autocad rig $500-600

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Fixed your title.

Really any machine will work, but ideally you'll want a Quadro or similar card if you're going to be doing a lot of Cad on the thing. Nvidia has a lineup with improved autocad acceleration.

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nono

but i didnt want a autocad card

i was a rigg

i cant spend 500 on a workstation card

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This is AutoCAD, its easy. My school also has pentium 4 with onboard that will run it fine for 2d, choppy on 3d.

Here is what i got so far.

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I work in an architecture firm. We use 8600GT's the normal machines and they do run fine. But if you are going to do anything with textures or renderings, you will want something better. Especially if you plan on doing lots of work in 3D. Anything will 'work' but if you want good performance, you need something better.

The quadro cards do have great support and drivers, but they are very pricey. It is possible to flash certain cards to their Quadro counterparts, but I'm not sure if it is worth it.

I've built a few workstations for an architect client of mine, i've found that pretty much any of the amd dual cores run great for it, I'd reccommend one that clocks at atleast 2.8. More cache the better, so if you can find a windsor x2 5600 or better, your set. Use any Nforce based board (i tend to stick asus and liked the m2n-e w/ the 570 chipset). 2 sata's in a raid 0 (they dont have to be big) and something like an 8600 GT or 9600 GT for a video card at least (8800, 9800 GT or GTX would be superb). Yeah, the quadros are nice but they are soooo expensive and when using the lowend ones, a standard 8600 GT seems to spank it. Give it 4gb of any ddr2-800.

That should set you straight. Unfortunately though, if you want a machine that isnt going to lag and piss you off, your going to have to bump your price range up a tad. Your going to pay between 450-550 on the rig alone, not including the monitor. You dont wanna cut corners too hardcore here if your a serious autocad user and like to work fast.

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It takes forever to render with onboard, yes, but Im saying if you get a 4670 it'll be perfect for what he needs.

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money is better spent elsewhere than on a quadcore proc. That alone is going to kill the budget.

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ok i like the price on the 4670 too

thanks derp

How about this used beast for $320 and that leaves you enough for a good vid card and monitor too
http://www.overclock.net/sale/476296...g-parting.html

Monitor Samsung 21.5, 5ms $169.99 after MIR and free shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824001308

That leaves you with about $100ish for a vid card.

That didin't include the HDD, CD/DVD-ROM and PS for this build

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820134488
ram 19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.172770
CPU and mobo 124.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824254018
monitor 99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135187
drive 24.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102820
GFX 71.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136074
hard drive 54.99

Leaves you below 500 so you can cherry pick which items you want to get something better.

Argg scratch the case, I thought is was a mid tower.

New case and psu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.165597

Thats about 500 right there.

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omg...so tempting...but...but...aghhhh

wow that is a really good deal though...

let me thinksss :O

You could get off the Quad and get a good DC and save some $ and still have a great rig