Building An AutoCAD Workstation... need help.

[havikgrafix]

Building An AutoCAD Workstation... need help.

No budget... where to start? Can someone please just throw down some reccomendations if possible.

I am sure I will need an ATI or Nvidia workstation card, a good mobo that uses PCI-e, good quality ram (4 gigs of it), lots of USB ports and a pair of firewire ports, really fast ethernet card (really), lots of storage, around the half a terabyte range, and a good processor, preferrably intel I think.. Someone help me out please!

Since I'm an avid Mac user... I'm not too great on this stuff, since you don't really 'build' an Apple machine.

 

[Alex81388]

I think you need to decide this first:

I think that Intel will suite you needs better - but... Do you want to take advantage of SLI technology? It will definatly help you, in that case you need to go AMD.

And if you do decide to go AMD, you'd probably benefiet from waiting for the dual cores.

Just a few suggestions.

 

[uzi9mm]

Well I do use AutoDesk Inventor and you only need a computer that fits your needs. My Dual P2 runs autodesk inv. just fine but I make designs that are only 50-100 pieces. You are not going to need 4gbs or ram unless you do big projects like 1000 parts or more. Also for the best performance you should get an OpenGL workstation card made for CAD. You cant play Direct3d games but you will be able to play Doom3 when you get bored with your AutoCad stuff. Doom 3 will look great on a Workstation card. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3762&item=5181176524&rd=1
http://www.3dlabs.com/

Also if your into projects that are big I suggest SATA or SCSI HD's. If you make projects that are 500 parts or less get IDE, but make sure that they are 7200rpm w/ 8mb cache.

 

[havikgrafix]

I went ahead and just specced this out, does this sound fine? I have card in hand ready to buy.


[1] MJ-12® 5500

Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Onsite Service
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional with Service Pack 2
AlienRespawn: Alienware® Respawn Recovery Kit
Case: Alienware® Full-Tower Case (480-Watt PS) - Space Black
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling 510 Deluxe
Motherboard: Alienware® PCI Express Motherboard with Intel® 925XE Chipset
1066/800MHz FSB
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 550 w/ HT Technology 3.4GHz 1MB Cache
Memory: 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz - 2 x 1024MB
Graphics Accelerator: NVIDIA® Quadro™ FX 1400 PCI Express 128MB DDR
w/Digital and S-Video Out
Chassis Upgrades: AlienIce™ 2.0 Video Cooling System with Accoustic
Dampening - Astral Blue
System Drive: High Performance - Serial ATA - 250GB Serial ATA 7,200 RPM
w/8MB Cache
External Storage: Western Digital® Dual-Option 250GB External Drive
Removable Storage : 3.5" 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive - Black
Primary Optical Drive: NEC® ND-3520 16x Dual Layer DVD±R/W Drive
Network Connection: Integrated High Performance Gigabit Ethernet
Digital Audio Hardware: Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 ZS High
Definition 7.1 Surround Firewire (IEEE® 1394)
Primary Display: Alienware® 20.1" LCD Display
Secondary Display: No Monitor
Power Protection: Opti-UPS SS1200 Active Voltage Regulator
Speakers: Klipsch ProMedia™ 2.1 200-Watt THX® Speakers
Keyboard: Microsoft® Basic Keyboard Black
Mouse: Microsoft® IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 - USB - Space Black
Networking : D-Link® 802.11G Wireless USB Adapter
Networking : D-Link® 802.11G Wireless Base Station
Free Alienware Mousepad: Free Alienware® Mousepad
Automated Support: AlienAutopsy: Automated Technical Support Request System

This is at 4500 before tax.

 

[turtile]

Build it yourself
Get an Nforce 4 board (Asus, Gigabyte, Abit)
3500+ AMD
3D Labs Video card or Quadro
2x 500GB Hitachi drives (1 TB)


You don't won't to throw $$$ out the window for a Alienware.

 

[havikgrafix]

Yeah I really don't want to throw the money out the window for an alienware, the problem is that I'm a maccy so I'm not proficient with the DIY type of thing. But hey, if you guys can help me, all the better. Is there much of a savings here? I started building a machine, but the hardest thing for me is picking out an appropriate mother board. I'll show you what I want and if possible please tell me the BEST motherboard for this. Or if I need to make any changes to my DIY list.

Lian-Li v1000
Nvidia Quadro FX 1400 (or better depending on my savings)
NEC DVD Burner
2 GB Corsair DDR2 preferably
3.4 P4 Prescott (tell me if other is better)
Antec 550w PSU
2x250gb HDs
Audigy 2 ZS
Floppy
I would like BT built in to the mobo if possible along with WiFi
A 20" LCD

But what motherboard!?

 

[majistic]

For AutoCad you dont need the 'Top Of The Line' system. I would go for sure with a Pentium 4.. At least 512mb DDR...and whatever video card you please. Be sure to get a good size HDD also.

 

[uzi9mm]

What are your Autocad projects going to be like?? more than 1000 parts?

 

[havikgrafix]

Very large projects, and also there will be hardware design done on this machine. (the 3d stuff..)