Cad / Rendering Machine build

[ferociousj]

Hey guys, I was hoping to get some advice on a machine I'm thinking about getting built, any help would be much appreciated as I'm basically clueless when it comes to computer builds. I'm an architectural design and draftsmen, and most of my builds consist of custom homes and small commercial projects. ANYWAYS, the machine I'm thinking about getting built is:

Antec VSK3000E Case
CoolMax V500 500W Power Supply
ASUS P8H67-M2/TPM/SI REV 3.0 LGA1155 Motherboard
Intel Core i7-3770 3.40GHz LGA1155 CPU
16GB Corsair XMS3 Dual Chanel DDR3 Memory
PNY Quadro 600 1 GB DDR3 Dual Display PCIe 2.0 x16 DVI & DP
Kingston SSDNow V+200 120GB Drive
Seagate Barracuda 500GB Internal Hard Drive SATA-6G 7200RPM
Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1
(whole build is just over $1000+gst)

I'm currently doing 2d drawings in AutoCAD, renderings in Sketchup pro with various plugins. I'm also going to be getting into Revit.

My main concern comes to the motherboard and graphics cards, I had a quadro 2000 quote as well but not sure if its worth the extra $200, I could swap the 600 for a ATI Firepro V4900 for basically the same price.

Any thoughts? any feed back is much appreciated! (My budget is pretty small)

 

[PP Mguire]

I would look into a different power supply. You deffinitely don't want to skimp in that department with an important machine. I would look at the Seasonic MK520 or even one of the gold rated units in the 500w range.

The 600 to 2000 for 200 bucks is worth it. For your particular programs even though I don't have personal experience I have heard going with Nvidia for compatibility would be better.

I would also consider a better quality SSD like the Intel 520, a Samsung 830/840, or Corsair Force GT. I know it's raising the price but you don't really want to skimp.

Make the H67 a B75 or H77.

 

[ferociousj]

Are there any issues with the motherboard? or is it just simply not up to par as the other ones? I'm really budget conscious, but I am leaning towards getting the quadro 2000 now.

 

[PP Mguire]

No issues with needing a bios flash for the Ivy Bridge CPU.

 

[ferociousj]

Sorry for my lack of knowledge.. but does bios flash cause enough issues that its worth it to avoid? or is upgrading to those other motherboards cheap?

 

[PP Mguire]

You can get a B75 for 54 bucks. IMO you shouldn't be cheap with a production PC =/

And yes if you need a bios flash your PC wouldn't turn on. Or if it did it wouldn't properly recognize the CPU causing some serious issues later on.

I would be more worried about getting a quality PSU though.

 

[patonb]

Where are you buying it from?

If you're ordering from NCIX, us Shopbot.ca to price match. It'll save you a couple hundred.

Flashing the BIOS is just putting the newest factory drivers on the motherboard, so if there was bugs in the program they get fixed.

 

[PP Mguire]

Where are you buying it from?

If you're ordering from NCIX, us Shopbot.ca to price match. It'll save you a couple hundred.

Flashing the BIOS is just putting the newest factory drivers on the motherboard, so if there was bugs in the program they get fixed.

If your intention was to simplify, you went a bit far. You can run a computer without drivers, but it's 50/50 your PC will even boot up without a properly supporting bios.

 

[ferociousj]

Where are you buying it from?

If you're ordering from NCIX, us Shopbot.ca to price match. It'll save you a couple hundred.

Flashing the BIOS is just putting the newest factory drivers on the motherboard, so if there was bugs in the program they get fixed.

I am just getting it built at a local shop. I've never used them before so I've come to you guys for advice more then the sales team

 

[ferociousj]

Ok so the shop returned with suggestions.
Do a Antec EA650 (or a Corsair CX430 430W 80PLUS Bronze) for the PSU, and a MSI Z77A-G43 for the motherboard.

Would those be a sufficient substitute to gain ivy bridge and the PSU requirements?