Question Workstation running games. Yes I use CAD often.

[FrickenLazers]

Good day,

I built a budget workstation about a year ago. I am running an AMD FX8350 CPU and paired it with an AMD Firepro W4300. I do frequently use the rig for gaming and for the most part its "OK". I am looking into beefing of the GPU and the Saphire RX 5700 XT caught my eye due to it supporting Open GL utilized in many CAD software suites. Did some research and found that there may be a bottle necking issue with the CPU. I'd love for someone to elaborate on what drawbacks this may impose. I know enough to be dangerous and thats what I'm looking to avoid.

I really dont want to dish out for a Quadro or Radeon PRO ending up in the same arena of great for CAD, horrible for gaming.....

 

[mihen]

I am pretty sure the complex setup of the FX 8350 makes it take longer to do a single calculation compared to an Intel or Ryzen cpu. At a certain frame rate this isn't an issue as the cpu keeps up, but above a certain fps, the cpu starts limiting the gpu. It's different depending on the game as they each do a different amount of calculations per frame.

 

[FrickenLazers]

I am pretty sure the complex setup of the FX 8350 makes it take longer to do a single calculation compared to an Intel or Ryzen cpu. At a certain frame rate this isn't an issue as the cpu keeps up, but above a certain fps, the cpu starts limiting the gpu. It's different depending on the game as they each do a different amount of calculations per frame.

Any advise? Would going the other route of swapping my CPU give any gains? Just looking to improve on what I currently have. I could probably swing $400

 

[throwawayaccnt]

Any advise? Would going the other route of swapping my CPU give any gains? Just looking to improve on what I currently have. I could probably swing $400

Former Fx8320 owner here, the FX series is antiquated and wasn't even good when it was released. Even a gen1 Ryzen would yield you significant gains over your current CPU

 

[throwawayaccnt]

Furthermore whats your current RAM? I feel like you can get a sweet CPU/RAM/MOBO combo for $400

 

[dudeman509]

Also owned a FX-8320. Went to an i7-3770k from that. Went to a Ryzen 3700x from that.

The 3770k was on par for the most part at stock speeds, slightly faster FPS in games that rely on single-core speed, slightly faster usability @ general Windows tasks/web browser things.

The 3700x blows both of them out of the water in everyday usability, gaming, basically ANYTHING that you throw at it. I thought the 3770k was plenty fine, but it's unbelievable how much snappier everything is.

The 8320/3770k were paired with a GTX 970; the 3770k and 3700x paired to a 1070ti. Gaming actually improved on the 3700x quite noticeably.

 

[mihen]

For CAD go for the Ryzen 2700X. It should be running about $200 which should leave you enough for a mobo and ram. It's going to be about 15% slower than the 3800x, but will fit into your price range.

 

[OllympianGamer]

Radeon VII is actually a cut down workstation pro card so that might be worth looking at rather than than a 5700 xt.