New PC for work

[Cain]

I'm wanting to build a new PC for work and I'd love suggestions for partz !!

1) Needs to be pretty quick.

2) We AutoCAD work, so it needs to be good for that.

3) Running Windows 7 Flava ....

4) We will be doing some video editing and graphics as well.

Budget around $1,000.00 or lower, and I want this sucker to last a LONG time !

Let's go !!

[Cain]

Juneau ?? WT ???

[ryanbatc]

Not sure what version of AutoCAD you're running but anyhow I'd suggest a Core i7 cpu, namely the i7 920. Or you could get a Q9550, also a solid performer. I'm thinking quad core for your autoCAD program....

Motherboards:

For the i7 920 (pricier route on average)
Newegg.com - ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

For the Q9550
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

I'll let someone else suggest video card, but my personal favorite is the GTX285.

Oh, also, be sure and get a quality power supply, something along the lines of:
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

It has a single powerful 60A on the 12v rail.... that will last you.

[Furryappleseed]

Came up with this:

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops

Newegg.com - MSI P55-CD53 LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ - Desktop Memory

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb Internal Hard Drives -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP Black SECC ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Computer Cases

This came out to be $966.92, and that is with 8GB ram. i5 overclocks like crazy so it can last some time. Looking around at various forums, the 5770 seems to be the choice over the 4890 for graphics work.

If you needed a monitor then you could save some bucks on the psu, could get away with 550 watt . You could also take away one of the ram kits to give you 4 and move to a 500-750GB HDD.

[Duke{CLR}]

They are boarding my flight to ORD now so I only was able to look at theses parts. The MB and PSU are the same I used in my Stepdaughters rig and the are solid. I would go for the i7 but the i5 should do just fine. this leave 590 for the rest which should not be a problem. GTG

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor - Processors - Desktops $199.00
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD3R LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards $139.00
Newegg.com - Antec earthwatts EA500 500W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.0 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies $69.99 plus $20.00 off Win 7 Home Premium

[ryanbatc]

All of the parts listed here are good except imho the 500W PSU is lacking for a PC built today. It only has two 12v rails, with 17A each. The Corsair I listed would better suit you for a PC now, plus it will cover you for the future.

[Cain]

Juneau ??? I need your input ...

[juneau]

Juneau ??? I need your input ...

Got your PM and replied.

edit: Got a question for you about item #2. Will that be 2d or 3d or a mix?

[Cain]

My plans have changed...

I'm gonna upgrade my PC to a Quad processor then build a new box around my old CPU the Intel Core 2 Duo E 8400 ...

So suggestions for MB, RAM and video card requested...

PC will be used for AutoCAD, Quicken, Office some video and graphics editing, and some light gaming like TF2 ...

It will run Win 7 ...

[juneau]

My plans have changed...

I'm gonna upgrade my PC to a Quad processor then build a new box around my old CPU the Intel Core 2 Duo E 8400 ...

So suggestions for MB, RAM and video card requested...

PC will be used for AutoCAD, Quicken, Office some video and graphics editing, and some light gaming like TF2 ...

It will run Win 7 ...

Hehe, you didn't answer my question above.

Will you be using AutoCAD for 2D, 3D, or both?

edit: Also, what version of AutoCAD will you be using?

[Cain]

Sorry Juneau I missed that ...

AutoCAD always in 2D....

We are using the most recent 2009 full AutoCAD but will be moving to AutoCAD LT 2010 shortly...

[juneau]

Sorry Juneau I missed that ...

AutoCAD always in 2D....

We are using the most recent 2009 full AutoCAD but will be moving to AutoCAD LT 2010 shortly...

If you're using it for 2D then you don't need as good a graphics card as you would with 3D. With 3D you would definitely need a Nv Quadro or AMD FireGL card to keep your productivity high. However considering it's 2D you will be able to get away with just uising a modern desktop graphics card. I'd probably recommend Nvidia and for you to use their CUDA drivers as they're tweaked for applications like AutoCAD, Maya etc.

I'd recommend something around a GTX275, especially if you want for this PC to last a long time. Decent enough GPU and RAM speeds, and a good amount of RAM. The 896MB version should be enough however i would recommend the 1.8GB version.

Maybe this?

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-N275SO-18I GeForce GTX 275 1792MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

There is a cheaper one however it would appear it's currently OOS.

This solution will also give you a decent amount of light gaming power for a long time.

Motherboard wise i'd probaby go for something like this.

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

It's a good stable board. I'm actually quite surprised at the amount of LGA775 boards that Newegg still stocks. LGA775 is really being phased out over here, which is sad as it's still a great and mainstream socket.

Now for RAM. You're going to need a lot of RAM. The minimum i would go for is 4GB. This will run W7, AutoCAD, and games without a single issue. However, i would go for 8GB (2x 4gb) just to be sure. I imagine that some of your work projects will be quite large in scale, and when that happens you need all the RAM you can get.

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 8GB Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL6D-8GBMQ - Desktop Memory

There is the above option however when you get into 4gb per stick territory with DDR2 it can get a tad expensive. The other option is to buy 2 kits of 2x 2gb and fill all the motherboards slots.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR 4GB Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C5 - Desktop Memory

The second option will save you around $75.

What else will you be needing? Considering you will be basing your new PC around a lot of your old PC parts i presume a new case, PSU, HDD's are in order?

[Cain]

Thx....

I got a case on Black Friday.... I'll look at these parts, and I plan to purchase everything tonight..

[juneau]

Thx....

I got a case on Black Friday.... I'll look at these parts, and I plan to purchase everything tonight..

Considering your usage may i suggest the following HDD setup. 2x 500GB in RAID for OS and Apps as HDD speed is important for things like CAD. Then maybe somewhere between 500GB and 1TB for storage of your work.

You may also need to look into some form of backup storage as i would believe that if your storage HDD died and took all it's data with it, it would be one hell of a problem?

[Zantheus]

Couldnt he just run in RAID 5? Then if a drive failed, he plugs the new one in and BOOM it rebuilds it?

Just asking as I am in no way a RAID expert LOL