Desktop PC spec.

[NigelHay]

We have been using Inventor for years but are just looking at bringing analysis in-house using Nastran. On our existing desktops Nastran runs really slow so we have asked the company offering training to quote for new PCs. their quote is attached, does this look reasonable?

[jdalidd]

Hi @NigelHay,

I would recommend at least a 2TB SSD, as a 1TB drive will fill up very fast. If budget allows I would also recommend 128GB of RAM as that will future proof the system and allow larger simulations / multi-tasking. To offset some of that increased cost you could move down to the Intel Xeon W-2265 Processor, which is identical to the 2275 but just has 12 cores instead of 14 (which I don't think will have any real-world impact).

-Jonas

[NigelHay]

Jonas, thanks for your reply. I've attached a quote from a local PC shop that we used for our Inventor PCs, these are about 8 years old now. Obviously your comment about RAM still stands but what do you think of this quote?

[jdalidd]

Hi @NigelHay,

There is a big difference between an RTX 2060 (old card from 2019 with 6GB of VRAM) and an RTX A4000 (modern business class GPU with 16GB VRAM). In addition the business class of GPUs have much better driver support for CAD applications. So, I would recommend the RTX A4000.

The CPU difference is also consumer vs workstation specs, and the main difference there will be that the Core i9 can only support 128GB RAM max, where the Xeon can support 1TB of RAM if you plan to upgrade down the line.