Comments on: How to Build the Ultimate CAD PC

By: Luke

Luke — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 13:24:42 +0000

In reply to Andrew McIntyre. Great - this post is a good place to start. You can also see: The best Graphics cards for CAD, and the best Monitors for CAD, The Best CAD Mouse and The best CAD keyboards.

By: Andrew McIntyre

Andrew McIntyre — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 20:26:50 +0000

Was hoping for some help to build a desktop for CAD(Vectorworks architect) and 3-d modeling
It will be my first build and have been told this is the way to go for a CAD system. Looking to spend around $2000. Ay help on the graphic card, CPU, motherboard, tower, memory and liquid cooled or fan,

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 13:28:56 +0000

P.S. Goodluck to your grandson. Hope he has a great engineering career ahead of him 😉

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 13:28:28 +0000

We created this comparison of the best laptops for CAD. And if you don't want to build a PC, we created this comparison for the best CAD workstations.

By: Luke

Luke — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 17:07:51 +0000

In reply to Destiny Parkk. They are usually not the same thing. The system requirements usually states the minimum generic requirements to run software. The certified hardware lists fully tested specific models which the software developer certifies as working with their software.

By: Destiny Parkk

Destiny Parkk — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 16:43:58 +0000

Hi,
I’d like to start off by saying I really love this article! It is very informative, however…

Isn’t System Requirements and Certified Hardware the same thing? Or at least contains nearly the exact same information? I mean they both talk about RAM, CPU’s, Storage, Memory and more. (That is unless I’ve misinterpreted the information incorrectly)

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 03:21:05 +0000

Very informative read. I came with questions and I’m leaving with answers. I’m about to start a build for a friend, this page will surely turn out to be a resource when looking for parts. Thanks!

By: Nishanth

Nishanth — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 15:16:22 +0000

Hi, really liked your article.Please recommend a pc for a cad learner(without gpu). Thanks in advance

By: luke

luke — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 17:51:54 +0000

In reply to Josiah C. Bigg. Maybe in the future but it's not something we can put time to currently.

By: Josiah C. Bigg

Josiah C. Bigg — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 17:44:09 +0000

I was wondering if anyone could possible make a Build Guide on PC Part Picker and post a link on this page then we could have a general outline. Maybe make a couple different options with differing price ranges. Thanks.

By: luke

luke — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 14:30:39 +0000

In reply to Alex. Check out the Nvidia Quadro K1200. It's affordable and suitable for AutoCAD. It's compared in our run down of the best CAD graphics cards.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 14:03:17 +0000

Hi, Luke.
Could you suggest some solution “price-value” (middle range) for AutoCAD user with only 2D.
I want to buy a 1060 nv, however I am still not sure,will it be more effective to use Quadro series for such tasks with 2D only?
What is your opinion on this?
Thanks!

By: luke

luke — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 14:20:40 +0000

In reply to Ruben Hughes. Hey Ruben! If you keep experiencing crashing you definitely need a change. If you're not confident with building your own PC specification, I would recommend looking at prebuilt CAD workstations. There are some great options out there.

By: Ruben Hughes

Ruben Hughes — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 13:40:51 +0000

Our IT team isn’t or aren’t CAD savvy…(I’m ol’ school, since the DOS days, we had DX 486 turbo speed demon CAD stations)… my current PC drives AutoCAD Civil 3d, GIS, CADworx 2017… NAVISworks, etc… I need to have a fast PC… to generate everything from size D pdf’s to highest resolution graphics… could I reach out to you about how to create the fastest CAD station for me (specwise)… not very happy with what I have… not knowledgeable enough to know if, its the processing power vs. RAM speed vs. graphic size/speed? I truly believe we run inadequately (crashing… generating takes too long… etc.) but, I need proof to present my case… could you get back to me via email… thanks

By: Luke Kennedy

Luke Kennedy — Thu, 17 May 2018 14:10:40 +0000

In reply to Andrew Charlton. Thanks for sharing your advice, Andrew!

By: Andrew Charlton

Andrew Charlton — Mon, 14 May 2018 21:11:17 +0000

As someone who is both a gamer and a CAD user I can say that I’ve never encountered issues using my GTX 970, obviously your mileage may vary, but if you find someone saying a particular gaming card works then they are worth considering. Also worth considering getting high amounts of RAM rather than 8GB. Overall a great list though.

By: Luke Kennedy

Luke Kennedy — Mon, 14 May 2018 10:01:02 +0000

In reply to Brian V. Blacka.

Hey Brian – cool – let us know if you notice any issues with our listed compatibility!

By: Brian V. Blacka

Brian V. Blacka — Thu, 10 May 2018 01:43:31 +0000

Ok miss read it will support 8th gen Intel but you can still use 7th.

By: Brian V. Blacka

Brian V. Blacka — Thu, 10 May 2018 01:08:05 +0000

On the mid range system, you pick a i7 7700k CPU
And then pick a Asus Rog Strix z370 I motherboard which only supports 8th gen Intel cpu’s
Or am I miss understanding

By: Luke Kennedy

Luke Kennedy — Tue, 01 May 2018 09:14:34 +0000

In reply to Gene Tauber. This is good advice - As long as you do eventually update the OS. Running an out of date version is going to be bad for performance and security. I believe all Windows versions have this defer option, although it may be more hidden in newer versions.