New PC.

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Have decided to relegate my oldest pc and would like to get one built by MESH Computers. It would be mainly for use with Solidedge but could be used for other areas [ like Blu Ray ect] I have decided on the following specs but could / would change any if needed. This is only the core elements

ASUS x99 11 Motherboard, CPU Intel i7 6850 k Extreme, Memory 64GB Corsair 3000mhz DDR4 Graphics card 8 GB GeForce GTX1070 Drives 250GB SATA 111 SSD and 1 TB SATA 111 HDD. According to MESH all these are compatible with each other, so what are some of the pc Savvy members thoughts. Im out of my depth with computers, so have to be guided by others more "clued up"

I did think of the Quadro 8 GB PNY Quadro m4000 Graphics card but since the machine will have other uses I switched it. to the one mentioned.

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

That should handle anything you could possibly throw at it without breaking into a sweat. From what I can see, CAD programs are much more flexible these days, so you can use std gaming graphics cards rather than having to buy the dedicated CAD cards. Previously they would refuse to work in high res mode unless they were shown the "right" hardware.

I bought a 2GB Quadro K620 (£140 from Scan) for my desktop two years ago but TBH I needn't have bothered. I've been able to install and run Inventor, Solidworks and Fusion on a variety of laptops for myself and our sprogs (both studying mech eng and using SW). As long as they had gaming graphics cards in them, Solidworks' RealView graphics was happy to run. I expect it's probably the same for SE. And of course the likes of Fusion 360 and Onshape don't demand anything special.

Murray

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Cheers Murray, so I would be fine with what I reckoned ? I am not sure about this Windows 10 though, Its 64 bit Pro, but I like the tried and tested XP Pro 64 bit. Some people like it and some don't . I hope i'm not one of those that don't. Will also have to upgrade my software to the Windows 10 64 bit. Still thats the way it is.

Cheers.

[MuzzerParticipant @muzzer]

Yes, you really shouldn't struggle with what you specified. It's possibly a bit OTT but that was never a reason to downgrade!

I like W10 and W7. Just as well, as you can't really avoid them in a professional environment. If you want a modern "enterprise" laptop that can run mainstream engineering and CAD programs you don't get much choice. I just live with it. It's a tool.

This laptop is a Dell XPS15 touchscreen with i7, 16GB and Nvidia GTX960M, running W10/64. It may not be a workstation as such but is perfectly capable of doing the sort of fairly simple assemblies I work with at home or at work. The kids have similar spec ultrabook laptops with graphics cards (an MSI G60 Ghost Pro and an HP Spectre X360) that are capable of running the likes of Solidworks, Matlab etc – and playing games at a decent frame rate!

Murray

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Thanks Murray. I will tell MESH to go ahead with those specs.

[Gordon Brown 1Participant @gordonbrown1]

Mesh? Never again! Ordered a high spec pc from them, paid, waited, waited, waited, emailed, phoned, phoned, emailed, etc, etc. No sign of pc or refund. Eventually the credit card company had to do a claw back, took four months of hassle and aggravation. Built it myself for less than Mesh quoted, wish I'd done that in the first place. Mesh do build good pcs but their customer service has an abject reputation.

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Hi Gordon, you have got me thinking now. Most reviews are positive, certainly great Pc’s. will have to investigate a bit further.
Cheers.

[Mark CParticipant @markc]

Solidedge should provide some advice on build spec for specific applications. When I get new machines I always check compatibility with Solidworks on the tech support portal to ensure I am getting a suitable machine rather than just getting a machine with lots of bells and whistles…

Mark

[RainbowsParticipant @rainbows]

I run solidworks and haven't hit my laptops limit using 16gb of ram on an old Lenovo laptop with integrated graphics card. I don't think solidedge is too different from solidworks? You could probably design an entire trident submarine on that rig.

 

From their website

https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_gb/products/solid-edge/design/system_requirements.shtml

• Recommended system configuration
  • 64-bit Windows 7 or Windows 10 operating system
  • 8 GB RAM or more
  • True Color (32-bit) or 16 million colors (24-bit)
  • Screen Resolution: 1280 x 1024 or higher, widescreen format

• Minimum system configuration
  • Any of the above 64-bit operating systems
  • 2 GB RAM or more
  • 65K colors
  • Screen Resolution: 1280 x 1024 or higher
  • 5.0 GB of disk space is required to install Solid Edge

Edited By Rainbows on 01/01/2017 17:34:02

[Gordon Brown 1Participant @gordonbrown1]

Couple of thoughts about the spec, 64GB of ram is a touch excessive and I would be tempted to reduce that to 32GB at most, probably 16 GB, and invest the money saved into a larger ssd, I went for a 750GB Samsung Evo. You should also consider running two conventional hds in a mirrored RAID configuration for data storage. Few things more frustrating than losing data due to a hd crash! I've gone for the nuclear attack approach, two external Synology nas systems, each with 2x2TB drives (mirrored) and each with a 2TB usb drive attached. One NAS is used as the primary storage drive accessible from anywhere on the home network and this is backed up to all of the other nas and usb drives twice per day. The system sends me email confirmation of backup success or otherwise. The primary nas also backs up to three hard drives on other pcs on the network once per day, so I have a total of 9 copies of all essential files. Overkill? You wont think so when your primary data drive goes belly up. Happened to me three times over the years but the last time I just did a hot swap of the duff drive after getting an email advice.

At the very least you should consider investing in a Synology Diskstation, best backup solution I've found so far!

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Thanks guys. As I said its also ro be used for other tasks ie Blu Ray I have a load of my Ice hockey matches to transfer to Blu Ray. although its primary role will be Solidedge. As long as it is not “underpowered” Im actually not sure what would be more CPU intensive Cad or the Blu Ray tasks.

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Thanks Gordon I will reduce the RAM as long as it is not detrimental to the Blu Ray work. So I suppose what im after is a machine that can handle both tasks ( not at the same time) I want to make sure I am not underpowered I would rather be overpoweed than under .

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

"Couple of thoughts about the spec, 64GB of ram is a touch excessive and I would be tempted to reduce that to 32GB at most, probably 16 GB, and invest the money saved into a larger ssd"

Good advice Gordon I absolutely agree. Raymond, I am going through the same selection process but I have decided to buy the bits and slap one together myself. Its going to be "interesting" as I have not put a PC together for about ten years and stuff has moved on. Most of it I have a grip of but the choice of cooling for a core i7 6700 machine is causing many ponders – should I go wet or stay dry? Stuff like that! ———Rik

[Dan CarterParticipant @dancarter89683]

Raymond,

I also agree re: the memory. I will also add that the most noticeable performance increase I got out of a PC was when I had twin SSDs in Raid 0 (Striping) for the main OS and data drive. I would only consider this though if you have a thorough back up strategy via NAS or similar as suggested by Gordon.

Agree also about Mesh – I had an extremely poor experience with them a few years ago, and am now unable to get them to remove me from their mailing list.

I hesitate to recommend anyone as experiences differ so much, but despite a couple of hiccups I have generally been happy with PC specialist for my last 3 machines (2 desktops, one laptop)

Dan

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Thanks Rik /Dan. I have added PC specialist to my list as they also have a custom build.
Will try to configure one from their website later and then post on here. Will reduce the RAM to 32GB .as that by consensus appears to be enough.
I certainly would not be able to put one together I know that for sure.

[Mark CParticipant @markc]

I needed a decent spec laptop a while back and got one from "Workstation Specialist" **LINK** on the recommendation of my software vendor. They will build to order and support is second to none. They built my laptop to suit the software and and my area of practice and it has been faultless in all respects.

Mark

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Hi Mark, Thanks for the link looks very good gear. That will be another firm to try. I will have it all decided by the end of the day . Will change any area if the consensus says it would be better , this or that..

cheers.

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

This is what im starting with from PC Specialist, CPU Intel i7 Quad i7-6700K 4GHZ 8MB. Nvidia Ge Force GTX 1080. HD Samsung 850evo 500GB [ x 2 ] Ram 64 GB Kingston Hyper X Predator Quad 3000Mhz XMP.

That should handle both me Solidedge and the Blu Ray work. I am willing to alter the specs as long as I have plenty of muscle , I don;t want to be "underpowered " better a touch over, rather than under.

cheers

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Just noticed , I can have a second Video card ! what is the purpose of 2 ?

[Rik ShawParticipant @rikshaw]

The two will power two separate screens but for a nice wrap around effect for flight sims three would be even better……….Rik

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Thanks Rik, I'm not needing 2 screens, so will forget about the 2nd card.

[Gary WoodingParticipant @garywooding25363]

I too thought I had no need for a second monitor, until somebody upgraded and chucked their old one in my direction. Rather than dump it I connected it up, put my CAD system on the original, and set the "spare" as the desktop. I can do all the normal housekeeping on the desktop and have an uncluttered screen on the original.

Try it and you'll be hooked.

(PS. My video card is a humble NVIDIA GeForce GT 705, but it can drive 2 monitors by itself)

[Dan CarterParticipant @dancarter89683]

Raymond,

That card will actually run 4 monitors on its own. Two cards can be run together for additional graphics performance (high end gaming etc) but one should easily do you.

I would seriously think about trying more than one monitor though – I have run 4 for years and it makes a huge difference e.g. (for programming) one for editor, one for debugger, one for running app, one for email.

I would never go back
Dan

[Raymond AndersonParticipant @raymondanderson34407]

Thanks Gary / Dan

If that card is good enough I will stick with 1 card. I would have no need for a 2nd monitor. As long as that specs are good enough for the tasks I have outlined.

cheers

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