New machine build - $2600 budget

Anonymous · ‎10-01-2015

I'm about to invest in a new machine to run Revit (I'm a home builder that is new to Revit). I currently use Sketchup and Chief Architect, but it's time to upgrade my old i5 based system. The primary purpose of the new machine will be modeling and creation of construction documents. I will do some rendering, but not everyday and I don't mind to wait a short while longer for the renders to complete.

With that said, my budget is $2600. Should I go with dual Xeon or will an i7 be enough? What graphics card should I be looking at, and how much RAM (I'm thinking 32GB??).

Thanks,

Jay

L.Maas · ‎10-01-2015

I still have Revit running on a computer with an I3 processor, 12GB with a Geforce GTX 650 and still managing to work on project files of 100 MB or more.

So maybe try to install it on your I5 machine and keep the 2600$ in your pocket for the moment.

Louis

Please mention Revit version, especially when uploading Revit files.

Anonymous · ‎10-01-2015

Thanks Louis. I quoted the CPU that I have in my laptop (sorry, my mistake), which is an i5. My desktop has a Core 2 6600 @ 2.4Ghz CPU running on Windows XP SP3. Everything is slow on the desktop machine now, especially when loading certain webpages that are CSS and JS intensive.

So, I'm wanting to build a new workstation that will run Revit, Rhino, Sketchup, and Chief Architect without any lag. $2600 is my budget ... for these programs, am I going to be more satisfied with a dual Xeon based workstation, or will one with a fast i7 CPU be enough and with some headroom for the future?

L.Maas · ‎10-02-2015

You mentioned that you are a home builder. Thus I expect your projects will be limited in size.

An I7 with a reasonable graphics card, plenty of memory (e.g. 32GB) and an SSD should build you a system that will do fine for Revit.

I have no experience with Rhino or Chief Architect so not sure if you would gain much with Xeon processors.

Louis

Please mention Revit version, especially when uploading Revit files.

jkarben · ‎10-02-2015

A lot of bang for the buck with an i7-4790K plus solid overclocking performance and track record. It out performs many Xeon processors for single thread performance where Revit lives most of the time.

Other disuccsions: http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-architecture/multicore-vs-max-performance-per-core/m-p/5782504#M...

Anonymous · ‎10-02-2015

Thanks Enlint and jkarben. This is the type of feedback I was looking for.

Going with an i7, is there any advantage that the new i7- 6700K Skylake would have over the i7-4790 Devil's Canyon or i7-4790 Haswell?

Also, I'm looking at the Quadro K1200 or GeForce GTX 960 graphics card. Based on what Enlint said, I think the GTX 900 series will be enough, but am I going to be better served by the Quadro? Is one better than the other in terms of rendering .... does the GPU play a part in processing a render with Revit + V-Ray?

Last issue before I place an order for the parts ... is there one SSD that stands out over the others? AND should I have a second drive (SATA, maybe?) to install Revit and other programs on, and maybe even a third drive for file storage only ... and having only the OS on the SSD? Would that be optimal or am I overthinking this?