New CAD Workstation

[joeroscia]

Hi Everyone:

I am looking to purchase a new CAD Workstation to utilize Microsoft Office and AutoCAD LT at home.  I am having a problem attempting to spec out such a system because every vendor has a different recommendation on all the components not to mention I don't really know the difference between all of them.

So my questions are:

1) If $ was not an issue what specs would you want in a system?

2) if $ is an issue what specs would you want in a system?

3)What can you live with/without?

One of my must have is two monitors.

Any help you can provide will be appreciated.  Thank you!

[Anonymous]

See my sig.  parte were just under $1400 USD w/ a dvd burner & card reader added.  This system was set up to run C3d for the next 3 years.  It is to me a good balance of price & performance with components I want, not what someone wants to sell me.  They were ordered from Newwegg.com & put together in about an hour with a screwdriver.  Cases are available from mild to wild & vary a fair bit in cost.  Mine was a Smilodon gaming case w/ ps combo that was a fair price.  Didn't need the flashy case, but it came with enough fans to keep the system cool & was bundled with a 650W ps.  Saved about $30 that way.

Reid

[joeroscia]

Hi Reid-

Sounds like the way to go however I'm the type of person who doesn't know which end of a screwdriver to use never mind assembling all these high tech components and expecting it to actually work...

[Anonymous]

S'ok - you CAN do it!  My degree is in studio art!

If you can read, and look at pictures, that's all you need to do.  You just need to know what socket to plug the cord into.  The screw driver is only for attaching the power supply to the side of the case, and the Motherboard to the stand offs.

If that still freaks you out, take the list in my sig to a local & see what he'd charge to put it together for you.  The Veliciraptor wight be a bit of overkill, but its the fastest, most stable HD availabe at this time.  Some are using Solid State Drives now (SSD's), but I think they are still just a bit to expensive for what you get.

The new intel Sandy Bridge (I7, I5 & I3) are very good & combined with a SATA 6.0 MoBo, can access up to 32 gig of ram.  For acad & it's verticles, I'd look for about 8 gig as a minimum, and a good fast 500 gig HD.  Add a Nvidia graphics card ( the GTX series are good if you're not doing alot of rendering) with about 1 gig of vram.  500 watt PS should do you well.   The GTX card will feed two monitors with DVI connections.

Good luck! 

Reid