New Desk top PC what specification for 3D cad

[Beatty 139]

It’s time to look for a new desk top, but also time to embrace new technology, although I have been designing on 2D Cad for over 25 years In industry and for my own modelling and my range of laser cut and etched kits, it really is time I embraced the times that are coming.

 

I haven’t decided on what 3D package to work on I have tried Solidworks a few years back and to be honest struggled with it, but as it’s time to get a new PC what I do want to get is the right hardware so I can effectually use whatever 3D cad is out there effectively, I’m also giving serious consideration to an SLA printer so I can print my own patterns for lost wax casting, only small parts such as buffers, axle boxes etc.

 

I would be most greatful if the experts can enlighten me but not in the jargon that my brother in law uses where the words are English but I don’t understand what they mean in a sentence!

[Robin2]

Unless you want to do very high end 3D cad with two large PC screens etc I suspect the cheapest new PC (or laptop) you can buy will be more than adequate.

 

The more correct answer is to identify the 3D program you want to use and look up its minimum requirements.

 

...R

Edited January 3, 2018 by Robin2

[Beatty 139]

Unfortunately that’s not a question I know an answer to until I try some and other than solidworks I haven’t and I don’t have a computer at the moment that I would think would run them, as other than one windows 7 machine that has died all my other are on good old reliable XP

[Edge]

The two greatest limitations on the speed of a PC are the Processor speed and the RAM (Random Access Memory). the former is the heart of the computer where all of the operating processes and calculations take place, and the latter is a sort of reservoir of memory that the processor can dip into at any time in order to temporarily store information and speed everything up. Essentially the higher the Hertz (Hz) performance of the processor and the higher the storage of then RAM (measured in megabytes and gigabytes) then the faster the PC will go (subject to a lot of other nerdy restrictions that are too convoluted to get into here without one or the other of us losing the will to live )

 

It's perfectly feasible that a simple 3D programme (such as the online-based tinkercad - my personal preference) could be run on a fairly basic computer without a hyper fast processor. If, however, you would like a more demanding CAD programme then it may be worth investing in a reasonably quick processor (I recommend at least an Intel i5 if this is your route) and maybe a dedicated graphics card as well (this is a supplementary processor which is dedicated to a computer's graphics performance).

Essentially do your research with this subject - there are many PC magazines on the shelf at newsagents and I'd heartily recommend buying them. A good number of them even focus on the requirements of a CAD PC. Processors and graphics cards get expensive very quickly so the biggest tip I can give is that you should do a lot of research before investing.

 

Also don't water cool the PC its tempting and looks cool, but its a pain in the proverbial

Edited January 3, 2018 by Edge

[Guy Rixon]

In the CAD program I use, OpenSCAD, the performance is adequate on a 3-year-old Mac laptop, up to the limit of complexity of models that I can get printed. Performance is not actually good: the display lags when rotating or zooming the larger models, and the time to render a model for printing can be an hour or more. I think this is because the software does everything on the CPU.

 

You might be able to find software that accelerates rendering using a GPU. If you can find such a package that you like and can afford, then it would be worth buying or building a computer with a supported GPU. However, you would have to be careful to get hardware that really is supported. Getting a graphics card that is not quite what the software wants could lose all the performane or turn the system into a crash factory.

[Harlequin]

I suggest a machine with a bit of "grunt" because 3D models can contain a lot of information that has to be manipulated before it reaches the graphics card. E.g. when you are scaling something you want the program to respond quickly to your mouse movements, not give you an update once a second, as if you're wading through treacle.

 

So you need processing power whatever graphics card you have. I suggest at least a Intel "Core i5" but a "Core i7" would be much better - look for those names in the machine specs. (I am assuming that modern 3D software can make use of the multiple "cores" in those chips. Techy: More "cores" is generally better.)

 

If you get a desktop or tower machine (as opposed to a laptop) then you can change the graphics card later on when you've decided which software you'll use and what graphics capabilities it needs. (Note that some 3D software, especially older software, does the hard work entirely on the main computer board, not using the 3D capabilities of graphics cards at all!)

 

Get a 64-bit version of Windows so you can expand the memory to a decent amount later if you need to. This may be an issue if you ever have to use high-resolution photos of prototypes - they can eat a lot of memory!

 

And if you can afford it, get a "Solid State Disk" (look for the name "SSD" in the spec) because that helps programs work faster - especially Windows itself. (Techy: Sold State Disks do the same job as hard disc drives but they are totally electronic, with no moving parts, and so they can load and save info much faster - and Windows is loading and saving all the time in the background.)

Edited January 3, 2018 by Harlequin

[Marbelup]

I have been using Rhino 3D for 5 years and can recommend it. I found early on it needs 8GB of RAM for complex models and thus needs 64 bit Windows. I am currently using a fairly basic Lenovo laptop with Windows 10 and 10GB RAM and it copes fine.

[Robin2]

In the CAD program I use, OpenSCAD, the performance is adequate on a 3-year-old Mac laptop, up to the limit of complexity of models that I can get printed. Performance is not actually good: the display lags when rotating or zooming the larger models, and the time to render a model for printing can be an hour or more.

That's interesting. I have been using OpenSCAD - but only for a short time and I have no large models - and probably never will - so I have not been aware of any "slowness". I am using a cheap HP laptop with Linux.

 

I also downloaded Blender which seems to work (in that it displayed a Blender model properly) - but I have no idea how to use Blender and I doubt if I will bother to learn it.

 

...R

[Talltim]

If you go for one with an Intel processor check when the processor was designed. If from any time in the last ten years, up to possibly the past couple of months, its about to get slower...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/02/intel_cpu_design_flaw/

[Harlequin]

I can recommend Sketchup for it's intuitive simplicity.

 

It has all the hallmarks of a well-designed program with some clever people working on it. It is regularly updated with new features, supports some very powerful plugins and the non-commercial, "Make", version is free.

Edited January 3, 2018 by Harlequin

[Talltim]

I like Sketchup too, but be aware there issues with running it on W10 with Intel graphics cards, as I've just found out.

[Quarryscapes]

Sketchup will run on any old thing as long as you have 64bit windows. Fusion 360 is a bit slower but still usable, it certainly uses the processor more than sketchup which on my laptop means a lot more fan running! The freeware stuff is incredibly slow and painful, and will require a high spec machine to run well. 

 

My old laptop (http://laptops-specs.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/acer-aspire-7540-specifications.html) had no issues with Sketchup or TurboCAD Pro 12, but could not run any 'new' freeware cad programs. It would basically just pack up from exhaustion at trying to open a drawing created with ease in Sketchup or TC. I only replaced it because the graphics card died. I now have a Dell of slightly better spec, but still old and nowhere near what you'd call high end.