AMD – Choosing the Right Chip for CAD Applications.

AMD has a wide assortment of processors, from tablet to desktop to server.  This article focuses on the desktop processors that are most likely to end up inside CAD stations.

AMD has a torrid history, most often known for playing second fiddle to Intel.  But I remember a time that, while Intel was marketing the Intel Pentium M tuned for music and media, AMD was selling a CPU that contained a superior math-coprocessor.  And it was the math-coprocessor that made software like AutoCAD R10 and R12 screamingly fast.

Although the tides seemed to have turned and AMD is now more known for media and entertainment hardware, they still produce fast CPUs.  The scope of this article is to find the screaming fast processer for a suitable CAD desktop, the choice of CPU from AMD can be narrowed by first eliminating the series that have been developed more for play than for work.

The Goldilocks Series of CAD Processors

Too Old:  The Phenom II has been around a long time, as noted by its 45nm process.  But, it was the best series in its day for CAD design desktops.  You may not be able to find one of these for sale anywhere other than on eBay, but if you do, look for a model number that ends in a “T.”  The letter signifies that the processor contains AMD’s Turbo CORE Technology.  This technology automatically switches from six cores to three cores and boosts the processor speed at the same time for when raw speed is required over multiple cores.  Sound like a CAD requirement?

Too Gamey:  The latest technology from AMD is the APU-series of processors.  These processors are unique because they not only contain a powerful mutli-core CPU, but they also contain several Radeon GPU cores on the same chip.  This system on a chip is fantastic for gamers and laptops, but the integrated GPU doesn’t aid CAD users, especially since a professional grade discrete graphics card is going to be installed in the same desktop. 

The good news is that the CPU portion uses AMD’s latest 32nm process with blazing fast speeds.  The bad news is that the Radeon graphics and the back-end links between system RAM and the APU may actually decrease performance (with respect to CAD) due to the extra overhead.  Reserving system RAM for graphics processes that won’t be used is not beneficial.  More research is required to determine if the GPU cores can be turned off in the BIOS and how that would affect power usage, RAM utilization, or traffic along the front side bus.

Just Right:  Although not quite as small as the latest Intel transistors, the 32nm FX processor from AMD still packs the horsepower for advanced 3D gaming, complex 3D modeling, or HD video editing.  Let’s face it, even the most dedicated workstations still spend cycles displaying cat videos from Youtube, or at least execute some other form of multi-tasking.  Why not get a processor that excels at everything?  With up to eight cores, the most of any desktop processor, and high clock speeds, the FX processor can handle multi-tasking, multi-threading, and raw calculations like no other chip on the market.

Not Just Visual FX

Just like the days running AutoCAD R12, AMD still finds itself focusing more on raw computing than graphics effects.  (They reserve that for the Radeon and FirePro divisions.)  The FX-series of processors from AMD includes Turbo CORE Technology like the Phenom II that automatically boosts performance when needing it most.  No overclocking expertise required.  And, AMD has developed new instruction capabilities (quoted from http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/processors/desktop/fx):

§  “AVX - Advanced Vector Extensions increase parallelism for scientific & 3D apps using heavy floating point calculations.

§  FMA4 & XOP – Floating-Point Vector Multiply-Accumulate & eXtended Operations improves throughput & performance on many integer & floating point vector functions.

§  AES - Advanced Encryption Standard increases performance on encryption apps like TrueCrypt® & PCMark®.”

Many of these processors run on relatively low power and fairly cool temperatures, but the highest grade processor comes in at a whopping 220W.  Granted, it achieves 4.7/5.0 GHz clock speed in doing so, but I can’t imagine how fast that fan is spinning to keep it cool or how loud it is.  And, make sure you specify a large power supply to keep a stable number of electrons flowing to it.

AMD’s FX 8320 is the Right Choice for Mid-range CAD Applications

Eliminating the old and the gamey yields a single choice for AMD family of processor, the FX-series.  The price begins to jump around the 4.0 GHz clock speed.  If running a lot of simulation or rendering jobs (CPU-based rendering engines only), the extra cost for the higher clock speed is worth the investment. 

To save a little money most users won’t notice large delays running any of the other clock speeds listed in the table above.  The choice then comes down to cool and quiet with a slightly slower speed or a slightly faster clock speed but with more power usage and heat.  The number of cores barely affects the cost, so getting the 6- or 8-core CPU is an obvious choice.  If I were building a new system today to run a mid-range mechanical CAD software with occasional simulation and rendering, along with the usual office applications, I would select the FX 8320.