Tailored 3D Modelling workstations tend to be towards the higher end of the PC market. Often it is all too easy to become focused on, and even obsessed by, the price of the workstations you are looking to purchase. Indeed, that is how the hugely competitive hardware market has been driven over last few years. There is a large choice of workstations out there with an even larger choice of suppliers eager to sell you their solutions at the best price, but in an area as critical as the Design Department, the most important factor is making the right choice of hardware. The initial price of a workstation is only a fraction of the Total Cost of Ownership; any compromise in workstation performance from the offset will only serve to reduce its effectiveness in the short to medium term.

The exact specification of hardware very much depends on the 3D modelling software application that you are using. Recommended hardware lists from the software publishers can often be misleading, as they tend to quote the "minimum recommended specification" that enables you to run their software. This often falls well short of what is actually required.

Conversely, you could buy one of the highest specification workstations on the market but by making the wrong choice of internal components and configuration could mean that you spend more money than necessary to make the same gains in performance.