Do you need a good cpu for CAD

[kwank-gb]

I am looking to go into engineering and am considering learning CAD. I am looking at computers to build so i can practice CAD and do school work. Can you reccomend a powerful enough pc for these parts for the smallest price possible as i am still doing gcses

 

[giantbucket]

evidently Autodesk's AutoCAD is primarily single threaded, so any cheap intel processor will do, like a G-series or even i3 if you want to splash out. i've been looking at this for the same reasons for the past 2-3 weeks, so that's what i've learned! less cores but strong ones, so modern intel with fastest clock speed you can afford.

you looking to build a PC, or buy a pre-made one?

 

[kwank-gb]

I want to build one myself. I don't know much about intel gpu's but would a dual core intel cpu be future proof and is there an amd option?

 

[giantbucket]

no such thing as future-proof. at least not when it comes to technology and computers. i no longer use a 486DX, or Windows 95. do you?

currently, Intel beats AMD for single-core performance by a long shot. even at the same frequency, the architecture of intel is more efficient and effective - it does more work on each clock cycle than AMD can do. on the flip side, AMD gives you more cores for less money and some processors have a great on-board graphics section (Kaveri APU for example).

at the office i'm going to compare two machines (whenever i get around to grabbing a demo version of AutoCAD LT and Robot), one which is intel+nvidia and the other is AMD+AMD. i myself will be curious to see how significant the difference is going to be. if the difference is 10sec versus 13sec for example, it's not a big deal. but if some stuff is 10sec versus 50sec, then it'll be worth noting.

here's a possibly interesting related thread/post on the subject:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2785351/choosing-cpu-gpu-cad-build.html#16561774

 

[kwank-gb]

Are such expensive and large amounts of ram needed? Would this system be fine?
Cpu: intel g series or i3
Gfx:750ti or r7 260
Ram:8gb 2133mhz
Os: windows 8.1
Hdd:500gb or 1tb

 

[giantbucket]

should be fine for learning on. for actual productivity in a demanding professional office environment, probably not enough. but those are two very different scenarios in which one is out of your own pocket but the other is paid for by revenue from paying clients. i'd spend more time checking out the various graphic card options, though, and see/learn which ones your CAD packages work with better, or if it even matters that much. should be plenty of threads or youtube vids for the various combinations. apparently puget systems did some tests and saw that nvidia cards work better than amd cards.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/AutoDesk-AutoCAD-2013-GPU-Acceleration-164/



ram = the nice thing about ram is that as long as your motherboard has 4 slots, you can add more later on. you could start with 8gb of 1600 (no need for 1866 or 2133 unless it's on sale) and then you could add more if it looks like CAD will need it / use it. unlike a cpu or gpu, you wouldn't need to remove the stuff that's already there - you'd just add to it.