Are these sufficient specs for CAD design and assembly?

[Squeeky]

I'm part of a robotics team at my high school. We're looking to build 3-4 LAN-box type systems we can carry around for about $600 each. So far, I've configured three separate builds for this purpose. Would any of these be sufficient for modeling and assembling a functional 3D model of a complex robot (600+ parts) in Autodesk Inventor 2014? If not, what should I change?

Intel i5-4440: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/squeekybeef/saved/zMRqqs

AMD A10 5800K: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/squeekybeef/saved/Tz2zK8

Intel Pentium G3258 20th anniversary: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/squeekybeef/saved/DkFYcf

All builds can swap out the 500gb drive for a 128gb SSD. A wise decision, or a waste of 3 extra dollars?

 

[kanewolf]

I'm part of a robotics team at my high school. We're looking to build 3-4 LAN-box type systems we can carry around for about $600 each. So far, I've configured three separate builds for this purpose. Would any of these be sufficient for modeling and assembling a functional 3D model of a complex robot (600+ parts) in Autodesk Inventor 2014? If not, what should I change?

Intel i5-4440: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/squeekybeef/saved/zMRqqs

AMD A10 5800K: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/squeekybeef/saved/Tz2zK8

Intel Pentium G3258 20th anniversary: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/squeekybeef/saved/DkFYcf

All builds can swap out the 500gb drive for a 128gb SSD. A wise decision, or a waste of 3 extra dollars?

I would probably drop to 8GB RAM and up to a 250GB SSD.

 

[Squeeky]

Thanks for your reply! I do have one concern though.
Wouldn't 8gb of RAM limit some multitasking capability? If not, then there's no reason not to save money there.

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks for your reply! I do have one concern though.
Wouldn't 8gb of RAM limit some multitasking capability? If not, then there's no reason not to save money there.

You are changing your requirements.... Your question was about a design box. BUT...

Are you planning on running a hypervisor and VMs or just multiple programs simultaneously?

With an SSD and swap file, I don't think you would too limited for multiple simultaneous programs. With a hypervisor you might be depending on how many VMs you wanted to try an run.

 

[Squeeky]

You are changing your requirements.... Your question was about a design box. BUT...

Are you planning on running a hypervisor and VMs or just multiple programs simultaneously?

With an SSD and swap file, I don't think you would too limited for multiple simultaneous programs. With a hypervisor you might be depending on how many VMs you wanted to try an run.

My apologies. By "multitasking" I really meant that I would be working with multiple files at once within Inventor. I have no intention of running VMs.

 

[kanewolf]

You are changing your requirements.... Your question was about a design box. BUT...

Are you planning on running a hypervisor and VMs or just multiple programs simultaneously?

With an SSD and swap file, I don't think you would too limited for multiple simultaneous programs. With a hypervisor you might be depending on how many VMs you wanted to try an run.

My apologies. By "multitasking" I really meant that I would be working with multiple files at once within Inventor. I have no intention of running VMs.

I look at that use case similar to multiple programs and task switching. Only one or two are really active. I would think that you would still be OK with 8GB. Again, with prices the way they are now, I wouldn't recommend a 128GB SSD only. For a single drive system I would go with the 250GB.

 

[Squeeky]

You are changing your requirements.... Your question was about a design box. BUT...

Are you planning on running a hypervisor and VMs or just multiple programs simultaneously?

With an SSD and swap file, I don't think you would too limited for multiple simultaneous programs. With a hypervisor you might be depending on how many VMs you wanted to try an run.

My apologies. By "multitasking" I really meant that I would be working with multiple files at once within Inventor. I have no intention of running VMs.

I look at that use case similar to multiple programs and task switching. Only one or two are really active. I would think that you would still be OK with 8GB. Again, with prices the way they are now, I wouldn't recommend a 128GB SSD only. For a single drive system I would go with the 250GB.

How's this?
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/squeekybeef/saved/VH6KHx

I'm thinking a single stick of 8GB over 2x4GB so that there's an extra slot for the future.

 

[Squeeky]

Okay, here's what I speculate will be the final build. Despite what Autodesk's website lists
(see: http://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/inventor-products/troubleshooting/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-Autodesk-Inventor-2014-products.html),
I trust this will have the power to model 1000+ part assemblies in Inventor 2014. If there are any other recommendations, please let me know!

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/squeekybeef/saved/M8WKHx

Thank you for your help so far.