Some more advice on set up

[pootklopp]

Approximate Purchase Date: within the next 30 days

Budget Range: ~1,500 After Rebates, After Shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important: School/ Video Viewing/Gaming. I will be running Autodesk software (AutoCad, Architectural Desktop, maybe even Maya in the future) and Adobe software. I usually watch videos (streamed or downloaded) to an external TV (hdmi out). Then some gaming on top of that (Day Z Mod, maybe some more)

Are you buying a monitor: Yes, some monitor advice would help too.

Parts to Upgrade: New Build

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Whatever is cheapest, would prefer newegg/amazon

Location: Princeton, NJ

Parts Preferences: Always been an Intel fan, from what I have seen so far the i5’s are what is being recommended.

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Don’t know

Your Monitor Resolution: TBD, monitor advice is also welcome

Additional Comments: New to computer building and just looking for guidance from the good people of Tom’s. I would like the computer to be somewhat upgradeable for the future as I will get a job next summer and be able to spend more on it. I will probably be storing CAD projects on this computer so some additional storage will be needed.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Need something that can smoothly run what I need to run as listed above. Since I am going to be using these programs daily I want them with limited lag, within reason. The projects that I will have running on this computer are not going to be huge design projects usually just student created work.

Here is what has been recommended to me so far

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/fh73

Advice/ critiques wanted

 

[C12Friedman]

The recommended parts from your link looks to be a solid build. I personally would bump the graphics card another $150 for an NVidia GTX670 rather than the HD7870 but I doubt you'll see enough of a difference right away to justify the difference - just what I would do.

 

[pootklopp]

Left it open to crossfire in the future if I want. What kind of gains would I see with the upgrade now?

 

[l0v3rboi]

Most of the gains you would get from switching to the GTX 670 would be gaming-based (i.e. better graphics and such). Here is a comparison between the two: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/548?vs=598

If you look down though, compute-based activities, the 7870 is better than the 670. Radeon-based cards are typically better in this area. For this reason, I would suggest that you stick with Radeon cards.

 

[pootklopp]

Yeah gaming is probably going to be minimal unless I get the PC gaming itch. Currently an xbox guy.

 

[pootklopp]

Best answer selected by pootklopp.