Solidworks Pc Build Advice

[abbojoe]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum(from San Jose, CA) and would like some advice on building a pc for heavy duty solidworks usage. For roughly around $1500, would go a little higher if needed, not including monitor/keyboard/mouse/os... what parts would make this baby perfect for my needs? Plan to overclock down the road just not yet. Not thinking about SLI at the moment. This will be my first build so I figured I'd ask some of the gurus. I just want to make sure I get the right parts to build this properly. If there is any more information you guys need to help choose certain parts please let me know. Any advice/opinion is appreciated. Thanks for letting me pick at your brains!

 

[mas7873]

Here's what I came up with. This build will do great in everything from gaming to video rendering, multitasking whatever you throw at it. The CPU, motherboard and cooler will allow you to overclock in the future and since you don't want to SLI I just included 1 GTX 980, which could be replaced by a 970 if you wanted to save some money. Also included an SSD for your OS and some programs.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($318.75 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($128.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($130.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($546.49 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case ($134.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1524.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-11 05:34 EST-0500

 

[abbojoe]

Thanks for the quick reply, that helps a lot. I'm not really familiar with SLI and I don't know if I would need it or not. Thats why I didn't see it as a necessity at the moment.

 

[herrwizo]

This one is better suited for SolidWorks, since it includes FirePro professional graphics card. Works much better than any gaming card out there due to special driver optimizations and unlocked hardware features. Also, you get double the SSD capacity, and the PSU is still more than enough (this graphics card uses up to 150W). I did not include CD writer, but if you need it, include one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($318.75 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($130.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: AMD FirePro W7100 8GB Video Card ($659.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z12 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1515.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-11 05:41 EST-0500

 

[mas7873]

No worries, and the 980 right now is the strongest single GPU on the market so there is no need for SLI at the moment. The PSU I included would however allow you to SLI in the future should you decide it's something you're interested in later. Feel free to ask any other questions

 

[abbojoe]

Thanks for the advice guys, this is helping a lot. What does SLI do anyways? And would it even be helpful in my situation?

 

[herrwizo]

^^Strongest for gaming. In solidworks, even the slowest FirePro or Nvidia Quadro card based on several years old tech easily outperforms most mid to high range gaming card of the same family in Solidworks. Not to mention simulation quality and visuals enabled through special driver features.

For the record, I am using Quadro K600, which is a $200 card based on 128 bit memory interface and only 192 SMX units. It absolutely crushed AMD 7970 GHz edition in Solidworks. In gaming, 7970 is at least 5 or 6 tiers above it. In Solidworks, completely different story. Also, several features in Solidworks are not available at all on gaming cards.

For pro work, I would not rely on a gaming card.

 

[herrwizo]

Thanks for the advice guys, this is helping a lot. What does SLI do anyways? And would it even be helpful in my situation?

SLI combines power of several graphics cards to get better framerates in games. For pro work, you will hardly gain anything unless you use specific models of pro cards (not all are SLI or Crossfire capable). For starters, you are much better off with a single powerful graphics card, designed for pro work.

 

[mas7873]

Thanks for the advice guys, this is helping a lot. What does SLI do anyways? And would it even be helpful in my situation?

Basically it just just the idea of connecting 2 or more video cards to produce a single output. This can be used for faster/more detailed gameplay and is typically used in high-end gaming builds. However, a 980 will play every game at ultra settings with nice FPS so for a user like yourself I would say SLI is not necessary.

 

[abbojoe]

Alright, thanks for clearing that up guys. Would it matter which parts I choose depending on the monitor I get?