PC build under $2,000 for CAD, video editing, and content creation
My legacy Dell XPS died in early April. The machine had to be close to ten years old and had served us extremely well over the last decade. I had originally spec’d out that legacy machine to be heavy in the RAM and HD storage space areas because I was getting into using the Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects suite at the time for the content I was filming with my DSLR Canon 5d MkII.
I do a lot less DSLR film shooting and editing work at the current time but instead now do a lot more CAD work using Autodesk Fusion 360, especially for generating ideas and CNC tool paths for my Tormach PCNC 1100 and to create G-Code for my Prusia 3D Printer.
I watched the fun my son had saving up his money to buy the individual components and assemble a blazing fast gamer PC for himself in 2020. It was time to copy his example and build a desktop PC that would be a CAD and content creation powerhouse desktop workstation. A PC built for people who create content not consume it.
CAD PC Build Considerations
My primary goal was a PC under a $2000 price tag. We were able to accomplish that by reusing our old Windows 10 OS license on the new unit and by reusing the GPU from the legacy Dell XPs machine that had been replaced two years ago. if we hadn’t been able to do that we would have been well over our budget.
After doing research on CAD PC builds I kept seeing guidance pointing towards the computer processor’s single core thread speed as the biggest factor for CAD software performance which relies on single thread performance. Bottom Line: The higher the CPU processor speed the faster the performance in this arena. An important secondary factor is having a suitable amount of fast RAM, the type of data storage (HDD versus SDD) and the GPU.
Some other considerations. Marketers have learned they can frictionlessly jack up the prices of pc products by slapping the term “gaming” on any components that are in any way, shape, or form gaming related. Second the latest craze to add RBG LED coloring to the internal components adds an albeit futuristic look and provides a fun cyberpunk aesthetic to the overall internals, comes at a higher cost and adds no functional performance improvement. We want a boring looking machine that generates complex CNC tool paths like a knife through hot butter.
PC Bill of Materials (BOM)
CPU – Intel i9-14900K
Motherboard – ASROCK Z790 MOTHERBOARD
Data Storage SSD – SAMSUNG E 2TB 990PRO NVME GEN4 SSD
RAM – G.SKILL 96G 2X D5 6400 C32 TRGB B
Power Supply Unit – SEASONIC FOCUSV3 GX-850 80+G ATX3
Cooling for CPU – DEEPCOOL LT720 360MM AIO COOLER
PC Case – FRACTAL NORTH XL
Notes:
I was originally going to go with the Asus ProArt Z790 Creator Motherboard but was advised against this as this particular motherboard is pricier due the thunderbolt capability which is a relatively niche use case.
The SEASONIC Power Supply came highly recommended to me as being the best of the best.
The intel i9 is reported to get hot and needs a powerful cooling system. I was anxious about setting up the liquid cooling loop system but the installation turned out to be easy.
To fit the larger cooling water loop and fan components into the PC case in this build I went with the fractal north XL case versus the regular Fractal North Case.
