Friday I posted the AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 system requirements as detailed by Autodesk. However, today I’m going to cover what workstation components provide the most benefit for your budget dollars and what kind of configuration is ideal for running the new Civil 3D release.

First of all, there is a huge change in Civil 3D 2011 that has the most dramatic affect on your workstation build: it is now offered as a  64-bit native program. What does this mean for you? You can now utilize more than just 3 GB of RAM for running Civil 3D and there should be a significantly lower amount of memory issues (if not gone all together). Autodesk has also streamlined the core code of AutoCAD and Civil 3D to provide a more stable user experience — something us users have been requesting for years.

Now that we understand Civil 3D 2011 is fundamentally different than 2010 in terms of how to budget dollars and cents on a workstation, let’s examine what components are utilized the most from the software (All suggestions are for a desktop workstation with what I would consider the most important component on top. Adjustments are necessary for function and compatibility with mobile workstations due to form factor and battery drain):

• Motherboard – This is a PC component most build reviews neglect. Motherboards support all components of your system and can be the biggest bottleneck to performance. A quality motherboard can quickly save you money when you upgrade your workstation. If you lease your systems and/or have contracts with Dell, HP, or other manufacturers specifying a motherboard isn’t really an option, though.
  • Indydrafter’s Choice – ASUS P7P55 Supercomputer Motherboard
    • Supports Core i5 and i7 chips
    • Supports nVIDIA SLI and ATI Crossfire GPU setups
    • Supports up to 16 GB of 1600 MHz Dual Channel DDR3 RAM (2133 MHz overclocked)
    • More than enough Serial ATA, PCIe, USB, Firewire, LAN, etc. ports to go around
    • Configured for easy access to components when installed
    • Pricey, but worth it in the long run
• Operating System – Okay, so this isn’t a hardware component, but it controls everything that your hardware does and how your CAD software performs so it does weigh at a high importance.
  • Indydrafter’s Choice – Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (or Enterprise  64-bit for corporate environments)
    • Improved stability and performance over XP and Vista
    • Utilizes a heavily developed and tested 64-bit platform
    • Conforms to all needs of corporate network and IT needs
    • Ability to improve performance of multi-core chips with “Turbo Boost”
    • Isn’t as unnecessarily pricey as Windows 7 Ultimate
• CPU – Civil 3D is a processor heavy program and the CPU is the heart of all things going on in your computer. With all the choices between Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Extreme, i7, i5, i3, and all the AMD Athlon and Phenom chips…this isn’t an easy decision to make.
  • Indydrafter’s Choice – Intel Core i7 chip with Minimum 2.8 GHz and “Turbo Boost”
    • There are a lot of options even within the Core i7 offerings
    • Base processing speed is important as Civil 3D won’t utilize multiple cores
    • Multiple cores still come in handy when multiple programs are open
    • “Turbo Boost” redirects multi-core power to improve single-core speeds when needed
    • The Core i7 Extreme is nice, but the i7-920 can easily be overclocked to 4 GHz or more and there are other great options being released regularly
    • Optimized for 64-bit operations
• RAM – Now more than ever the on-board memory for your workstations is key for performance. With Civil 3D 2011 being natively 64-bit, you can really push the envelope with your installed memory and continue to see a performance boost. You won’t be utilizing all the RAM for daily tasks, but when you are rebuilding corridors and working with LiDAR points, every bit of extra memory will be appreciated.
  • Indydrafter’s Choice – Minimum of 8 GB of 1333 MHz Dual Channel DDR3 RAM
    • The more RAM the merrier and the higher the clock speed the better
    • Too many manufacturers running short-term deals to pick a specific product
    • Utilize all motherboard RAM slots equally for best price/performance ratio
    • The “sweet spot” for Civil 3D right now is between 8-12 GB of RAM
    • Be careful when overclocking RAM, especially with cheap brands
• Hard Drive – Your software is installed on the hard drive and when you run out of RAM for processing, the hard drive takes on the overflow. Think it is important now? A large amount of storage isn’t the only thing you should consider as disk spin speed is an important factor while running programs.
  • Indydrafter’s Choice – 1 – 10,000 RPM HDD with a minimum of 80  GB storage and 1 – 7,200 RPM HDD with a minimum of 500 GB storage.
    • 10k RPM drive gives the best performance while running a program
    • 7,200 RPM drive provides bulk storage at a decent read speed
    • Combination of hard drives gives best value for speed and storage
    • 7,200 RPM drive (or a 3rd drive) can be used for backup as well
• Video Card – Whether you call it a GPU, Video Card, or Graphics Card it serves the purpose for taking what your PC is processing and rendering it on your monitor(s). The GPU isn’t as important a component in your Civil 3D rig as it might be for a gaming computer or someone doing video editing (or 3Ds Max), but it does hold value.
  • Indydrafter’s Choice – Minimum of 256 MB nVIDIA Quadro FX or ATI Fire GL
    • More than 256 MB is nice if you have the budget, but not necessary
    • 2 Dual DVI, Display Port, or HDMI outputs is a must
    • Start with a “smaller” GPU and expand later if necessary with SLI or Crossfire
    • I prefer nVIDIA over ATI, but the field is split on which is actually better
    • There is an ongoing argument if workstation video cards are really necessary and I won’t dispute either side…except that a maxed out GPU isn’t needed for Civil 3D so why not get a quality, mid-range workstation card?
• Monitors – And I mean monitors. One of the easiest performance boosts you can give yourself is an upgrade to dual monitors. If you don’t use a setup like this yet, you don’t know what you’re missing out on. No, it doesn’t double your efficiency, but it does offer a great increase in productivity.
  • Indydrafter’s Choice – 2 – widescreen monitors at least 20″ diagonal
    • I prefer around a 22″ monitor for price/purpose (though 24″ is nice)
    • An expensive “full color gamut” IPS monitor isn’t necessary for Civil 3D use
    • It takes patience to find monitors with a narrow bezel, but so worth it
    • Get monitors with adjustable heights, tilt, and rotation for best ergonomics

Well, that’s about it. I could continue with cases, optical drive, and many more components, but they simply don’t affect your Civil 3D user experience that much. Though, it is worth mentioning that a comfortable keyboard and mouse can go a long way in improving your productivity and preventing soreness throughout the day. Also, consider that you’ll need an adequate power supply unit to provide enough juice to all those components you installed.

What did you think? Do you have any suggestions to add or critiques of what I’ve provided? What order would you place the importance of the components in? What kind of budget are you working within for your next workstation build/purchase? Maybe there is a pre-configured manufacturer workstation model that fits into the descriptions I’ve provided…what company and model is it? Talk about all this and more in the comments area below.