Workstation for Architecture Design

Lwarrior88 · Jan 18, 2016

I am an architecture graduate currently working and I am looking to buy a workstation for me to work at home. Could someone please guide me on my purchase????

The software I use are:

Revit
Cad
SketchUp
3ds Max
Rhino
Blender
Adobe creative suite

And my budget is $1300-1800

I do not know much about hardware, therefore I apologize in advance for any wrong terminology and please feel free to ask anything that will help my search

why_wolf · Jan 18, 2016

maybe something along these lines, note I didn't include a GPU as I'm unsure if CAD and other 3D type programs really prefer those special quadro/firepro cards or not. So you'll have to ask around about that. But in general I think a good base for you to have is an i7 either Skylake or Haswell and 32 gigs of RAM, if you are truly serious and don't mind investing in your work tools.

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fmGYMp) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fmGYMp/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80662i76700k) | $413.90 @ Amazon
**CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2) | $24.88 @ OutletPC
**Motherboard** | [Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-z170a) | $153.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2400 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f42400c14d32gvk) | $199.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Samsung 850 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7ke512bw) | $213.43 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd20ezrz) | $75.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Power Supply** | [SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss650km) | $115.98 @ Newegg
**Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM (64-bit)](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-fqc08930) | $130.29 @ B&H
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1338.45
| Mail-in rebates | -$10.00
| **Total** | **$1328.45**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2016-01-18 13:49 EST-0500 |

Lwarrior88 · Jan 20, 2016

@why_wolf.

Thanks for the quick response. I don't really know what GPU is. But what you think of this. A friend of mine suggested.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/KzvyjX

why_wolf · Jan 20, 2016

A GPU is the graphics or video card. Its the part that actually renders the images you see on the screen, so things like games uses it heavily. 3D rendering/engineering software usually has a GPU accelerated mode as well so the program will use both the CPU and GPU to complete calculations or render your work in a 3D accurate model.

That build looks fine as well though I wouldn't get the water cooler he suggested as the CPU he has listed is a non-K chip so it can't be overclocked. Almost no reason to have a water cooler unless you plan on overclocking as much as you can. I'd stick with the cooler I suggested as its both cheap and frankly provides more than enough cooling for most people, especially if they aren't going to overclock the CPU.

He suggested the Nvidia 970 GPU card which is a fine card. It certainly won't break anything or make the computer run slow I just don't know if its the best card price wise for what you will mainly be using it for.

He also suggested the same motherboard I have. It's a great little board, but kind of hard to find these days as its not in active production anymore. I had to get mine off of e-bay.

Side note he didn't include an OS so unless you have a copy already you'll want to add another $80 to $130 for that depending on if you get Home or Pro Windows.

Good luck.

Lwarrior88 · Jan 20, 2016

@why_wolf

Again. Thanks for taking the time and answering my dumb questions.

Here's another dumb question. What's overclocking???

why_wolf · Jan 20, 2016

OC or overclocking is when you make the CPU but can also be done on RAM and the GPU work faster than its factory clock speed. So basically the CPU will perform more cycle checks per second and complete jobs faster as a result.

The danger is you can fry a chip doing this if you push it to far as you are going past what Intel thinks is a sustainable speed for the chip.

Intel locks their chips so you can't do this except for chips that end with the letter 'K'. You also need a high end motherboard to manage the overclock, usually they are marked as a 'Z' series board. So if you aren't going to overclock you can look at the lower boards like H and B and potentially save money if they have all the ports you want. They usually cram extra ports onto the Z series to help justify their increased cost.

Frankly most people never overclock and the gains made by overclocking aren't always really noticeable. Since this is a workstation you'd probably value the stability of the system over shaving off a few minutes on a given project. So doing an overclock probably really isn't worth it for you.

Lwarrior88 · Jan 21, 2016

@ why_wolf

I decided to go with this option. What do you think.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kHDLzy

why_wolf · Jan 21, 2016

looks good. You're paying a premium for 7 over 10 though. Also I'd actually recommend getting a USB DVD drive if you don't plan on using it for much other than installing Windows.

Easy to put away when not in use and nice to be able to drag it around to other machines if they end up needing one for whatever reason.

naturesninja · Jan 21, 2016

A lot of those programs aren't optimized for windows 10, I have had more than one headache dealing with a couple on your list. Windows 7 is the best way to go in my opinion at the moment for most of the software you listed.

Lwarrior88 · Jan 22, 2016

why_wolf :

What do you mean by "getting a USB DVD drive"??

Your talking about Windows itself or is this a USB DVD port. I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Lwarrior88 · Jan 22, 2016

naturesninja :

That's what ive heard. Thanks

Lwarrior88 · Jan 22, 2016

Whats the difference between all of these?

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows 7 Pro SP1 DE (64-bit)

Lwarrior88 · Jan 22, 2016

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (32/64-bit)

why_wolf · Jan 22, 2016

Not sure what the DE stands for it might be a single language edition. Microsoft will release Windows with a locked language packet in countries whose economy blows so they can sell it for a lower price than in the US, but stop people in the US from using it by locking it to a non English language.

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (64-bit) should be a general release that doesn't have any restrictions on it.

naturesninja · Jan 22, 2016

Wow, try and help someone out and they downvote you? Makes sense.

Lwarrior88 · Jan 22, 2016

@why_wolf

So win 7 sp1 it is.

I still dont know what you mean by this. Can you dumb it down for me please.

What do you mean by "getting a USB DVD drive"??

Your talking about Windows itself or is this a USB DVD port. I'm not sure what you mean by this.

Lwarrior88 · Jan 22, 2016

DE could be for Denmark. ????

why_wolf · Jan 22, 2016

Lwarrior88 :

I mean something like this, instead of an internal DVD drive. http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Portable-External-GP65NB60/dp/B00ODDE33U/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1453497572&sr=1-4&keywords=usb+dvd+drive

Workstation for Architecture Design

Reputable

Splendid

Reputable

Splendid

Reputable

Splendid

Reputable

Splendid

Distinguished

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Reputable

Splendid

Distinguished

Reputable

Reputable

Splendid

Share this page