Best workstation for Interior atchitectural Design

[Anonymous]

Hi, what is the best fixed workstation either tower or all-in-one for autocad? Im starting grad school in interior architectural design and ill be using multiple programs at one time including autoCAD, revit, and 3D modeling. Dell recommended Precision with a config of i7, 8GRAM min, 256GB M.2 SSD. Microsoft recommended their Surface Studio. Im not looking for a laptop. Is a touch screen with a stylus and dial necessary? Please let me know of a specific computer that would work. Honestly im getting into the weeds with the config and am lost. Thanks

[-FDC- · Accepted solution]

I would go for an ordinary 512gb SSD instead of 256gb M2 but it depends on how much other programs you want to install (and your budget ofcourse).

8Gb will do but I would opt for 16.

Pocessor is fine.

A touch screen and a stylus is good if you want to sketch things but that is something for adobe etc... (like the Wacom)

Interior design in 2D or 3D ?

[Anonymous]

Mostly 3D with some 2D as well. I really wanted the surface studio to meet my needs but i think i will settle with non-touch screen monitor, and tower. I thought it was cool but i probably would not use the stylus and dial as much as i would with just a mouse. I spent 2 hours tonight chatting with a dell rep and was sold on an alienware aurora base with a good config but not overkill.i7 8000 series, 32GB RAB, 512 SSD (boot) with 1T HD and good graphics card. I was looking for Precision originally but dell itself only sells those to business customers. Bestbuy was limited in their Precisions and the better ones are sold out. I havent bought a desktop for a long time. I hope i wont regret it

[-FDC-]

So I am too late for advise!

Anyway good choice !

But I am here to give critics, opinions, or alternatives so...

32 GB is (IMHO) overkill for autocad.

But it all depends on what you are doing with it.

How big are your files etc...

It's a different story when you are using point clouds.

If you have some more money to spend I would go for a 1tb SSD instead of the 1 tb HD.

But the only benefit here is a faster opening of the files.

Is the 512 an SSD or M2 (M2 makes a lot of difference but is also more expensive).

You mentioned a good graphics card but what graphics card is it?

A Desktop is more bang for the bucks and the better choice if you don't have to be mobile.

If you do have to be mobile than a second hend precision can do the job.

For example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precision-M6800-17-3-i7-4800MQ-8GB-16GB-160GB-240GB-500GB-480GB-SSD-10...

[Anonymous]

"Aurora R7 Base

Processor
Intel® Core™ i7 8700 (6-Core, 12MB Cache, up to 4.6GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology)

Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit English

Chassis Options
Alienware™ 460 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply with High Perf"
&nbsp ormance Liquid Cooling

Video Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X

Memory
32GB Dual Channel DDR4 at 2666MHz; up to 64GB (additional memory sold separately)

Hard Drive
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD (Boot) + 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s (Storage)

[Anonymous]

Missing anything or overkill?

[Anonymous]

Dell UltraSharp 29 Ultrawide Monitor - U2917W
I save a $[=]!+ ton of money with it being black friday today on the whole bundle

[-FDC-]

Damned !

Overkill for Autocad but a perfect workstation for Revit!

Nice, really nice!

If you want this specs in your laptop I think you'd have to sell one of your kidneys.

[Anonymous]

Got for about $2700. Not really sure if i should have gone with a 1T SSD instead of a dual drive or if i should have gotten a larger screen.

[Anonymous]

I will be using Revit so thats good news

[-FDC- · Accepted solution]

Your dual drive is the better choice.

Opening a file from the 1tb HD will take a little longer but once opened it is on your fast M2 ssd temp location.

I think your screen is large enough.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for the feedback! Ill post when i test it out.

[-FDC-]

Great, it has been a pleasure !