£400 CAD Budget

Butters

Butters

Butters

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Joined
22 Apr 2007
Posts
1,805
Hi, we are looking to upgrade an old CAD machine. We just need a competent base model.

Please see this thread to get an idea of what has been discussed.

I know that proper GFX cards can cost £400 alone but really the CAD drain comes from the processor anyway.

I'd be grateful of any recommendations you could give me. budget could be stretched 'slightly'

thanks
 
Small update if anyone is interested.

We can now go to £500 excluding VAT as long as its well spec'd

GFX ideally needs to be dual DVI too.

Thanks
 
Ive seen a NVIDIA Quadro NVS 440 PCI Express x16 256 MB floated about for £350. Not too sure how good they are compared to CAD cards Ive seen for £5000 :eek:
 
heres my first attempt, 4gb ram , 80gb hardrive , quadcore, intergrated graphics

Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA667)
(£98.68)
Intel Xeon 3200 Series X3210 "LGA775 Kentsfield" 2.13GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £244.99
(£287.86)
LiteON DH-20A1P-45C 20x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer (Black) -
£14.50
(£17.04)
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU
£39.99
(£46.99)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £23.99
(£28.19)
Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £41.99
(£49.34)
Sub Total : £449.44
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £9.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £80.39
Total : £539.78
 
Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA667) Crucial 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-5300C5 Dual Channel Kit (CT2KIT12864AA667) £41.99
(£49.34) £83.98
(£98.68)
OcUK GeForce 8500 GT 256MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail OcUK GeForce 8500 GT 256MB DDR2 HDTV/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £41.99
(£49.34) £41.99
(£49.34)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Duo E6320 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.86GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £94.99
(£111.61) £94.99
(£111.61)
LiteON DH-20A1P-45C 20x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer (Black) - OEM LiteON DH-20A1P-45C 20x DVD±RW x12 Ram Dual Layer DVD-Writer (Black) - OEM £14.50
(£17.04) £14.50
(£17.04)
Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU Antec NSK4400 Mini Tower Case - 380W SmartPower PSU £39.99
(£46.99) £39.99
(£46.99)
Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM Samsung SpinPoint P HD080HJ 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM £23.99
(£28.19) £23.99
(£28.19)
Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Asrock Conroe945G-DVI (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £41.99
(£49.34) £41.99
(£49.34)
Sub Total : £341.43
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £61.67
Total : £414.05

Sorry for all the items duplicated- this graphics card has dual dvi vand 4gb of memory
 
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It's slightly overbudget but would do very well as a lower end workstation
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A discrete GPU is a must. I've tried using SolidWorks and AutoCAD on GMA950 is performance was abysmal. This GPU has a lot of memory for larger models and should do just fine. If you needed to save money anywhere opt for a smaller hard disk/one with less cache or an Akasa Zen case. If you discovered you had more money go for a faster processor, more cores, or more memory.
 
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I've just ordered two PC's for an architect and accountant last night, both pretty much the same although one has a seperate GPU!

Thermaltake Lanbox
Intel Core 2 Duo E6320
Abit Fatal1ty
Akasa Paxpower 460W
GeIL 2GB PC5300-DDR2
Samsung SATA DVD+/-RW Lightscribe
Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 Keyboard
Creative Fatal1ty 1600DPI Mouse

And the GPU for the Architect:

BFG 8800GTS 640MB :o
 
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