1WaffleIron,
As your applications include 3D CAD, rendering, and 2D graphics, my suggestion would be to consider a Xeon 6-core CPU, ECC RAM, Quadro GPU, SSD OS/applications drive and 2X mech'l HD in storage in RAID 1 which mirrors. Rendering can use as many cores as available, and this system will give you error-correcting RAM, 10-bit color, 128X anti-aliasing which I highly recommend especially for Maya. For video editing, I also recommend a card with 2GB or more memory. You might consider a used Quadro- these are highly reliable and long lived typically in order to have a faster GPU and with more memory such as a Quadro K4000 (3GB)- these are the newest generation but I've seen these selling with almost no hours for as little as $650.
Trying for the best cost/performance/reliability ratio >
Xeon E5-1650 6-cores @ $600
Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler $80
ASRock X79 Extreme3 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6GB/s USB 3.0 $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Kingston 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 Server Memory Model KVR16E11K4/16 $170
Quadro K4000 $650 used / $800 new
SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD128BW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive $150
Seagate Constellation ES ST2000NM0001 2TB 7200 RPM RPM 64MB Cache SAS 6Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Internal Hard Drive $230
LIAN LI PC-A75 Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case $182
SeaSonic M12II 850 SS-850AM 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Semi-modular Power Supply $122
ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM $15
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OEM $190
________________________________
TOTAL : $2629.
As you can see, this system is well over the proposed budget, but reflects what I believe would be desirable for a fast, reliable system that wouldn't need upgrading for the longest period. I understand that gaming systems may be built to a price, as those are in a sense a luxury, but in my view, workstations must be built to a capability. Consumer / gaming cards may work for workstation applications, but as I discovered (GTX 285), only up to a certain level, and then they can produce mysterious problems- artifacts, odd viewport behavior, bizarre shadows, rendering crashes. I would go so far as to say anyone using or contemplating using Solidworks should accept the inevitability of a Quadro or Firepro graphics card. In my view, saving costs with the idea of upgrading ultimately can be more expensive and more time-consuming. The uses for our proposed system require very good hardware and both AutoDesk and Adobe are moving into more demanding software, although Adobe, as you may know, is flying into the cloud after CS6, which will reduce hardware load on the user's end, but of course is a subscription and cost (about $500/yr) that may never be halted.
When a hardware requirement exceeds the budget in this way, my suggestion is to consider a used Dell Precision with the proper basic specification- CPU mainly- at a price that allows immediate use and gradual upgrading of the graphics card, RAM, and drives. For example, here's a completed Ebahh sale of a Precision T7500 with the excellent 6-core Xeon X5680 @3.33GHz (Passmark rank #23) for about $1,500 >
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Precision-T7500-3-33Ghz-X5...
> which has 48GB RAM and also has a Tesla C1060 GPU coprocessing card (originally over $2,500) and 1TB drive. This would be immediately useful for you work, you could enhance it by adding a Samsung 250GB SSD for the OS and applications. In all, for a total of about $1,700-1,800, you would have a computer (that originally cost about $6,000) with a comparable performance to the $2,700 new one- plus it would be instantly useable- just loading applications- and no ordering, assembling, configuration, troubleshooting and useful for probably five years.
Just a thought.
Cheers,
BambiBoom
[Dell Precision T5400 > 2X Xeon X5460 @3.16GHz, 16GB RAM, Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB), WD RE4 /Segt 500GB drives > Win 7 Ult > AutoCad, Revit, Solidworks, Sketchup, CS4 MC, Corel Technical Designer, WP Office, MS Office ] > Total cost, about $1000