Which configuration for product designer?

[Yeti89]

I will be getting a Mac Pro in the coming months as my new work station. I mostly use adobe applications to do my work and practically never work with video. I do also use a hand full of 3D modeling software (SolidWorks, Keyshot, etc.).

I don't feel the adobe applications make good use of multiple cpu cores but how many can they use? Also, I am not sure which GPU to get. I feel the cost isn't all that much to just get the D700 but with the programs I use would I really experience a difference from the D300 or D500?

Your insight would be very helpful. Also, if you know of any articles that could educate me more on these topics I would love to read them.

Would I perhaps just be better off with a fully upgraded iMac?

 

[deconstruct60]

I will be getting a Mac Pro in the coming months as my new work station. I mostly use adobe applications to do my work and practically never work with video. I do also use a hand full of 3D modeling software (SolidWorks, Keyshot, etc.).

Solidworks benchmarks with W7000 and W9000 cards (roughly equivalent to D300 and D700 although the D300 is stripped of 2GB of VRAM that the W7000 has). [ The D500 is not equiv to a W8000. It is closer to a faster W7000 that doesn't choke on double precision workloads.]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-workstation-graphics-card,3493-13.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-workstation-graphics-card,3493-10.html

There isn't a huge gap between W7000 and W9000 there. There are some
AutoCAD and Catia numbers there. Similar results.

Part of this is going to be driven by the complexity of your models and how much the consume VRAM.

I don't feel the adobe applications make good use of multiple cpu cores but how many can they use?

Depends upon the application and plug-ins involved. However, if tossing out most of Adobe's video apps then it typically isn't very many.

Would I perhaps just be better off with a fully upgraded iMac?

Depends upon the complexity of your data and application usage more so than a fixed answer on hardware. Relatively simpler products perhaps not need a Mac Pro.