CAD Machine (spec me)

wilber

wilber

wilber

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Hello everyone,

A friend has asked me to spec him a machine for CAD (AutoCAD Architecture) to be specific.

I have tried to spec something up but i keep coming in over budget by a fair way. I am starting to think that realistically the budget is too low.

The Budget £500
Also needs to include win 7 64 bit

He will be doing 3d cad with it. Could anyone here have a go at speccing something for me please.
I believe it will be difficult task to create something with an adequate spec for his needs in the budget he has given but please prove me wrong!
 
 
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OP: Depends all on what you want the PC to do. My final year project had a whole CAD tractor and made my laptop (with Intel rubbish graphics) so badly it was unbearable, but my desktop PC (see sig) was fine.

If you are doing small-mid complexity CAD work, then any old modern PC is fine.
If you are doing complex work (say a whole car loaded up at once) then you need a powerhouse.
 
Its worthwhile getting a low end ATI Firepro or Nvidia Quadro graphics card it makes a huge difference even on really budget spec pc because these CAD orientated cards can do the work instead and your software supports it too.
 
I would also confirm that Autocad will run on Home Premium. On know from past experiences that a fair few CAD packages will not run and are not supported on a non Pro OS.

Oh and like you said £500 buget for a Workstation to produce money making content on is not advised at all. Its like a carpenter or fitter using a drill that was a tenner from wilco rather than a good DeWalt ;)
 
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stulid said:
YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-2300 2.80GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £137.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-02050) £79.98
1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST500DM002) £57.98
1 x Gigabyte H61MA-D3V Intel H61 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £47.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-430CXUKV2) £39.98
1 x Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00CEU) £37.99
1 x BitFenix Merc Beta Gaming Case - Black £31.99
1 x LG GH22NS70 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £18.98
Total : £467.89 (includes shipping : £12.50).




Use the onboard GFX solution, add a Nvidia card for CUDA support later on.
Click to expand...

+1
 
Ingleberry said:
Its worthwhile getting a low end ATI Firepro or Nvidia Quadro graphics card it makes a huge difference even on really budget spec pc because these CAD orientated cards can do the work instead and your software supports it too.
Click to expand...

+1 on this.... I've spent too much time cross flashing and the performance difference is like night and day.

BTW OP really needs to be looking at a 2600k or 2500k at minimum. CAD is really intensive especially if you're looking for silky smooth performance.

If you're happy with lag and want to keep to a smaller budget then don't bother with this advice :)
 
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