Desktop on network mostly for Cad

[mac1500]

Please make suggestions since I would like to order parts ASAP

Windows 7 Utimate 64bit (must have XP mode for some software) Always have several applications running at same time

Software: Revit Architectural Suite 2009-2011 (AutoCad & Revit including 3D & rendering); Adobe Master Collection CS4 (mostly photoshop, illustrator, acrobat), MS Office 2007 (mostly Excel, Word, Outlook), Quickbooks, must have constant fast internet connection, do play back some movies and backupfiles, but really don’t have much time for games Mostly used for small office business

Here's what I've considered
Cooler Master RC-942-KKN1 (has usb3 on front) or? If so would I want a USB3 expansion card? May want clockable parts i7-930 Gigabyte or Asus Motherboard 12GB (4GBX3) DDR3 1600MHZ (24GB max) NVIDIA Quadro FX3800 or less? (Must be certified by Autodesk) Large & Quiet power supply & fans Solid State HD? (need fastest startup & shutdown) 1TB sata3 6gb/s 64mb cache 24x dual layer DVD/CD LAN network card? Flash media reader/writer Keyboard & prefer good wireless mouse

Have Dell 2407WFP monitor

This will be main computer on network

 

[Pyroflea]

That post is a bit of a mess. For future reference, please post the parts you're considering in list form. Take a look at this sticky:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

Anyways, back on topic. For rendering you'll obviously want a high number of cores, and lots of RAM. The i7-930 is multi-threaded, giving you 4 physical cores, and 8 virtual cores/threads. This will do just fine. 12GB of RAM would be plenty, even for doing quite large renderings. I can't see you needing any more than that. As for the Graphics Card, I'm not familiar at all with the Quadro's so I can't comment. Power supply, Corsair all the way; affordable, and very reliable supplies. SSD would definitely help with boot/load times. SATAIII may or may not be worth it; assuming the drive isn't significantly more than it's SATAII counterpart, then it will be nice though. LAN cards aren't really necessary imo, but if you do feel the need to get one, go with one of the Intel gigabit NICs.

 

[mac1500]

That post is a bit of a mess. For future reference, please post the parts you're considering in list form. Take a look at this sticky:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

Anyways, back on topic. For rendering you'll obviously want a high number of cores, and lots of RAM. The i7-930 is multi-threaded, giving you 4 physical cores, and 8 virtual cores/threads. This will do just fine. 12GB of RAM would be plenty, even for doing quite large renderings. I can't see you needing any more than that. As for the Graphics Card, I'm not familiar at all with the Quadro's so I can't comment. Power supply, Corsair all the way; affordable, and very reliable supplies. SSD would definitely help with boot/load times. SATAIII may or may not be worth it; assuming the drive isn't significantly more than it's SATAII counterpart, then it will be nice though. LAN cards aren't really necessary imo, but if you do feel the need to get one, go with one of the Intel gigabit NICs.

What would you recommend for the case? Do you think that I should consider both USB 2 & 3 on the front?
Which mother board would you recommend?
What wattage would you recommend for the power supply?

 

[Pyroflea]

USB3 isn't quite mainstream yet, and I don't think it will be for a couple years still. However, it is backwards compatible, so if a case you were looking at had USB3 ports, USB2 would work as well. I wouldn't go out of my way to find a case that has USB3 ports; if you find one you like, then that's a bonus.

As for the case, do you have a budget? Do you want full or mid tower?

Motherboards are hard to recommend; there's so many out there that it's nearly impossible to say "Motherboard X is perfect for Member Y". I'd look around online, find a few with features you like that are within your price range, and post them here. We can help you narrow things down from there.

For the power supply, I'd go for something around 500w-550w. That should be plenty, but you can go higher if you feel the need, or feel you'll be doing so major expanding in the future. Anything made by Corsair gets my vote as far as power supplies go.

 

[mac1500]

USB3 isn't quite mainstream yet, and I don't think it will be for a couple years still. However, it is backwards compatible, so if a case you were looking at had USB3 ports, USB2 would work as well. I wouldn't go out of my way to find a case that has USB3 ports; if you find one you like, then that's a bonus.

As for the case, do you have a budget? Do you want full or mid tower?

Motherboards are hard to recommend; there's so many out there that it's nearly impossible to say "Motherboard X is perfect for Member Y". I'd look around online, find a few with features you like that are within your price range, and post them here. We can help you narrow things down from there.

For the power supply, I'd go for something around 500w-550w. That should be plenty, but you can go higher if you feel the need, or feel you'll be doing so major expanding in the future. Anything made by Corsair gets my vote as far as power supplies go.

Price is a consideration (looks like I’m around $2575 + Windows 7) but I do need performance
Windows 7 Utimate 64bit (must have XP mode)
I’ll want to clock later since this is the main computer on the network
Case-Cooler Master RC-942-KKN1 (I like the USB3 on front but don’t necessarily need a full tower)
CPU i7-930 (What fan do you recommend? Possibly Cooler Master V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP)
Motherboard-Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R or Asus Rampage III or? Your recommendations?
Memory-G. Skill 12GB (4GBX3) DDR3 1600MHZ (24GB max)
SSD HD-Kingston SNV425-S2/128GB
HD-Western Digital Caviar WD1002FAEX
Video-NVIDIA Quadro FX3800 ($850 but needed for CAD and rendering) uses 107 watts & single slot
PS-Corsair CMPSU-750HX)
Optical-LG 24xDVD with lightscribe GH24LS50
Kama Reader 2 SCKMRD-2000BK
I’m still looking at the keyboard and mouse
I have a Dell 2407WFP monitor

I would appreciate your input and/or suggestions

 

[Pyroflea]

That setup looks pretty damn good to me. That case is pretty sexy, and should perform quite well. For now the stock cooler would be fine on the i7, but since you said you wanted to overclock you may as well just get a better cooler right away. These would be my suggestions (in no particular order):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

Either motherboard is fine; I've had luck with both companies. I'd go with the Gigabyte personally, as I see no reason for the extra cost associated with the Asus.