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I Need To Build A New PC


CNC_Newbie
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Hey guys, I need to build a new PC,. A desktop that can run Mastercam well. Where is a good place to find what spec are recommended for a PC to run Mastercam well?

 

I was thinking Desktop, do you folks use desktops or laptops?  Please elaborate on what specs you are using. 

 

I am assuming the more threads the better, lots of Ram, and lots of GPU speed.  I'm thinking a workstation for 3D rendering is what's needed. Please correct me if I am wrong.

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Benchmark 3.0

This is a good place to start

The thread was started 3 years ago.. so I'd check out the most recent couple of pages first

A few points..

If you don't NEED a laptop, get a desktop .. you'll get much more bang for your your money

Speed is king.. buy the fasted processor you can afford  (i7 or i9)

don't waste your $$$ on a Xeon.

16g of ram is the bare minimum 32 is better

Quadro video cards are your first choice

GeForce gaming cards second

Do not even think about Intel graphics

get a solid state hard drive ..the money you may save is not worth the time you will 

sacrifice every day.

 

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On 5/15/2021 at 4:20 PM, gcode said:

Quadro video cards are your first choice

GeForce gaming cards second

 

I'm not sold on this. Still looking for any performance related metrics showing Mastercams benefit from Quadro cards. (comparing equivalent VRAM spec'd cards)

I guess if budget is of no concern, no reason to not get a Quadro. Though if you have to stay within a set price, I think you would get a better overall Mastercam system by taking the money saved by not buying Quadro and upping your amount of RAM, or stepping up your CPU, or increasing the amount of SSD storage, or getting more monitors. 
 

 

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6 hours ago, mwearne said:

I'm not sold on this. Still looking for any performance related metrics showing Mastercams benefit from Quadro cards...

I don't know for certain that it is necessarily a "performance" related better option but it's most definitely a system stability better option. It's all about that OpenGL implementation that makes a card stable for CAD/CAM/CAE and very good for Mastercam. 

ATI cards are pretty much dog$#!+.  A few people have had success with them but the overwhelming majority have had stability issues with them. On board video... 99% guarantee to be stability issues. 

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9 hours ago, cncappsjames said:

I don't know for certain that it is necessarily a "performance" related better option but it's most definitely a system stability better option. It's all about that OpenGL implementation that makes a card stable for CAD/CAM/CAE and very good for Mastercam. 

ATI cards are pretty much dog$#!+.  A few people have had success with them but the overwhelming majority have had stability issues with them. On board video... 99% guarantee to be stability issues. 

In modern Mastercam the opencl implementation on the card also becomes important, so the graphics card should definetly support that.

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From my experience and what I've read, a GeForce gaming card is perfectly fine, up to a certain size and complexity of part model.  Above that point you need a Quadro.

That said, good luck buying a halfway decent GeForce right now.  The crypto miners and scalpers are buying them with bots the split second they become available, and that's even at 2X MSRP.  I got a new system for programming at home a couple months ago, and found I was better off buying a complete system than building one.  The video card alone would have been half the price of the whole system.

Here's what I got; price has gone up $300 since I got it:

https://www.newegg.com/hp-omen-30l/p/3D5-0005-00C08

 

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4 hours ago, Matthew Hajicek - Conventus said:

From my experience and what I've read, a GeForce gaming card is perfectly fine, up to a certain size and complexity of part model.  Above that point you need a Quadro.

That said, good luck buying a halfway decent GeForce right now.  The crypto miners and scalpers are buying them with bots the split second they become available, and that's even at 2X MSRP.  I got a new system for programming at home a couple months ago, and found I was better off buying a complete system than building one.  The video card alone would have been half the price of the whole system.

Here's what I got; price has gone up $300 since I got it:

https://www.newegg.com/hp-omen-30l/p/3D5-0005-00C08

 

Yup.. I bought my Quadro RTX 4000  in Dec of 2019 for $780 at Amazon.com

I priced it last week and it was $1250

We just bough a new Boxx for one of my guys and they charged $515  to upgrade from an RTX 2000 to a 4000

I have a Quadro 4000 in my work machine and the newer RTX4000 at home

There is a noticeable difference between the 2.. the RTX runs Verify much better than the old Quadro 4000

 

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So no one recommends a "bundle" type (stand + monitor) pc that can run MC(best buy, amazon, walmart $500-1000)? 

I currently dont have a PC capably of running MC at home but I like the idea of being able to have the option but dont want to dump a bunch of money into one. I do need to get a pc here soon side work not related to machining but for what I need a small Chromebook would work but completely cut out the ability to ever do any MC work from home. 

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3 minutes ago, CNCZACK said:

So no one recommends a "bundle" type (stand + monitor) pc that can run MC(best buy, amazon, walmart $500-1000)? 

You might check Ebay for used Dell Workstations...in that price range you're not getting any worthy new

 

We're replacing 4 Mastercam computers, the quote is over $12k

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1 minute ago, JParis said:

You might check Ebay for used Dell Workstations...in that price range you're not getting any worthy new

 

We're replacing 4 Mastercam computers, the quote is over $12k

 

2 minutes ago, JParis said:

You might check Ebay for used Dell Workstations...in that price range you're not getting any worthy new

 

We're replacing 4 Mastercam computers, the quote is over $12k

eesh what kind of computers were they? 

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16 minutes ago, CNCZACK said:

So no one recommends a "bundle" type (stand + monitor) pc that can run MC(best buy, amazon, walmart $500-1000)? 

I currently dont have a PC capably of running MC at home but I like the idea of being able to have the option but dont want to dump a bunch of money into one. I do need to get a pc here soon side work not related to machining but for what I need a small Chromebook would work but completely cut out the ability to ever do any MC work from home. 

for what you want, your best bet would be a gaming oriented desktop with a GeForce video card

you can probably pick up a workable machine for $700 to $1K at Best Buy/Walmart etc..

you could also check Newegg for used Dell Precision Workstations 

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53 minutes ago, CNCZACK said:

So no one recommends a "bundle" type (stand + monitor) pc that can run MC(best buy, amazon, walmart $500-1000)? 

I currently dont have a PC capably of running MC at home but I like the idea of being able to have the option but dont want to dump a bunch of money into one. I do need to get a pc here soon side work not related to machining but for what I need a small Chromebook would work but completely cut out the ability to ever do any MC work from home. 

It depends on what you expect of it.  Are you doing a flat plate with a couple holes, or turbines, engine blocks, and bone plates?

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1 minute ago, Matthew Hajicek - Conventus said:

It depends on what you expect of it.  Are you doing a flat plate with a couple holes, or turbines, engine blocks, and bone plates?

Good question, I would think id be doing Intermediate levels from home if a job carried over. 

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1 hour ago, CNCZACK said:

 

eesh what kind of computers were they? 

and if I can get my way, I'll bump up the processor & RAM....I am already bringing a similar, albeit older system to its knees on some days.

 

Precision 7550 Workstation
Intel Core Processor i7-10850H (6 Core, 12MB Cache, 2.70 GHz to 5.10 GHz, 45W, vPro)

Windows 10 Pro

NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000 w/8GB GDDR6

64GB, 2X32GB,DDR4 2933Mhz Non-ECC Memory

M.2 256GB PCIe NVMe Class 40 Solid State Drive

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I wound up getting the extra RAM I wanted and adding 2nd hard drives.....over $14k for 4 new machines

As far as my opinion on video cards....I have been down the Ati road, I have been down the GeForce road.....no system that I ever purchase for a CAD/CAM station will ever have anything but a Quadro card...

 

JM2C YMMV

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24 minutes ago, JParis said:

I wound up getting the extra RAM I wanted and adding 2nd hard drives.....over $14k for 4 new machines

As far as my opinion on video cards....I have been down the Ati road, I have been down the GeForce road.....no system that I ever purchase for a CAD/CAM station will ever have anything but a Quadro card...

 

JM2C YMMV

Money well spent. I showed one company years ago how cheaping out on programming computers was costing them $500k a year in losses. Still took them 6 month to finally get all the programmers new work stations.

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45 minutes ago, JParis said:

The road to CAM hell is paved with budget builds

I have always had a better system than companies I have worked for. I remember getting my 2 Dell Monitors about 15 years ago because the owner was too cheap to purchase them. Funny when I quit he was like where are you going with those? I am taking my property with me you have a problem with that? Well that means I will have to get monitors for the new programmer. No you can get them a chalk board and some crayons and see how much work they can get done. He didn't see the humor in that. :sofa:

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