CAD computer for $500 - need help and advices

M

mattinv

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
473
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mostly for CAD, with a little bit of rendering

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500 without shipping, no screen.

3) Where do you live?
Oregon

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Phenom X4 940 BE, 4GO RAM

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I would be reusing a older hard drive. But I'd like a new, 160Go SATA one. The old hard drive contains some data I need to keep and that I;d like to have access to. I will also re use the old DVD drive.

6) Will you be overclocking?
I probably will.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
No monitor.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Around Black Friday.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
No special features. Just a stable, good overall motherboard.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes. 1.

My config so far:
COOLER MASTER Elite 360 RC-360-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mini
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
POWERCOLOR AX4650 512MD2-H Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit DDR2
BFG Tech GS-550 550W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V V2.8 SLI Ready CrossFire
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX - Retail
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C9
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
total: about $517

Thank you in advance.
 
$500 build, I would say this is better than what you configured

Coolermaster Elite 335 for $29.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119161

Seagate Barracuda 500GB Sata HDD for $54.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 for $93.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

AMD Phenom II 925 Deneb 2.8ghz + ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X both for $225.98 ($10 MIR) w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.293437

Antec Earthwatts EA500 + MSI Radeon HD 4550 1GB both for $100.98 ($10 MIR) w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.279818

Total: $505.93 w/free shipping $20 in MIR
 
Thank you for your input.
I have a question: don't you think that the combo GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard + AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition is better than the combo AMD Phenom II 925 Deneb 2.8ghz + ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 AMD 790X ?
Or maybe the Gigabyte is not a good board?
 
The Gigabyte Mobo with the AMD 770 chipset is a good motherboard. But, I would not say it is better than the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 with the 790X chipset. The Asus Mobo does have the newer more advanced northbridge chipset in the 790X. The Asus motherboard also has heatsinks on the mosfet ics where the Gigabyte mobo does not. The 790X chipset would have more features also than the Gigabyte mobo with 2 x PCI-E for X-fire, more Sata ports, more RAID options and e-sata as well. The Phenom II X4 940 cpu is 200mhz faster than the Phenom II X4 925 at 2.8ghz but, 200mhz is minor. You can easily O/C the 925 quad cpu to 3.0+ ghz. Also, shipping is free on all the items which brings it closer to your $500.
 
HardwareGuru said:
The Gigabyte Mobo with the AMD 770 chipset is a good motherboard. But, I would not say it is better than the ASUS M4A79XTD EVO AM3 with the 790X chipset. The Asus Mobo does have the newer more advanced northbridge chipset in the 790X. The Asus motherboard also has heatsinks on the mosfet ics where the Gigabyte mobo does not. The 790X chipset would have more features also than the Gigabyte mobo with 2 x PCI-E for X-fire, more Sata ports, more RAID options and e-sata as well. The Phenom II X4 940 cpu is 200mhz faster than the Phenom II X4 925 at 2.8ghz but, 200mhz is minor. You can easily O/C the 925 quad cpu to 3.0+ ghz. Also, shipping is free on all the items which brings it closer to your $500.
Click to expand...

I agree about all that, but I was thinking it would be easier to bring the X4 940 BE to 3.4-3.8Ghz than the 925 even though the Gigabyte is not as good as an overclocker as the ASUS. No heatsink on the mosfet did worry me a bit, but it seems that most people didn't have too much problem with that.
I will definitively look into your other suggestions.
Regarding the graphic card, anything else for less than $50 that would do a decent job?
 
Better in what sense? stock CPU clocks? yes, if you dont need the extra features of the 790X board. :p Since you're OC'ing, get the better chipset and lower clocked CPU, since its easy to OC from 2.8 to 3.0 anyhow.

HG's build also has a faster HDD and a better PSU.
 
Another option for you.

Coolermaster Elite 335 for $29.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119161

Seagate Barracuda 500GB Sata HDD for $54.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148395

AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0ghz + CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 for $244.98 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.286665

GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3P AM3 AMD 770 for $79.99 ($10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128392

Antec Earthwatts EA430 for $54.99 w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006

MSI Radeon HD 4350 512MB for $34.99 ($10 MIR) w/free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127436

Total: $499.93
Shipping: $7.56
Total: $507.49
 
Guys, do note that the Phenom II 940 is a socket AM2+ CPU. So it will not work with any true socket AM3 motherboards. So HardwareGuru's first setup was not only better in every way but would actually work too;)
 
My mistake. Yes, I was thinking the Phenom II X 4 945. But I could also consider the AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz for the small difference in price.:p
 
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