Desktop Equivalent To CAD Laptop CPU & GPU

wokeye

Hi I'm thinking of making a desktop PC for fairly light Solidworks parts & assemblies.  I currently use a Dell Precision 7710 laptop at work.  I'd imagine its a few years old, its pretty quick, more than what I need.  I won't be using for anything really intense as I'm not amazing with SW.

I just wondered what are the desktop equivalents for these mobile components please?

Intel i7-6920HQ CPU
Nvidia Quadro M5000M

I know that CAD workstations are really expensive, I'm curious to know what these components would cost, they are more than fast enough for what I require.  

Thanks for any help. I tried searching online and couldn't find anything conclusive.

EndlessWaves

It sounds like you're asking about equivalent performance rather than the equivalent position in the range?

The 6920HQ was a 4 core Skylake processor with 2.9Ghz stock speed and 3.4Ghz all core boost.

Equivalent performance would be somewhere between a G5600 and an 8100/9100 depending on how well threaded/cache dependant the workload is. Or the entry level Ryzen models like the 2200G/2400G.


The M5000M was a 3/4 enabled GM204 chip (1536 Maxwell cores) clocked at 975Mhz with 160GB/s memory bandwidth.

Equivalency for GPUs is more difficult because their performance varies much more between workloads. I'm not familiar enough with that software to say but the direct replacement is likely something like the RTX 4000.


If you're only doing the basics I'd be tempted to just leave the graphics card off the list to start with and see how you get on. All of the CPUs mentioned above come with a GPU that's more that enough for most programs.

wokeye

Thanks very much for the info.  I think what I was meaning is comparable in used components, like an old I7.  I'm not great with specs of computers, I just use them.

I was wanting to put together a cheapish CAD PC if that's possible.  I think that Intel are prefered due to how Solidworks is written.  It also uses predominantly one core so I believe.

The GPU is a workstation card for CAD, rendering etc.  I think I need to use a Quadro or the AMD Firepro line.  They are just pretty expensive, so was curious as to what desktop Quadro card compared to the mobile Quadro card as I haven't a clue.

Then again a newer i5 might be better than the cpu listed.  

They are very expensive CAD pc's.  I could buy the laptop mentioned used for about £1000.  I just wondered if I could build a similar spec desktop for a lot cheaper.  But as I mentioned I'll have to use a Quadro or Firepro GPU.

Thanks for the post though its a great help.

dollag

for £1000 used, you could get a much better machine than the laptop mentioned

Intel Core i7 7820X 3.6GHz LGA2066 OEM Procesor Perfect working condition  | eBay

ASUS Intel TUF X299 MK2 Extreme ATX Motherboard DDR4 Socket 2066 4712900775174 | eBay

HyperX Predator 32GB (4x8GB Kit) 3200MHz DDR4 - HX432C16PB3K4/32 689792251342 | eBay

NVIDIA Quadro P2000 5GB graphics card  | eBay

Corsair VS650 650W 80 Plus White Certified PSU ATX Power Supply CP-9020172-UK 843591033336 | eBay

I put this together in around 2 minutes so by no means is the best you can get, but just given you some comparative specs.

amd's are likely better bang for buck also.

EndlessWaves

The equivalent of the same age would be a 6600 or 6700, but processors hold their value due to people buying them for upgrades so they're no cheaper than a brand new 8100 that offers the same performance and potentially more expensive given the more limited motherboard availability.

Generally the mid-range workstation cards are sold on the basis of certified drivers, you pay extra to ensure more thorough bug testing with the software in question. The underlying hardware and capabilities are the same as the consumer cards. There are various other specific features, but generally the software packages work just as well on Radeon and Geforce cards.

As you're considering taking on the extra risk of second hand parts it seems like downtime isn't a big deal so it's certainly worth looking into the possibility.

Delvey

I use a 290x at home for Solidworks, with a Ryzen 2600
It is much quicker than my Work PC, i7 2600k with a Quadro K620

Darren Heal

3D CAD is heavy on GPU demand and not quite so much so on CPU.  Finite element analysis the other way around.  Given you're currently using a laptop I would reckon on the series before latest i7 quad or hex core (8 or 12 CPU) CPU chip, possibly a Xeon processor, or AMD equivalents,16 gigs of RAM with the option to go to 32, and a 512 gig SSD for your software.  Then go for the meanest GPU card you can afford.