Budget CAD Workstation based on GA-965P-DS3 (rev. 3.3)

[richard8654]

Hi.

I'm on a budget of say £150 ($300) max. Not very PC literate.

I was gifted a Pentium 4 (Prescott 530j single core) runs at 3Ghz.

I've bought a Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3.

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2456

I don't need a HDD.

I don't need a cabinet.

I don't need a CDROM drive.

I need a PSU.

I need, say, 2GB or 4GB memory to start with.

I need a video card (PCI-E x 16 socket).

Any ideas of what might be in the ballpark, considering my budget?

Are we talking something like?:

PSU: EA380 380W Continuous Power ATX

Memory: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ

Video Card: ATI 100-505564 FirePro V3700 256MB PCI Express 2.0 x16 Workstation Video Card

(Mmm: I've only PCI-E x16! Bit of a limitation I think.)

I'm in UK.

Thanks.

 

[Proximon]

You chose a very old chipset.... I'm not sure why they are even making this any more. A more modern motherboard might have been better... Say a mATX such as:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/161966

Your gifted CPU is not much anymore. Not really worth buying a MB for it actually.

ANY CPU you purchase now will beat it in speed.... especially for your apps. You need a dual core at least, more than you need 4GB of expensive RAM.


Return your board and do this:

Athlon X2 245
http://www.dabs.com/products/amd-athlon-ii-x2-245-2-9ghz-skt-am3-l2-l3-2mb-65w-pib-6381.html?refs=50521

ASUS 780G board
http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-am2--amd-780g-matx-ddr2-audio-and-gigabit-ethernet-64Q1.html?refs=48750000-42190000#specifications

Corsair CX400W
http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-am2--amd-780g-matx-ddr2-audio-and-gigabit-ethernet-64Q1.html?refs=48750000-42190000#specifications
(or your EA380 is fine too)

2GB Corsair 800Mhz RAM
http://www.dabs.com/products/corsair-memory-2gb-ddr2--800-mhz-240-dimm-5KBR.html?refs=434700000-4294959239

Then use the onboard graphics for CAD until you can afford more RAM and a better video card.

 

[richard8654]

Ill keep the board for now. Eventually I bought a dio core E2180 CPU. So, I have a half decent set-up so far.