CAD & CFD rig

[MMik]

Hi,

I want to assemble a new desktop. Budget is max USD 1500. Main tasks during daytime will be 3D CAD, the obligatory 2D drafting and some renderings (Catia & Solidworks; primary single threaded, openGL applications, although rendering seems to use multiple cores), CFD calculations (Comsol and Matlab; multiple threads possible) and some officework (non-professional level as I'm a student). During nighttime I'd like to have the opportunity to use my desktop to slayer some aliens. I have the following setups in mind:

Setup 1:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K
Video Card: GeForce GTX 670
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: Conventional 2 TB HDD
Storage: 128 GB SSD
Power Supply: around 500 W

Setup 2:

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 Boxed
Video Card: GeForce GTX 660
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: Conventional 2 TB HDD
Storage: 128 GB SSD
Power Supply: around 500 W

Setup 3:

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K
Video Card: GeForce GTX 760
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: Conventional 2 TB HDD
Storage: 128 GB SSD
Power Supply: around 500 W


Which setup would fit my needs and budget the best or what hardware I should change / use?

Mike

 

[vehystrix]

Setup 3 all the way. The 6 cores on the I7 with some overclocking will handle your CFD and rendering tasks the best.
The 760 is normally powerfull enough to do CAD, and will give you pretty decent gaming performance too.

The E3 is way too expensive for what you're planning to do, and doesn't overclock. Xeon chips are for people who want to run certified compatible hardware for their proffesional applications like servers and high-end engineering workstations.
You really want the more cores the i7 has to offer, and since it overclocks pretty good too, it'll blow the E3 out of the water.

760 and 670 performance is pretty equal, with the 670 having a slight edge. For better CAD performance you may want to look at quadro cards, but they're much more expensive and don't do well in games. Just make sure your software supports Geforce cards, as some professional software will refuse to run if no certified hardware and drivers are found...