I7-3960x Sketchup experience-Anybody?

onzki · 11 Apr 2013, 15:06

Hi, I'm planning to replace my Dell workstation, Xeon X5690 (16 months old pc) with new i7-3960x Alienware set up. I like how my current Xeon performed until today but my boss wants me to give it my another colleague, so I can get a more powerful one. (Sadly, I need to stick with Dell products only per company policy). I can actually get a Xeon E2665, costing around $1,000 more than the i7. However I'm willing to venture to i7's since it's cheaper and SU currently does not benefit from multicore processors anyway.

Any good testimonials for i7 CPU? I'll use it extensively in landscape design, doing detailed master plan models.
Thanks!

EscapeArtist · 11 Apr 2013, 16:28

Have an i7 system and give it a solid thumbs up, especially when coupled with the OS loaded on an SSD. Day-to-day operations don't really show a lot of difference (like opening a browser or something), but where it really shines is multitasking and rendering (video, apps like Thea, photoshop). I rendered video, used Sketchup, ripped a DVD and browsed the web on the side. It consumed 16GB of memory and the i7 didn't even care.

onzki · 12 Apr 2013, 03:08

@escapeartist said:

Have an i7 system and give it a solid thumbs up, especially when coupled with the OS loaded on an SSD. Day-to-day operations don't really show a lot of difference (like opening a browser or something), but where it really shines is multitasking and rendering (video, apps like Thea, photoshop). I rendered video, used Sketchup, ripped a DVD and browsed the web on the side. It consumed 16GB of memory and the i7 didn't even care.

wow, that's amazing. Glad to know I'm on right path. My system will have 16GB and SSD also. Although my video card will be a GTX660, my old one is Quadro 4000. I hope the video card downgrade won't decrease the performance. Thanks!

solo · 12 Apr 2013, 03:15

@unknownuser said:

Although my video card will be a GTX660, my old one is Quadro 4000.

If it's a 3gb 660 then it is not a downgrade in fact it's a huge upgrade if you are planning to render, animate or do anything besides CAD. Trust me Quadro's are not what they hyped to be, I'll take a GTX anyday.

EscapeArtist · 12 Apr 2013, 13:56

Agreed. I've been using a single GTX 570 up until this point and had no issues. I added a second in SLi a couple of months ago and saw no real gain. You'll be fine with that card.

numerobis · 12 Apr 2013, 19:23

@onzki said:

I'll use it extensively in landscape design, doing detailed master plan models.

Only sketchup or rendering too?

In my experience Sketchup needs the highest single core speed possible to be fast and a good video card. I use an i7 3930K @ 4,6GHz and a GTX 560Ti 2GB on 2560x1440. I'm not sure how the GTX 6xx series performs in sketchup, but judging from the last GTX generation OpenGL "improvements" i would say it should be worse...
http://www.cgarchitect.com/2010/07/cgarchitects-graphics-card-round-up
The old GTX285 and GTX480 are still the kings. Thanks to nvidia!

For 3DSmax a Quadro is the better choice http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/382946-33-quadro-gtx680-hd7970-viewport-performance-fight .

It would be nice to see some new real comparisons (GTX5xx, GTX6xx, Fermi Quadro, Kepler Quadro, Radeon 7xxx/8xxx, FirePro) for sketchup.

So, if you're not able to overclock the cpu (Dell) i would say for

Rendering: 3970X with 3,5GHz and 4 GHz single core Turbo. It's only a bit more expensive than the 3960X (3,4/3,9GHz). Or as cheaper solution the 3930K (3,2/3,8 GHz)
Sketchup only: A high clocked Quad core Ivy Bridge I7 or Xeon - or Haswell, if you can wait til June (will be maybe ~10% faster than Ivy Bridge)
For Ivy Bridge i would say one of these:
Xeon E3-1280V2 4x 3,6GHz Hyperthreaded, Single Core Turbo 4GHz
I7 3770K 4x 3,5GHz HT, Turbo 3,9GHz
Xeon E3-1275V2 4x 3,5GHz HT, Turbo 3,9GHz

onzki · 13 Apr 2013, 04:18

@numerobis said:

@onzki said:

I'll use it extensively in landscape design, doing detailed master plan models.

Only sketchup or rendering too?

Thanks a lot for the details, I'll be using it only for Sketchup, without rendering plugins.. and I don't even activate the shadows because my boss is fine without it, (he's biased with quicker result) .

numerobis · 14 Apr 2013, 11:52

Another Geforce vs Quadro comparison. But as said above, only older versions: GTX480 vs Quadro FX380.
Here the Quadro looks much better than the theoretically stronger Geforce...

onzki · 16 Apr 2013, 03:03

@solo said:

@unknownuser said:

Although my video card will be a GTX660, my old one is Quadro 4000.

If it's a 3gb 660 then it is not a downgrade in fact it's a huge upgrade

Thanks Solo. Right now on my specs is only single 1.50GB GTX660 video card, is this okay? I inquired with Dell here but- the 3GB option if possible only if I upgrade to dual video card configuration, both having 1.50GB- for additinal about 500USD. Is it worth spending with dual graphic card for sketchup? If it's a big performance updrade, I don't mind getting it. Thanks for the advise.

solo · 16 Apr 2013, 03:11

You are great the way you have it if it's only for SU, dual cards have no added value.

onzki · 16 Apr 2013, 18:05

@solo said:

You are great the way you have it if it's only for SU, dual cards have no added value.

Thanks Solo. You saved me a big 500$

onzki · 17 Apr 2013, 02:31

For those who have read this and curious about using dual graphic cards, the thread link below is also a good reference.
http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13326