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Computer specs for running mastercam


3DGee
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I kept hearing that Nvidia quadro was the the way to go and I’m sure it works good but it’s very pricey . I ended up going with a AMD Radeon 7130WX 8gb  for my graphics card  , windows 10 pro 64bit , 32 gb of RAM , Intel Xeon 8 core processor 3.2 ghz with a turbo boost 5ghz .  I put all this in a Dell 7740 precision laptop . It works very well with mastercam and solid works .  I hope this was helpful to anyone trying to figure out what to buy .  You can put your own laptop together on www.dell.com . 

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Unless you need the portability that a laptop offers i suggest steer clear of Laptops, its hard to find many budget friendly laptops that can support a full sized graphics card. so you end up paying almost twice as much on the build. If your computers just gonna sit at work all the time i think its best to go desktop, plus they typically have better cooling options and much better for future upgrades. for those that work from home though or need portability then obviously there is no point to go with a desktop because no one wants to have to haul something like that around but i have seen at least a handful of times where a company purchases a laptop for an application that a desktop could have been in and they could have got about 2x the performance for a desktop of the same price point.

I have been with my company for years, and for years i used a laptop, but this year i got my first desktop since they were upgrading systems and i Love this thing, i have a nice Gaming keyboard (with really nice switches - you cant find keyboards like this on laptops) and this is the best pc i have ever worked with (and this pc probably was like i said half the cost of my dell workstation laptop that i used the years prior). - well you can plug any keyboard into a laptop but i mean not the built in keyboards, those are normally those little thin keys that are squashed together to take up less space

Much of this is probably obvious, but wanted to mention it anyways because after I have been using laptops for years and now using this Desktop i am very impressed with how well this desktop works. The only problem with this desktop is it dont fit in my computer bag like my laptop did lol but thats ok because they still let me use the old laptop whenever i want to work from out of the office. 

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at my work, my one friend co-worker needed a new computer so they enlist the help of our purchaser to buy a computer, guy knows absolutely nothing about mastercam. so he buys this like word processing computer with 500 gigs of harddrive space, full on microsoft office, 4 gigs of ram, dont even know the processor. im sure an integrated graphics card. what a waste of 1000 bucks. was an hp.(  im surprised mastercam can even run on only 4 gig memory, but he does say it crashes a lot )

so then another friend co-workers computer goes down, hes asking me which one to buy and our plant supervisor is also looking. i choose the one i would get, but of course my supervisor has the final say. he gets an acer with an i7 with 8 gigs memory, 1 gig dedicated video not too bad for him because he programs lathes. again 1000 bucks.

so i knew my budget go in and tell my boss i need a new computer. he was like, ok i will get our purchaser and supervisor to look for one for you. i straight up told him no i would pick it out myself because they dont know what specs i want. so finally i find a refurb at best buy i7,  16 gigs memory, 2 gig dedicated video. same price. colin told me to put another 16 gigs of memory into it, but would probably be out of my pocket but whatever.

just saying this because some people even using mastercam have no idea what it really needs.

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On 1/24/2020 at 4:04 PM, 3DGee said:

I kept hearing that Nvidia quadro was the the way to go and I’m sure it works good but it’s very pricey . I ended up going with a AMD Radeon 7130WX 8gb  for my graphics card  , windows 10 pro 64bit , 32 gb of RAM , Intel Xeon 8 core processor 3.2 ghz with a turbo boost 5ghz .  I put all this in a Dell 7740 precision laptop . It works very well with mastercam and solid works .  I hope this was helpful to anyone trying to figure out what to buy .  You can put your own laptop together on www.dell.com . 

I'm not sure if it has changed, but Mastercam typically doesn't like AMD cards, just an FYI.

 

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On 1/24/2020 at 5:36 PM, Grimes said:

at my work, my one friend co-worker needed a new computer so they enlist the help of our purchaser to buy a computer, guy knows absolutely nothing about mastercam. so he buys this like word processing computer with 500 gigs of harddrive space, full on microsoft office, 4 gigs of ram, dont even know the processor. im sure an integrated graphics card. what a waste of 1000 bucks. was an hp.(  im surprised mastercam can even run on only 4 gig memory, but he does say it crashes a lot )

just saying this because some people even using mastercam have no idea what it really needs.

Thas a not gonna work so good,..

Been running the laptop in my sig for a couple years now

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For the cost of a decent laptop you can have two desktops that work better, one for at work and one for at home.  Choose your processor based on this benchmark:

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

Get a decent Quadro if you can afford it, but in my experience unless you're working on huge models Mastercam works fine on GeForce gaming cards.  A $300 GeForce card will be way better than a $300 Quadro if you're budget constrained.

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9 minutes ago, Matthew Hajicek™ - Conventus said:

For the cost of a decent laptop you can have two desktops that work better, one for at work and one for at home.  Choose your processor based on this benchmark:

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html

Get a decent Quadro if you can afford it, but in my experience unless you're working on huge models Mastercam works fine on GeForce gaming cards.  A $300 GeForce card will be way better than a $300 Quadro if you're budget constrained.

I totally agree!

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16 hours ago, 5th Axis CGI said:

When you're jumping around too as many different customers and places as I am a Laptop is really my only choice.

^^this^^

gotta be able to pack my chit in the messenger bag and hit the road,

someone asked me once what was the best part of being on-site, my answer was not having to punch in/out on their time clock

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we got new computers back in sept. 2017 and was using X9 and they seemed fine but when we moved up to 2019/20 we started having issues they are Dells our IT guy spec'd out. According to our re-seller they are not up to specs, our IT has since quit and our new IT guy is supposed to be working with our re-sellers to get new ones have yet to see the specs on them. 

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The problem with Dell is you are better off buying a fast i7 or i9 and Dell doesn't build i7 or i9 workstaions

All the good Dell workstations run Xeon now.

I quit buying Dells about 6 years ago and was amazed at the performance difference (running Mastercam)

between a plain Jane i7 machine and my old high dollar Dell

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  • 5 months later...

I'd be interested in seeing people's specs of what work and what doesnt. We just talked the boss into buying new pcs as we get ready to go to 2021, and I wanna buy something that works and is faster than the xeon w5580 I have now. 

Oh yeah, also prebuilt, or should I build it myself?

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4 minutes ago, milehighxr said:

I'd be interested in seeing people's specs of what work and what doesnt. We just talked the boss into buying new pcs as we get ready to go to 2021, and I wanna buy something that works and is faster than the xeon w5580 I have now. 

Oh yeah, also prebuilt, or should I build it myself?

You're gonna get a ton of answers and some will be wrong for you...what kind of work do you need it to do?

Spec's for a 2D heavy workload vs a mold or complex 5 axis will have very different spec's

Generally speaking, get an I7 or I9, the fastest bus speed you can afford, 32 gigs minimum of RAM, 64/128 for heavy work.....if I am spec'ing a computer, I am buying a Quardo card period.  Here again, work dictates how powerful...

It's a work computer, I would never build, buy something that has a warranty AND support

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53 minutes ago, milehighxr said:

I'd be interested in seeing people's specs of what work and what doesnt. We just talked the boss into buying new pcs as we get ready to go to 2021, and I wanna buy something that works and is faster than the xeon w5580 I have now. 

Oh yeah, also prebuilt, or should I build it myself?

Agreed,  i7 or i9, 32gb ram minimum. Probably a Quadro P5000 minimum. But on the contrary, I would always build myself, however I'm very good with it. Worked in a mold shop where they gave me a slow Dell Precision with a BTX board and constant problems. But, the IT guy was the laziest I've ever seen. If you already talked the boss into it then start high, nice PCs are worth it in this field. 

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On 1/24/2020 at 3:04 PM, 3DGee said:

I kept hearing that Nvidia quadro was the the way to go and I’m sure it works good but it’s very pricey . I ended up going with a AMD Radeon 7130WX 8gb  for my graphics card  , windows 10 pro 64bit , 32 gb of RAM , Intel Xeon 8 core processor 3.2 ghz with a turbo boost 5ghz .  I put all this in a Dell 7740 precision laptop . It works very well with mastercam and solid works .  I hope this was helpful to anyone trying to figure out what to buy .  You can put your own laptop together on www.dell.com . 

Nowadays when someone says, "Dude, you got a Dell?", they are saying it with a look of disgust on their face.

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When I bought my latest computer ( see siggy below)

I looked real hard at XI Computers

I nearly bought one, but then I found an Boxx Apex S3 at the Boxx reBoxx store

I paid $2400 for the machine in my siggy.

It came with a Quadro 2000. I upgraded to an RTX4000 , added a 1 gig solid state storage drive  and sold the Quadro 2000 to a co worker.

I've got about $4K into it and its a nice machine.

If I had to find fault with it, it's a little noisy. I don't know if it's the radiator fans for the liquid cooling system

or fans on the video card.

Boxx machines are not cheap but I've found them to be very good machines

My employer has 10 of them ranging for 2 to 7 years old. All are still in service and we have not had trouble

with any  them.

This is my second Boxx machine for my home office. 

 

 

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In early March I built a new desktop system for my home office.

One of the main criterion was to be as silent as possible and I have achieved that.  I can't hear the computer fans unless I am doing something that is very graphics intensive.

I9-9900K Processor 3.6 GHz, Overclocked to 4.6

ASUS ROG Maximus Mother board

64 GB RAM

Samsung 1TB m.2 SSD

Seasonic FOCUS Plus 750 Gold power supply

Fractal design Define R5 Mid tower silent case

Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler (not liquid cooled)

Windows 10 Pro

Nvidia K1200  The graphics card is the weakest link, but it doesn't slow me down too much.  I had this card in my last desktop.  I run 4 monitors, one 32 inch and three 24 inch.

 

I was a little leery of overclocking and don't like being on the bleeding edge but 4.6 runs solid and cool all day long.  I ran it through a bunch of stress tests before leaving it at 4.6.

 

My cost for this rig was around $1,800.00 without keyboard, mouse and monitors (which I already had)

 

Benchmark 3.0 looks like about 3.5 minutes

image.png.ddf76408e928fa74804ec3e3cf7caf9d.png

 

I have a company supplied Dell 7530 laptop that I use when I am in the field.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The plan is to replace my PC first(we have 4 potentially that may need replacement). Another crucial part of the plan is to get at least 5 yrs out of these next PCs. I've worked in plenty of shops that have had PCs that were 5yrs old still quite able to get the job done, and only choke, or slow down when doing solids, while running verify on multi axis(usually nothing too festive, just 3+1, or 3+2)  I know whatever I get, even if it is at the low end of the spectrum, it will be faster than what I have now which is:

Xeon W5580 3.2GHz

44gb pc12800 ddr3

ssd for boot drive(dunno what it is)

Nvidia GeForce GT440 1gb

This was apparently bought back in Sept. to replace something else and was about $1k as I understand it. It was a refurbished unit.

We've already told the boss that the next box won't be cheap, close to $2k or so. I would like to start with the first one being as close to Mastercam minimum specs as possible, but it will have at least 64gb ram.

One thing I'm curious about and I will need to look at more, is the graphics. I know Mastercam wants the Quadro cards, but I have run it in the past on GeForce cards with no issues. After only a few minutes of specing out a few different PCs, it seems to me that I may not save enough money to justify not getting the quadro card.

99% or what we do is basic 3 axis work, with some surfacing. I haven't created any models in quite awhile so I have to remember how to do it. 99% of our files have solid models in them(usually only the part), and we have started saving temp copies of the files locally to reduce network(thats a whole nother issue). And we've set the Toolpaths memory allocation to 80% for Mastercam in the config.

 

Keep the advice, and rig specs coming, this is helpful as I haven't bought a PC in over 3yrs.

 

 

 

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