Thread: thinking of upgrading / video card or cpu ?

it looks like i'll be doing more revit work in the future so i am thinking of improving my pc to cope better, at the minute its slow when initially changing floor plans and 3d views. my current system has 16gb ram, intel i5 750@2.67 cpu and a 512mb radeon HD5670 video card. i'm sure i read that revit is more cpu orientated rather than video so would i see any improvement in upgrading the video card, or would i be better going to a i7 cpu. would there be a noticeable difference after upgrading either?

The i5-750 uses an LGA 1156 socket, which limits your upgrade options to the i7-8xx series unless you upgrade the motherboard as well. The i7-880 will be a bit faster, though one problem is gonna be finding one for sale somewhere reputable. Maybe ebay? This isn't going to be a huge performance increase, just a little bump. About as fast as an i5-2400.

If you upgrade the motherboard, then you could pickup the i7-3770k for ~$330, or $230 if you live near a Micro Center. The motherboard will run you about $100-150. You may or may not need to pick up some different ram as well, which will be another $100. That would be a huge upgrade in speed.

This all assumes you're comfortable assembling computer parts. If not, it may make more sense to just get a new computer.

The video card you have is adequate. An upgrade there will be even less noticeable unless you work a lot in 3d views with shadows.

looks like its not worth the cpu upgrade then, i have ordered a quadro 2000 video card, and i will wait and see how much revit work comes in and then possibly upgrade the motherboard and cpu then.

Originally Posted by paul1966

i have ordered a quadro 2000 video card

Hope you kept the receipt. It's no faster than what you have, unless you got the Quadro K2000.

ok i have decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my current pc, i have found a i7-3770k bundle with either a asus P8Z77 or for a bit cheaper a asus P8H61. i am keeping my 16 gig ddr3 ram. the psu i have is 560 watts will that be ok? also is there a big difference between the motherboards, the p8h61 is £40 uk pounds / 60 usd cheaper. any thoughts?

You won't be able to overclock on the P8H61 board. There are a lot of variations on the P8z77 board, so it's hard to say if any one is good. Asus is a good brand, so it should be fine either way. One thing you do want to check is the size of the motherboard. I brought home a full sized ATX board once only to find my case would only fit a micro ATX board. The easy way to tell without measuring, Micro ATX's are square, ATX's are rectangular.

As far as power, the i7-3770k uses LESS power than the i5-750.

good point about the micro atx, just checked and mine is a micro atx but the case is larger so it will fit a full size atx too. i think i'll order the P8Z77 board any way. thanks for our help.

If you are going to overclock, that 560 watt psu might be adequate or might not, depending on the quality. You might want to get a good 650 watt from Antec, Corsair or Seasonic, if you have extra funds. Ya, and don't waste money on that Quadro. Don't put too much stock into the marketing speak that is often thrown around on the virtues of the "pro" vs the "gamer" cards - performance may be superior in some select instances, but not worth the extra expense. If you really need a faster gpu, then get a 660ti; other Revit users here have been packing that gpu lately and I think it generally rates pretty well.

not planning on over clocking really, system is built and definitely faster. just wondering what to do about the graphics now, thinking about putting the quadro 2000 back on ebay and using the original HD5670. might swap them around and see if there is any real difference between them.

Let me know if you notice any difference in performance between the two cards. This has been an issue that has continually frustrated me. I am trying to always find out once and for all if workstation-grade cards are worth the money. So far, from all the real use reporting from various sources, generally not, but this doesn't stop the flow of marketing speak. I have compared my GTX 570 to a FirePro V5800, V5900 and a Quadro 5000 in both AutoCAD and Revit, and with the files that I work with, no difference - that is, the kind of operations that bogged my 570 down (rotating, zooming, panning in 3D model space with shadows or realistic turned on), were not one whit faster or smoother with those pro cards (CPU's, RAM, and other specs. were the same or equivalent) I was really expecting the 5000 to have an improvement, as that one is (was - now there is the K-series) the second-best Quadro. If anyone can demonstrate where and with what programs a given pro card truly outshines a less expensive gaming card, then I would like to see some proof, not just people rattling off the Autodesk/Nvidia marketing.