New computer build for Fusion 360 and other CAD

[BillGEGHV]

Hey all,  Im in the market for a new workstation.  Im hoping to get some input on these 2 computer builds put together for my by 2 different friends. Its been a very long time since Ive had a new box, I am a power user and  I primarily work in Fusion 360, Rhino 3D, and ZBrush. I do CAD, CAM, & RP, mechanical assembly design, surface modeling, scan data to surface creation in Rhino, some parametric work, digital clean-up for scan data and digital sculpting and overall general modeling in all.   Thanks in advance. 

Build 1

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/anticdope/saved/FFDcMp

Build 2

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gk2N6D

[Warmingup1953]

Would you consider an off-the-shelf Workstation? 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1758341-REG/hp_7x9f6ut_aba_z4_g5_desktop_workstation.html

No vested interest on my part but what I do when it's time for a new Workstation is simply go HP shopping.

[g-andresen · Accepted solution]

Hi,

The following generally applies to fusion
1. CPU speed  > the more the better
2. the number of cores plays practically no role, because most operations are single core oriented.

3. Middle range graphic card

günther

[jacob.michaels]

I like the AMD (#1) build more. The GPU seems a bit  overkill though for CAD. you could swap it out with a 3060 and save a few bucks, you also don't need a 1TB NVME M.2 SSD, you should get a smaller one, 512 or something, then stick JUST WINDOWS on it, and keep it that way. This will speed up boot times and overall operations of your rig. Get a separate M.2 for your frequently used programs, and a normal SSD for mass storage.

You won't go wrong with either of these.

If you get a new build of this caliber and are still running on a 1080p monitor, its probably time to upgrade to a 4140p or 4k monitor at the same time. A lot nicer on the eyes.

[TrippyLighting]

Both of the of the configurations ill work well for Fusion 360. Both are overkill for pure CAD modeling work.

If you need to visualize / render / raytrace, then every CPU core is needed. Fusion 360 uses the GPU for viewport rendering only, but not for raytracing.

I use an AMD Ryzen 5950X based system with 64GB of memory and NVIDIA RTX 3070Ti and I have no complaints.

[BillGEGHV]

Hey Guys, Thanks for the input on the computer builds I pulled the trigger on the AMD build and parts are on their way! 😁

[jacob.michaels]

Nice! That's a killer rig. You'll be set with that for quite some time. 

[BillGEGHV]

Yep will last me a long time! 😁

[Whitmane1]

How's the system working for ya? 

[tookemtoni]

I recommend that you look at single thread benchmarks rather than pure clock speed because old CPUs with higher clock speeds can have lower performance compared to newer CPUs with lower clock speeds.

eg

2022 AMD 7950X 5.7 GHz Single Thread Score 4274 ($500 price today)

2024 Intel Ultra Core 7 265K 5.5 GHz Single Thread Score 4803 ($380 price today)

I always relied on benchmarking services to give me better decision making information like this or geekbench: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X vs Ryzen 9 9900X vs Intel Ultra 7 265K [cpubenchmark.net] by PassMark Software