Large Scale Central

Computer hardware requirements

Modeling Technical Modeling
#41

Greg Elmassian said:

Jim, I just purchased a laptop that kind of has to do double duty.

I tend to buy computers that will last pretty long, i.e. most people might say “overkill”, but then in 2 years they are still mostly even with the newest and still very serviceable in 5 years.

My present portable machine is a 5th generation Intel i7 but I have been killing it with solidworks files lately. 8 gigs ram.

I figured to get a 6 core i7 and I don’t care about battery life of tons of hours, 99% of the time it is plugged in.

So I also wanted a pretty good graphics card, although remember that most 3d cad programs have very different requirements from gaming, so many people recommending gaming cards when they won’t have that dramatic effect.

I evaluated the Lenovo machines, the 920, the P series, etc, and a few others, and found that the smallest I will wind up with (I always use external monitors except when travelling) would be a 15 inch screen, the 14 inch units just don’t have the higher-end processors.

I wound up ordering an HP Spectre 360 15T, with a 6 core 8700 series i7, and 16 gig ram… most machines have either the built in graphics in the chipset (not great) or an ATI card (not good in the long haul, another discussion) or a very low end Nvidia card (almost same performance as the chipset graphics)… this one has an option for an Nvidia 1050Ti card, this is a very powerful card, and while it’s a good gaming card, it will also support the 3 external monitors I normally use, and at least 2 external 4k monitors.

If I can be of more assistance in giving you what I have learned and the pro’s vs. cons feel free to email me privately, since there’s people on the forum and indeed this thread who have given me grief because I mentioned I have 14 computers as computers are a hobby, and thus my opinions are worthless. So before that person erupts at me again, I’d prefer more details be taken offline.

Greg

p.s. getting rid of 2 computers so slimming down ha ha

Holy mackerel Greg, 14 computers I’m struggling with just 2.

Your slimming down is my total inventory.(https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#42

it is sort of a hobby, and i do have a smart home, and a full blown windows network, and a cnc mill in the garage, and a laptop for programming DCC modules, and a portable computer system for the same (programming my friend’s stuff)… it adds up… and I have pc’s that act as tv’s for streaming video and the local channels… they do double duty as pc’s and tv’s

I have built all the desktops, it’s fun and you can make exactly what you need… the laptops are of course factory…

Greg

#43

After re-reading this twice as suggested by the experts is it possible to model/build without electricity these days ?

Only a thought ?

#44

No. If the power dies, you cease to exist, its all just ones and zeros. On and off. That’s it.

#45

But then when the electrons start flowing again, you exist again.

#46

Yes, but have been rebooted and forget everything…

Don’t get me started, the Atomic Rooster is even more dangerous…

#47

Graeme Price said:

Jim Harris said:

Good score on the Dell XPS.

I need to find something like that to upgrade my old tower.

I have just chucked Mint 18.3 onto an old desktop and I am liking what I am seeing except that samba will not load but that is a question for the mint forum.

#48

Graeme Price said:

Graeme Price said:

Jim Harris said:

Good score on the Dell XPS.

I need to find something like that to upgrade my old tower.

I have just chucked Mint 18.3 onto an old desktop and I am liking what I am seeing except that samba will not load but that is a question for the mint forum.

Jim,

I have now gone to Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon on the old computer and I have found it far better than Windoze for my uses (and samba loaded straight away so I can connect to the really old XP machine where I can run my windoze only programs).

Its faster to open, does not chew up my computer resources and does not come with all the “Bloatware” baggage that comes with Windoze.

For example it open 3 times faster than my Win 10 machine and just works better for my situation, which is not a computer super nerd just someone who wants to look at forums and write a few loco build logs amongst other things.

In fact it is a serious contender for the replacement of Windoze 10 on the main machine or else I will revert to Win 7 which worked far better on the machine.

If you are someone who wants the latest whinze/bang technology hats off to you but if you are like me, a bit of a tecno dinosaur, then Linux is a serious contender in my book.

#49

Graeme,

Linux seems to work fine for me. I tried the other Linux Mint flavors, but I like Cinnamon. On my computer Win 10 boots faster that Linux, but I don’t really care.

Greg,

I was looking at the HP laptops, but went with this one for the wife.

https://store.asus.com/us/item/201707AM210000002/A18490-ASUS-Vivobook-N580VD-DB74T-15.6-inch-FHD-Touch%2C-GTX-1050%2C-Intel-i7%2C-512-GB-SSD%2C-16GB

She loves it, and that is all that matters.

I found a deal on a new tower.

I have already cut out the front of the case, and installed a sata mobile rack to have Linux mint 19, or win10 pro 64bit.

I also cut out the stupid spring loaded door covering the DVD R/W.

Also added a 4TB drive inside formatted ext4 for Linux.

I can’t leave anything stock. Should do anything I need to do.

CPU Intel® CoreTM i7-8700 Processor 6 Cores 3.2-4.6 GHz 12M Cache
Chipset Z370
Motherboard MSI Brand Z370-A PRO
CPU Cooler Proprietary Thermal Kit included
VGA NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5
Memory (GB) 16GB DDR4 (16GB x 1)
LAN 10/100/1000
Wireless Communication Intel® Dual Band Wireless-AC 3168 1x1 802.11ac (433 Mbps)
Audio 7.1 Channel HD Audio
Video Port 1 x HDMI-out, 1 x DisplayPorts, 1 x DVI-D
I/O 1 x front Gen1 Type-C, 2 x front Gen 1 Type-A, 4 x rear Gen1, 2 front (1 with Super Charger 2) + 2 rear
USB 1 x front Gen1 Type-C, 2 x front Gen 1 Type-A, 4 x rear Gen1, 2 front (1 with Super Charger 2) + 2 rear
HDD/SSD 2TB 7200RPM (3.5")
Power Supply 550W 80 Plus

#50

Did you install a backup fan ?

#51

Sean,

No. It isn’t overheating.

#52

I find my fan can get clogged with dust bunnies…at least I know air is moving… I was kind of poking you with a stick… you had everything else in there… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#53

There is a lot in there. Only two add on cards; video, and wifi.

I learned that no matter how hard you try to keep things clean dust will find its way into a computer.

I try to remember to open them up at least a couple times a year to see what is going on.

#54

HDD/SSD 2TB 7200RPM (3.5")?

#55

HDD/SSD: could be configuired with either one.

HDD: spinning disc drive (platter).

SSD: solid state drive no spinning disc. There are also the “M2” that looks kind of like a stick of ram.

2TB is drive capacity. TB is Terabyte.

3.5 refers to drive physical size. A desktop or tower would have a 3.5" drive while a laptop would have a 2.5" drive.

I don’t know if that still applies today.

7200 RPM is the drive speed. Some drives are 5400 RPM.

#56

Only way an SSD is 7200 rpm is if you drop it in a blender… (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

Interesting, the dram is 16x1, normally you want 2 sticks or more to enable dual channel mode in the dram.

Greg

#57

Jim, I thought those were the specs of the new tower machine you purchased. There is no such thing as a 7200RPM SSD. I thought maybe they were slipping you an old SATA drive.

#58

I should have grouped the drive speed with the HDD info.

It does have an old SATA drive! I didn’t pay a lot for it. I don’t think I could have built it myself for what I paid.

An SSD in a blender…that would be fun to watch!

#59

Actually 2.5" ssd drives are turning up in desktops, since there’s no reason they are 3.5"… I’m not even sure if you can buy a modern day SSD in 3.5 any more…

I have a raid 5 array of 8 SSD drives for performance and cost savings… turns out up to 20 times faster than my 7200 rpm drive.

But I have a specific need, it is a media server for photos, videos, music, so you want to “flip through” media quickly, especially since this is a server operating from my house to my mobile devices… (Plex)

Greg