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 03:05:10 GMT

Just remember that Revit is a hardware HOG! Many design shops have gone to virtual machines so that hardware resources can be shared in the office (while someone may have Revit open on their desktop, they may not actually be interacting with the program all the time. Those hardware resources are diverted to other users that are actually interacting at that moment with Revit. Renderings can be accomplished on a Virtual machine in the background while working on another Revit project. While this may not be the best answer for single designer it is still important to realize that the resources required to run Revit are substantial and the file sizes of files you will be working on will also potentially cause a performance bottleneck. " Revit requires a GPU as you rotate, zoom, and interact with drawings. It also creates heavy CPU load as it manages all the elements of a drawing via a database, which means we need high performance storage as well. The heaviest Revit CPU usage occurs during data-rich operations like file open/save and model updates. As a result both CPU and GPU need to be considered in architecting your vGPU solution." cited from Application Deployment guide Autodesk Revit 2015 with NVIDA Grid vGPU on VMware Horizon" Although this document is oriented towards a virtual deployment of Revit, The basic operation of Revit and it's requirements are the same and thus when considering the purchase of a single workstation both the speed of your storage device AND the speed of your GPU (video card) and CPU are extremely important. You will be able to get more options in a desktop model, Laptops will be more expensive and be less capable. You don't move a 50 Ton beast with a 20 horsepower tractor! Wrong tool for the Job. Of course nothing will replace actual eyes on experience with your files in Revit and so experience with those files in Revit on any given workstation will be the ultimate benchmark as to what is acceptable in accomplishing your daily work. Just know if you go into this endeavor under resourced on your workstation your outcome will not meet your expectations!