Description

I received my new I7-4770K and Asus Z87-Pro yesterday to replace my I5-2500k and Asus P8Z68 V-Pro. I installed all the new parts this afternoon without any problems then used the AI Suite 3 to "Fast Optimize" overclock. It overclocked to a very stable 4.25GHz (125MHz x 34 @ 1.2V Core)

I have already seen a big improvement in 3D rendering in Revit. I have attached a few pics where I rendered the same 244MB 3D BIM model with the I5-2500K and I7-4770K with quality settings on Medium, High and Best. Below are the differences in rendering times:

I5 - Med - 00:57 --- I7 - Med - 00:39

I5 - High - 02:01 --- I7 - High - 01:16

I5 - Best - 06:43 --- I7 - Best - 04:00

I still have the AMD FirePro V4800 installed but will run another benchmark when I receive my NVidea Quatro K4000. I will also rerun the benchmarks on my SSDs to see if there are improvements on the SATA3 ports on the new Z87-Pro motherboard.

Comments

  • 73 months ago
  • 11 points

If you are good with a soldering iron, you can turn a 680 into a k5000. http://i.am.curiousviolet.jp/2013/06/15/hacking-a-gtx680-into-a-quadro-k5000-part-1/

I don't reccomend it though.

  • 73 months ago
  • 3 points

Wow, a very interesting read and thank you for the link. But £350 for a new GTX680 and for the experiment to go wrong could become expensive. I’ll leave that for the brave ;-)

[comment deleted]
  • 73 months ago
  • 4 points

Wanna give a lonley gaming pc-less soul your i5-2500K? :)

  • 73 months ago
  • 2 points

Why buy 3 different SSD's and not just one larger one?

Do you have them in RAID or something?

I like it though, +1

  • 73 months ago
  • 2 points

The 2x 120GB SSDs are in RAID0 and the 60GB SSD was my boot drive before I got the RAID set-up.

  • 73 months ago
  • 0 points

ah, I suspected as much

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Sorry, I just noticed that the rendering pics don't show the timings clearly. The upload has pixelated them a bit.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Nice build!! I cant be the only one that doesnt like taking up a full drive bay for a small SSD though :/

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

I agree... it would be nice if they could bring out a double stack SSD cradle for RAID set-ups.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Curious why you went for the Z87-PRO. Also, what temps are you seeing w/ the 212+? Have you tried setting vclock to 1.25V? 4.2 is relatively mild for the 4770.

Looking to build a CAD station myself, but without a dedicated graphics card. Those are some pretty good renders, I know revit has a tendency to take ages...

  • 73 months ago
  • 4 points

The Z87-Pro is a very good mobo and not much different than the more expensive Deluxe models. Xeon boards and CPUs are just too expensive for my budget. The Z87-Pro has all the features of the other boards and for the mild overclocking I do, it works fine.

For 3D CAD work I need a nice stable system hence the reason I didn't go for a mad overclock. Heat is also a factor with the 4770K so 4.25GHz is mild but fast and stable enough for my requirements. I used the Asus AI Suite 3 to do the optimized OC and these figures were all configured my the mobo software. It calibrates the CPU, RAM and fans all in one go. Excellent features on the new Asus boards.

Temperatures are definitely up compared to my I5-2500K. My I5, also OC'ed to 4.2GHz, idled around 20C where the I7 is at 30C. My PC is never under continious load but the highest I had the I5 was 58C and the I7 55C. The I5 worked a bit harder and longer to render than the I7 thats why it probably ran hotter. The 212+ does very well keeping it cool and I still have the option to add another fan to it but so far it's not required.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

I would love to learn how to use that CAD program. I'm taking an engineering class in high school right now and the teacher is super strict and stern. So, every time someone asks him a question, he'll just get impatient and start yelling at us. The entire class is confused on how to do anything in SolidWorks because he goes so fast and blames us for not paying attention. That's public education for ya.

I'm seeing a lot of CAD builds on here. Are you all engineers or just enthusiasts who enjoy the program?

  • 73 months ago
  • 2 points

Revit is amazing software once you learn to use it properly but it will drive you mad and frustrated in the beginning because it is very complicated. It is sad that your teacher is so impatient because he is just wasting your and his own time. You will not get to grips with SolidWorks or Revit with these teaching methods. They are complicated to learn from scratch and the way he is teaching it, you will rather learn to hate the software than to enjoy it.

Don't let this teacher ruin your ambition to learn CAD. I would recommend to do the course at an authorised Autodesk training facility after school and then just sleep in his class, LOL.

I'm a Mechanical & Electrical CAD engineer for the last 18 years, starting off designing fishing vessles in South Africa using MicroStation/AutoShip and now in the UK for the last 14 years working on various M&E projects.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Are you an architect?

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

As above...

I'm a Mechanical & Electrical CAD engineer for the last 18 years, starting off designing fishing vessles in South Africa using MicroStation/AutoShip and now in the UK for the last 14 years working on various M&E projects.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Nice! +1!

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

dat usb 3.0 pass through

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Are you refering to the small black drive next to the PSU? That is an portable USB3.0 1TB Samsung M3 drive I use as a backup drive that does incremental backups each day.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

There's a lot of dust in your PC...

+1 for a nice build though

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

I'm growing a little garden to produce more oxygen for the CPU, LOL.

To be honest, my PC is actually very clean and dust free. I don't know how I forgot or missed the lower drive and the drive bay above (ashamed). I want to remove that bay anyway and tidy up the cables behind. I just didn't have time yesterday after installing the new parts.

Sorry if I offended all the anti-dust gods ;-)

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

ahaha, all is forgiven ;)

Can I suggest adding some dust filters to your intake fans? Maintenance is soooooooooooooooooooooo much easier with them.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

I have the Fractal Define R3 case and the fans in the front do come with filters. I clean them regularly as they clog up very quickly. The side panel is perforated to add another fan but it does not have a filter so I think that is the main culprit for dust inside.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Nice to see a work station for 3D CAD & Revit on here. I wish I had a Quadro K5000 $1849.99 is pretty steep

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Thanks Patrick, I wish I could get the K5000 as well but it's too expensive. I will be ordering the K4000 which is a lot cheaper and will be more than adequate for my needs.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Do you have any suggestions for a build for Revit and autocad???

Do you use multi monitors?

I would like to have two monitors eventually

I use two at work and love it

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

Hi Patrick,

My I5 spec PC ran AutoCAD like a dream but did struggle a bit with Revit when I did rendering hence why I bought the I7. It all depends what level of detailing and rendering you do in CAD. The I5 does cope with Revit in normal modelling but only struggles with rendering.

AutoCAD is more RAM based where Revit is CPU based in processing. If you want to cover both software in one go, I would recommend the I7 with 16GB of RAM. I would also recommend SSD drives in RAID. Revit models can get huge but my RAID setup opens them in a flash.

I work on a single 24" screen and prefer this. I worked on a 2 monitor setup before but it felt like I was watching tennis the whole day, LOL.

  • 73 months ago
  • 1 point

thanxs for your input. If it is setup I guess u can open two view in revit. I have a laptop i7 and 16 gigs handles both well. I have used laptop and another monitor works okay. Can u see my build components on here? Was thinking the Corsair Obsidian case???

  • 62 months ago
  • 1 point

Really nice choice of parts, I just find it difficult to look at due to the lack of theme and colour coding. Either way, nice build! +1