Intel I7 2600K vs AMD Phenom II X4 965BE

[steinmini]

This is more of a hardware related thing, but I'm only interested in experiences related to possible gains working with SolidWorks.
Before I throw in 500EUR to replace my MB and AMD CPU, I'd like to be a bit more assured that it is worth the investment.
I became suspicious of AMD's capability to perform CAD tasks when I saw an Intel I-3 based PC doing the same tasks with some sort of ease compared to allegedly superior four core Phenom (with same GPU). After I investigated a bit, I realized that none of the big brands which build CAD workstations uses AMD based configured PCs. Personal experiences and opinions are welcome. (not really interested what happens within the CPU, just the final benefits and results - benchmark sites usually only do reviews and tests with games which is quite irrelevant and doesn't give me any explanation)
MY GPU is Nvidia Quadro FX580 and I find it to be satisfactory)

http://www.storyofstuff.org/

 

[ArtL]

Steinmini My personal experience, from a few years ago, that AMD did have problems running Solidworks.This is from a few versions ago and years. If they have gotten any better, I can't testify to. I have stuck with Intel chips for the last 6/8 years. Does this help?

 

[steinmini]

Yup, ArtL, it does.
As stated earlier, it was just a bit odd that an I3 appears to have less trouble than my so much "hyped" AMD
Well, we all learn from mistakes. Saving money sometimes really appears to be wasting it in disguise...

http://www.storyofstuff.org/

 

[kellnerp]

Steinmini,

AMD is not problematic. See my configuration below. BUT, my Phenom was the fastest one at the time I bought it and the Intel was almost twice the speed. See Anna's benchmarks for this. Google Punch Holder Benchmark. When all was said and done I could probably have put an Intel Sandy Bridge together for near the same money.

I do complex surfacing and rendering and the 6 core AMD Phenom is nice to have for that.

I run over clocked as a matter of course as do all the other high performers on Anna's database. I use an aircooled system with a HUGE radiator. It almost doesn't fit the case. But it runs real cool and quiet.

Spend on the CPU and get a lower end graphics card like a Quadro FX1400 or FX1500 ($100 street price range) if rebuild time is important.

TOP
CSWP, BSSE

http://www.engtran.com

http://www.niswug.org

http://www.linkedin.com/in/engineeringtransport

Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."

 

[steinmini]

kellnerp,
I already have the Quadro FX580 and as said, it works fine. Had problems matching the old Quadro FX3400 with win7 x64 , so I went for a lower end, but newer GPU with better support. The problems started once I started building huge and complex assemblies with a lot of sub-assemblies and a lot of details. I'm not working much with surfaces, mainly with clean solids, weldment profiles (structural members), tubes, joints, wheels, tires, cranks, long chains and a lot of (detailing) features in the feature tree... Often there is some glass and light sources involved and the finished product has to be rendered to get a photo-realistic level and once the assembly reaches the final appearance, I have to make it look like it's a real thing, the current set-up starts to "hang" (SWX or KeyShot "Not Responding") and that becomes more than just frustrating but also irritating.
So far, I always sorted this in a simple matter: as long as I am slower than the PC, I'm fine and work on my skills and techniques. Once I am the one that has to wait for the PC to respond, the PC has to be modified, upgraded, improved. The last recent change was replacing the 6G (3x2G) Kingston HyperX DDR3 with Mushkin 16G (4x4G) but it only improved the capability of PhotoView to finish a render within SWX. Well, in a few hours, I expect the new MB/CPU to be here and I'll see what have I done, did I waste the money or not. I'll just put it on a simple test with a few files (assemblies that gave a hard time to my current set up) and if there is no improvement, I have a week to return the goods and get back my money. I hope that there will be an improvement in performance

http://www.storyofstuff.org/

 

[kellnerp]

I know well about waiting for the CPU. Story of my life. Started using SW with a 166Mhz Pentium and 300Mb of ram. That was a hot setup in 1996. At another place my boss got me a blazing fast 300Mhz CPU. At the time I could put two fillets a day into my model, a single part.

Have a look at Anna Wood's rendering benchmarks too. I placed quite high in the rankings with the setup I have.

Intel has better inter-processor communication on their CPUs. But this doesn't make as much difference in rendering as it does in rebuild. Rendering is all about lots of cores.

TOP
CSWP, BSSE

http://www.engtran.com

http://www.niswug.org

http://www.linkedin.com/in/engineeringtransport

Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."

 

[steinmini]

Shame I didn't do this test with the AMD, but, I made it fine with the new I7 2600K. Actually, it came out much better than I expected. 49.84 seconds. Screenshot to prove it
Sorry, I'm too happy that I didn't burn anything down in the upgrade process...

http://www.storyofstuff.org/

 

[kellnerp]

The Sandy-Bridge is fast. I built one for a customer. I built the Phenom because somebody had to do it.

My son thinks he can get his 2600K up to 5GHz. He's a gamer.

TOP
CSWP, BSSE

http://www.engtran.com

http://www.niswug.org

http://www.linkedin.com/in/engineeringtransport

Phenom IIx6 1100T = 8GB = FX1400 = XP64SP2 = SW2009SP3
"Node news is good news."