My hopeful 2500+CAD I7 build. Any comments??

I recently posted in the same forum about a Q9550 system I wanted to build and that one costs with OS 1980 CAD. This one with OS costs about 2500+ CAD. Now I am a full time engineering student and this is a pretty big burn on my wallet. Other than the chipset, mobo and ram the specs are the same for the Q9550 system. Should I stick with the Q9550 and maybe upgrade the gpu to the 4870X2 for 300 bucks more or get this I7 built. I am only looking for a system that wont lag my autoCad programs (which my schools P4 computers run) and maybe L4D at max settings but not max resolution. I like 1024 x 768 resolution best. will the Q9550 be good enough. remember I am a full time student. now critique away!!! Also I am not big onto buying off the net as the cost for shipping would amount to what I am paying for at the store to which these parts are coming from. Example I built a great I7 rig on the alienware site... with everything keyboard, monitor, mouse, warrenty, 4870X2 gpu, 6 gig ram, all that jazz for only 3000 CAD was amazing and I was ready to buy it BUT the shipping................. 817 CAD WTF. HAHA.

Product Name Qty Unit Price Price
Intel Core™ i7 Processor 920 2.66GHz w/ 8MB Cache
ILC: 735858204736 SKU: MX22588
1 $399.99 $399.99



Asus P6T Deluxe w/ TripleDDR3 1600, 7.1 Audio, Dual GB Lan, 1394, PCI-E, CrossFireX /SLI
ILC: 610839165841 SKU: MX22593
1 $374.99 $374.99



OCZ 6GB PC3-12800 Gold Edition Low Voltage Triple Channel DDR3 Kit (3 x 2GB)
ILC: 842024010456 SKU: MX22711
1 $384.99 $384.99



Western Digital 1TB Caviar GP 7200rpm SATA II w/ 16MB Cache
ILC: WD10EACS SKU: MX19436
1 $139.99 $139.99



Samsung SH-S223F 22x SpeedPlus™ DVD-Writer, SATA (OEM) Black
ILC: 729507941974 SKU: MX21243
1 $25.99 $25.99



HIS Radeon HD 4870 1GB GDDR5 PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDTV-Out, HDMI
ILC: 4895139000962 SKU: MX22022
1 $409.99 $409.99



Corsair HX 1000W Modular Power Supply w/ Dual +12V
ILC: 843591000703 SKU: MX20779
1 $284.99 $284.99



Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 Aluminum Chassis, Black
ILC: 818313400239 SKU: MX17270
1 $179.99 $179.99

I would go with the i7 and the single gpu 4870. The only caveat being that you and your school will be using autocad 2008 or newer. These use Vista and Direct 3d instead of Open GL. Older versions of autocad really need the workstation type Fire or Quadro cards with Open GL optimizations.

It is for both a workstation and video gaming. I wish to crossfire in the future with either another 4870 1gig gpu or the current 1gig with a 4870X2 gpu. So instead of buying a 700 watt psu I would just spend the extra what 50 bucks to get the 1000watt and save me money and headaches in the future.

wow that wonderful setup you gave me computersss only came to with shipping and handling a total of 2214.56 CAD.

Question to Newf:

Hmm I am currently running AutoCAD Civil and Maya on my Presario A900 laptop which only has Intel graphics media accelerator and 3gigs of ram. Are you saying that the 4870 will have problems running 08/09 CAD and MicroStation or would have problems running the older versions?? I am soooo new to all this stuff.. Open GL and direct 3D... ya. haha

Just for fun I built a system similar to what you asked (even the CAS8 DDR3-1600) @ NCIX (Canadian store if you didn't know) and in the end it costs 2500$ incl. shipping (free), shipping insurances and taxes (pay only GST if outside British-Columbia). You might also get lower prices using their pricematch policy with newegg stock on some items.