Build

[birdman891]

Hello,

I am interested in building a computer with a budget of $500 w/o peripherals. I plan to use Solidworks and AutoCAD RevIt for modeling and simulation. Most of the work I do in the near future will have fewer than 500 components and I plan to run Windows 7 64 bit. Can anyone suggest a build that may suffice?

I am currently looking at this setup(copied and pasted):

3.2GHZ AMD PHENOM II X4 840 Quad Core [strike](12.8GHZ combined Processor speed)[/strike]
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 MHZ
ATI Radeon HD 4200 512MB Graphics
LG 24X DVD-R 48X CD+-R DVD Burner
Biostar A780L3G AM3 760G Motherboard
Realtek Integrated Wifi PCI Card(802.11b/g/n - 300Mbps)
Integrated 55-1 Card Reader (Compact Flash, SD, etc.)

Thanks

Sean

 

[geekapproved]

Those are horrible choices.

Fill out the "new build" form in the new build section.

(12.8GHZ combined Processor speed)

Thanks for the laugh, that's the funniest thing I've seen posted this week. It's 3.2ghz, not 12.8ghz. :lol:

 

[birdman891]

Also, I am considering this build(copied and pasted):

3.1GHZ Intel Core i5 2400 Quad Core [strike](12.4GHZ combined Processor speed)[/strike]
1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 MHZ
Intel HD Graphics 3000
LG 22X DVD-R 48X CD+-R DVD Burner
Biostar H61ML LGA 1155 H61 Motherboard
Realtek Integrated Wifi PCI Card(802.11b/g/n - 300Mbps)
Integrated 55-1 Card Reader (Compact Flash, SD, etc.)

Can the Intel HD graphics card truly support my needs?

 

[geekapproved]

Dude, seriously, you don't combine the speed of the cores. It's still 3.1 ghz.

For AutoCad you'll need a video card and they are not cheap. I'm no expert on Autocad but it seems to me you would know this already if you have used it before.

Either way the i5 is a mile faster and has better upgrade ability.

 

[birdman891]

Sorry lol I know those are the specs listed on two computers I was looking at and I know thats not the combined processor speed, just copied and pasted the specs because I saw that I could build this setup myself for cheap.

From what the AutoCAD and SolidWorks websites say, if I use the newer Intel Sandy Bridge cores the integrated Intel HD graphics cards are okay. I guess I am more concerned with the limitations because everywhere I read on this website people are spending $1000+ on their setups with dedicated cards such as QuadroFX and FireGL cards.

Can anyone comment?

And if those choices are horrible could you please recommend cost effective alternatives?

BTW, I am a mechanical engineering student not computer engineer, so, please understand I only know the basics of the basics. I am however familiar with AutoCAD and SolidWorks but most colleges dont require you to know your computer specs to know a program.

Thanks in advance!

 

[geekapproved]

Considering I've sold many FireGL's and Quadro's to AutoCad user, I seriously doubt Intel integrated HD graphics is going to work considering you can't even use it to play a basic game.

The i5 or i7 is definitely the way you want to go here.