While the Mac is what goes with me everywhere – the machine that I VPN back to is my new PC Build.
In the interest of full disclosure, I started an affiliation account with Amazon, and many if not all of the links contained on this page will be pointed at the Amazon website. At the time that I’m writing this – I’m without an income – so if you’re so inclined – please click away.
This had been on the list of things to do for a while, and in early spring of 2020 – became an immediate necessity. It started as a ‘what if’ when I was getting my 3rd new tower at the office, and fast became a necessary reality.
The last PC that I had, I converted it to a Hackintosh to manage my digital library and serve as a file server for connected activities. Turning a Dell into a functioning Mac was a great project, but when the tower failed at the same time as the economy – it was time to build something specifically suited for modeling and rendering.
I had been research small-form PCs for months. The plan was to slow-build a machine over time. No big hurry, and when I could afford a part here or there – I’d squeeze it into the budget.
Well, as they say – “Man plans, god laughs”.
and the supply chain on components was starting to collapse, so I had to take something I was going to build over time and fast-track it to complete it for full use ASAP.
Necessity for invention came a day or so after I found myself unemployed with no means to recreate a professional portfolio. My old Mac, while amazing in its own right for as aged a machine as it is, doesn’t have the horsepower to render scenes via Enscape or Twin Motion or anything else that I would play with or share. Rendering programs thru parallels are looking for a video card, not an emulated one on the other side of an OS wall.
I had a case, power supply, and a list off PC Part Picker where I was tracking the costs of my wish list. When the parts became scarce and the prices started going up – I had to move.
I was looking for a clean, and well-organized case for my build. I got exactly that with the NZXT H510. Great looking, fits everything it needs to and it’s pretty great looking parked next to my monitors right now.
Capable, Intelligent DRAM Over-clocking, Dynamic System Cooling and onBoard WiFi with additional M2 slots. This board fit the bill as the base for what I needed to create, and (as with the entire build) I needed stability without breaking the bank.
While Revit is a single-core process, rendering is not. I needed to find a balance and that meant the i9 9900K. I was lucky enough to get one that came in the Intel Orb packaging. Pretty cool delivery system, but it took me a while to find the seam to open it.
The video card became kind of a chase. They’re already scarce from gamers and bitcoin miners which drives the price up. The supply chain was obviously disrupted – and I needed something that was capable for a machine that could handle the load. I don’t think that I’ve come close to maxing it out, and I’ve been opening a LOT of large models and pushing animations.
I picked up the Samsung as it was the largest drive I could get my hands on at the time of the build. Typically I go with Western Digital for all my PC builds as the drives have seldom failed me. 1TB is all I really needed to host all the software that I’d be running, as my typical work flow has me saving all critical work to a secondary or USB drive for portability.
I couldn’t max out the RAM, and I wasn’t ultra concerned whether or not it glowed, so I went with user ratings, availability and performance for the price. Corsair Vengeance hasn’t let me down yet and I can’t imagine what 32 or 64GB would get me, but I’m more than interested to find out. Hand sorted for maximum overclocking headroom, and I haven’t begun to max anything out.
My first water-cooled PC build. I was hoping to grab the z73 with the LED screen, but I suffered from a little sticker shock. It would’ve been pretty cool to have an ‘mrlw’ glowing out of the box, but as I said earlier, the target wasn’t to have a glowing gamer box – just something that looked decent and functioned with room to expand. This cooler hits the spot and runs really quiet to keep the work moving.
Power supplies. For this, all I needed was something that was reliable, with enough capacity to run the things that I wanted to run and not fail. Seasonic does the trick and with the modular build – I don’t have a bundle of extra wires floating around the case that aren’t necessary. Its tucked away neatly it its home, out of sight and with all the necessary space that it requires.
Monitors were tricky. I wish I could’ve gone for higher Hz with a better refresh, but these are more than adequate for my purposes. Realistically, with architecture projects – all you need is the ability to have multiple programs visible at the same time. Screen real estate is paramount when you’re multi-tasking thru a busy day with multiple clients, running Revit, Photoshop, Bluebeam, Outlook, and others while you’re getting crushed by a deadline.
I didn’t think that I was going to find a link for this. I’ve had this keyboard for at least 8 years. My entire requirement for buying it in the first place was illuminated keys. I tend to work in low-light environment with task lighting. As you can see from the reviews – this keyboard is still being made and for good reason. Its not going to give you the mechanical keyboard gaming magic, but when I’m modeling – I don’t really need gaming responsiveness. Plus I had it sitting here and didn’t have to purchase a new one.
Everyone has a preference for a mouse. This one fits my larger hands, is wireless and the side buttons and programmed with cut & paste. The side nudge and scroll wheel are handy for graphics work and it doesn’t spin out. I’ve got one for the Mac and one for the PC in different colors so that I can’t grab the wrong one on the way out the door. Logitech makes a great product, and I’m a fan. I could use a tether to keep it from sliding off the drafting table, but that’s a problem to be solved in the future. If you can still get them, I recommend it.
I’m an old audiophile, and was in the need of a pair of headphones that would meet the budget while providing my aging ears a way to hear team members without broadcasting my conversation to the entire neighborhood. I have gaming headphones as well, but these Audio Techinca are equally as comfortable, provide decent sound for music, movies or conversation. I could do with a little more bass in the lower end, but I’m not producing albums here.
Future investment in streaming and recording, as well as the need for a dedicated microphone for web calls and video conferencing, I picked up this USB kit. Its performed well so far and the criteria as for this entire list is functionality without busting a zero budget.
The times are as such that a webcam is a necessary part of any home office. For that, I’ve obtained this Logitech HD Pro. Solid reviews, great performance thus far, and as I may get into streaming and YouTube tutorials, as well as remote interviews and meetings – this one is well suited for the task. Additionally the hardware that would’ve been required to turn an old DLSR or my GoPro into a webcam was around the same price point.
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