Question for CAD/Photoshop/3ds powerusers re hardware

[sobek]

Hi,

 

i'm building a system for a friend who wants to use it for gaming as well as CAD/PS but knows nothing about hardware. I'm only knowledgeable about audio software, so my question is, how do current gaming graphics cards handle applications like CAD and PS, is there an increased demand in vRAM compared to gaming? Does one of the two GPU brands fare better with graphics software (drivers, architecture, *younameit*)?

 

Are there loads on other parts of the system that would not occur when gaming (ergo, is there any part of the system i need to oversize vs a gaming machine?).

 

Your input is very much appreciated.

 

cheers

Edited February 16, 2012 by sobek

[Madman777]

Hey Sobek,

 

I recently built a CAD/3D Max render machine for my co-worker.

 

I bought ATI Firepro v8800 2GB + 16GB RAM.

 

It's using a Core i7 CPU @ 2.8Ghz.

 

I can't really compare to what other machines do because I've only built one, but this machine does great at CAD and rendering 3D stuff, and it does it really fast as well.

 

Problem is the ATI Firepro is a $1300 video card. Ouch.

 

Edit - The 16GB of RAM was vital. Any less and the viewports would lag a lot.

[Total]

It depends on what type of CAD program he is going to be using. Orcad, AutoCad, TurboCAD, etc?

 

It also depends on what he's going to be designing.

 

I have a GTX460, E9650 CPU, and 8GB DDR2-1066 and my system works well for all of my CAD & PS needs. Just depends on what's being worked on.

[sobek]

It depends on what type of CAD program he is going to be using. Orcad, AutoCad, TurboCAD, etc?

 

I'll ask.

 

It also depends on what he's going to be designing.

 

Architecture related, as far as i can tell.

[asparagin]

I can speak for 3ds max:

 

1. the more cores the better

2. RAM: above 8 (WIN 64 evidently) 16 is welcomed.

3. Nvidia supports an alternative rendering method (iray) but not a show stopper for ATI users.