SFF pc needed for CAD

[mattsd]

Hi i am a student and as part of my degree i will need to be using alot of catia,i also use itunes all the time and watch loads of hd films however my current laptop will not run catia very easily, so I've mocked up a plan for a sff pc. please any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Case:
Antec NSK1300 MATX Cube Case Black/Silver - With 300W PSU

Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H Motherboard Core 2 Extreme Socket 775 Intel G33 Micro ATX Gigabit LAN

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz 1333FSB Socket 775 4MB Cache Retail Boxed Processor

Memory:
Total of 4gb, Corsair 2GB Kit (2x1GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 Memory
obviously buying two kits to make the 4gb.

DVD-RW
HP DVD1040i 20x DVD±RW/RAM Lightscribe Black Retail Box

Hard-Drive
Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM

Graphics:
EVGA 8800GTS SuperClocked 320MB DDR3 DVI PCI-E Graphics Card


However Am also willing to have this case:
Aplus Blockbuster Storm Black Windowed MATX Case - With 220mm Top Fan - No PSU

with this PSU:
Corsair HX Series 520W Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC

But only if opinions say that it would be a better choice.

Will also hopefully, if they will fit, be adding an extra usb card into the back and a creative sound card, otherwise i have usb hub and will get usb sound card.

Many Thanks
Mattsd

[kalniel]

I think a 300W PSU would limit your options too much - the latter would be a better choice in that respect. As would an Aspire X Q-pack with i's 450W supply.

[staffsMike]

I don't think the 300w PSU would be up to it.

Otherwise looks pretty good. If it isn't heavy on the graphics card and you don't play games then the onboard grpahics of that mobo wouldn't be too bad.

There's also an EVGA 630i board coming out with onboard DVI/HDMI and pretty much the best IGP to date. Already available to pre order at a few Etailers.

I would go with the blockbuster rather than the antc and a 450w VX or 520 HX corsair as you've already mentioned.

[Stephen B]

is ther a benchmark that would give an idea of how well catia would run on the little cad machine I have just built ?

Shuttle Sg31G2
e2180 running at 3.2 gig
2 x gig crucial PC2-8500
WD 500gb AAKS
XP Pro
Quadro FX 1400
Shuttle 23-1 card reader
Optiarc Labelflash DVDRW

I use ProE/WIldfire myself and the rig has cost me a total of £450

[uchiha_itachi]

Stephen B, thats quite a nice setup for the price you paid. Should be able to handle most CAD software thrown at it.

As for the request for how well CATIA would run, try downloading a CATIA benchmark test. I found one here:

http://www.d-digest.com/catiadigital.../V2I33CDD.html

Third paragraph down, however the link seems to be broken, might be worth checking back on that site regularly in case they fix it. There is also SPECviewperf, which is a benchmark that tests a range of applications, including CATIA. You can download that here:

http://www.spec.org/gwpg/downloadindex.html

It gives seperate results for each aspect of the benchmark, so you could look at the result obtained for the CATIA part of the benchmark.

Hope that helps.

[0iD]

CATIA as with any CAD proggy is all about number crunching. The rigs I spec for our D.O. running ProE, Mechanica, Inventor, Acad, Mathcad etc are very similar. lol, not too long ago we were running ProE with Ti4200 graphics cards quite hapily

I can't speak for CATIA as I've not used it for a couple of years. But like Steve I'd go for a Quadro FX, probably a FX1500, my one runs Doom3 & COD2 nicely during my lunchour

But in all honesty, in my experience, that rig mattsd will do the job admirably.

[Stephen B]

Specview 10 results summary with 2 threads


Viewset Composite
1 thread Composite
2 thread
3dsmax-04 - 23.17
catia-02 - 29.06
maya-02 - 42.43
proe-04 - 18.04
sw-01 - 33.18
tcvis-01 - 5.04


it will be interesting to see how the sli rig will perform when the case and psu arrives next week, I tried the benchmark on my sd37p2 vista ultimate, and it just reconfirmed how hopeless Vista is at any cad related stuff

10
17
18
10
8

respectively

[DanceswithUnix]

Given I think the Aplus case is butt-ugly, I think I would keep the Antec and downgrade the graphics card. The 8800 has no acceleration for HD movie decode, so your poor CPU has to heat itself up doing all that work. I also doubt a CAD package will use that much graphics power, though I am rather out of date on that.

[0iD]

I tried the benchmark on my sd37p2 vista ultimate, and it just reconfirmed how hopeless Vista is at any cad related stuff

Yeah, we tried one rig with Vista, ProE & Inventor were flaky as can be. Best avoided indeed.

[Webby]

Worth noting that the Antec case doesnt use a standard ATX PSU so replacing it would be a pain/expensive. You have only mentioned "cube" cases so far is this because you want a cube or because you perceive them to be smaller than mini towers? for example the APlus case has a volume of 26 L a Silverstone Tremjin TJ08 has a volume of 28 L not significantly more and it looks 100x better (in my opinion) unless height is an issue. According to Scan the depth of the APlus case is 235mm, not sure if that is correct but if it is then you may have trouble fitting a long graphics card (like the 8800) in the available space. Other cases worthy of a mention would be the Silverstone Sugo series
SG01 - Windowed
SG01 - No window
SG02
SG03

Small and very nice looking, hope this has been helpful.

[staffsMike]

i've just ordered a Tj-08 as it offers the best compromise for size and space.
£44 + a skype phone was the driving force for ordering it though lol.

One case which really interests me is this
[url=http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-087-LL&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=187]Lian Li PC-A05B Aluminium Midi-Tower - Black[/url

Same size as the TJ-08 or there about's but it actually houses full ATX due to a very odd interior.
The airflow is backwards, the motherboard is upside down and PSU goes in the front but a lot of people rather them very highly.
Theres space for an add in fan to cool the grpahics card and all in all it looks super high quality.

As far as cube cases go the silverstones are very nice to look at but have seriously limited space for HSF's which is my major put off.

This is the best cube case imo.
Aerocool Cube Case > M40 - No Psu- Coolest Cube Case On The Planet- All Black - XCASE No1 For pc computer cases, atx cases & rackmount cases

you can fit anything you like in there as long as it's a uATX motherboard.

Theres a decent amount of room in the bottom for good HSF's (scythe mini ninja will fit ) it has a front 120mm fan, and room for adding a second along side it if you desire extra cooling (ghetto mod of course lol) 3 x 80mm exhaust fans.. pretty much perfect. If the TJ-08 wasnt so cheap i'd have got this case.

[Webby]

Mike probably worth knowing that the TJ-08 120mm fans are quite loud (at least mine were!) so it's probably worth getting some replacements if you value quiet!

Oh and for anybody considering one the isn't a lot of room between the PSU and 5.25" bays so make sure you don't get an overly long PSU or DVD, my Corsair HX520 and Optiarc DVD fit in nicely with a couple of inches of space but I wouldn't want much less than that to fit cables! Removable motherboard tray helps with setting it all up though.

All in all I would recommend the case looks great, build quality is excellent (but watch out the PCI blanking plates are sharp!), small and quiet (with replacement fans!)

[staffsMike]

I thought they would be, i'm probably going to get some sharkoon silent eagles or s-flex fans for it (might have to get a rainbow led fan though as its for a girl lol)

I'm getting the corsair VX and a samsung dvd writer so far. I did think i'd need a short dvd writer and the samsungs are pretty short..wondering whether to go with the optiarc though..hmm

[Webby]

I have a silver/Brushed Alu TJ08 and the silver faced Optiarc while not matching perfectly doesn't look intrusive. Obviously this is less of an issue with a black case after all how many different blacks can you get... actually don't answer that!

I have Akasa Amber 120mm fans in mine and they do a reasonable job and are quiet the loudest things in the case are the dvd and hard drives.

[Stephen B]

well the cheap cad project has now been reconfigured and will be complete in a few days hopefully [tbh it was just a ruse to the missus as to why I was building yet another PC ]

bought an e6850 and an SSC 8800GT is on order, gonna slap the little minx onto my 46" LCD and have some Crysis fun next weekend, the big rig is just a bit to bulky and cumbersome to relocate next to telly unfortunately

[staffsMike]

I hope your LCD scales well or is low resolution because at the moment its a pig of a game to get decent frame rates on.