HVAC CAD Machine

[dizolit]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Autodesk AutoCAD, Revit, Solidworks, Google Sketchup, Photoshop, Excel, etc
It will be used for a lab which will be used by mechanical engineering students for their senior project. Currently, the computers are using core2duos and some other old hardware which render Revit drawings and such much too slow. This will be the one computer that will be used for rendering/CAD work.
No gaming (or at least there shouldn't be any )
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Not specified, best bang for the buck preferred
If you have tons of free time and are bored, configure builds for $1250, $1750, and $2250
3) Where do you live?
Central Coast, CA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Everything
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
None
6) Will you be overclocking?
Possibly going to use watercooling (possibly to integrate into a lab for a class, using a VFD on the pump with flowmeters and what-not to examine how mass flow rate affects temperature, power consumed, etc)
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Triple screen (eyefinity/surround)
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Near future (next couple of months)
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Just the ordinary stuff, no need for quad SLI support or anything like that
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
WIndows 7 64 bit


At the moment, I am thinking:

i7 2600K+ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9115070&cm_re=i7_2600k-_-19-115-070-_-Product
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730
ATI FirePro V5900 or V5800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814195097&cm_re=v5800-_-14-195-097-_-Product Can't find V5900 on sale anywhere, was just released May 24th
4x4gb Gskill DDR3 1333 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...73&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20
Intel 320 120gb SSD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...167050&cm_re=intel_320-_-20-167-050-_-Product
Samsung F3 1tb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
Corsair HX650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012
Lite-on DVDRW http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

Questions:
CASE
Regarding a case, security is a must-have. My Coolermaster Storm Sniper has a tab through which you can attach a lock to prevent the side panel from being removed. Along with that, you can snake the mouse/keyboard wires through the case so that the only way to remove them is to remove the side panel. Are there any better choices in cases that will accommodate these security needs and at the same time, allow students to view the inside (window).

I'm not sure if space inside the case will be a required as if the water cooling-route is used, the radiator/pump will located externally so students can manipulate the fans on the radiator and flow rate of the pump. Most likely, the radiator/pump/reservoir will be outside which will fed/returned through the two tube ports that most cases have nowadays.

MONITORS
I'm thinking of going with some e-IPS monitors such as the Dell u2311h . Multiple students will often be viewing whatever project is on this computer and accurate color rendering of models and such will be important hence the need for IPS.

Videocard
Would it be better to just go with a consumer ATI card such as 6850 to save some money? I've read Revit doesn't really use the GPU to render drawings (unlike other 3d cad programs such as Maya, 3dsmax, etc). The two main programs to be used are AutoCAD and Revit.

Builds for different price ranges would help. Let's say... $1250, $1750, and $2250?

 

[Dangman]

3) Where do you live?
Central Coast, CA

Ok, I recommend getting as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com proper since they do not charge tax to CA residents whereas Newegg does. We've been able to shave off $100 to $300 from California builds in the past by just buying the parts from Amazon.com

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Near future (next couple of months)

Ok you're planning this build too soon. Whatever parts we recommend today aren't necessarily the same parts we recommend a month from now let alone two months from now. Considering that AMD is also releasing their new CPUs around that time frame, planning a build so far in advance isn't gonna help.

So wait until 2-3 weeks before the purchase date and ask for advice then. You'll get up to-date advice then as well as notifications on the latest deals and such.

 

[dizolit]

Ok, I recommend getting as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com proper since they do not charge tax to CA residents whereas Newegg does. We've been able to shave off $100 to $300 from California builds in the past by just buying the parts from Amazon.com

Ok you're planning this build too soon. Whatever parts we recommend today aren't necessarily the same parts we recommend a month from now let alone two months from now. Considering that AMD is also releasing their new CPUs around that time frame, planning a build so far in advance isn't gonna help.

So wait until 2-3 weeks before the purchase date and ask for advice then. You'll get up to-date advice then as well as notifications on the latest deals and such.

Let's assume I will be building this computer in 2-3 weeks (very high possibility). What advice would you give then? I say next couple of months in the event that significantly better hardware will be released.

Would it be worth waiting for these new AMD CPUs?

 

[Dangman]

Let's assume I will be building this computer in 2-3 weeks (very high possibility). What advice would you give then? I say next couple of months in the event that significantly better hardware will be released.

Well the parts you chose are fairly solid so far. However since you're in CA, I recommend a change in RAM:
$140 - 4 x Patriot PSD34G13332 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

Far cheaper than most of the Newegg 16GB RAM sets and no real world difference in performance.

As for the different builds at various price points, I'll get to that later today. A bit busy at the moment.

Would it be worth waiting for these new AMD CPUs?

Hmmm, if you can wait till then, do so. If not, the CPU you chose is fine.

 

[Dangman]

~$1750 budget.
$345 - Intel Core i7-2600K CPU
$130 - MSI P67A-G43 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$140 - 4 x Patriot PSD34G13332 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$160 - ATI FirePro V4800 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$220 - Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW120G3K5 2.5" 120GB SSD
$61 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$24 - Lite-On iHAS-324-98 24X SATA DVD Burner
$89 - XFX P1-650X-CAH9 650W Modular PSU
$320 - Dell U2311H 23" eIPS LCD Monitor
---
Total: $1489 shipped

I went with Amazon.com as much as possible to avoid tax as stated earlier. I've already included tax for the CPU. From what I can tell, that ATI card should fit your needs just fine and has a pretty good price to performance ratio. Even if you don't go with the above ATI card, I have to recommend sticking with Quadro or FireGL cards due to the multiple professional grade software you're using.

As for case, thats something you're gonna have to look up yourself due to your specific requirements.

With the above build, you're pretty much maxed out on the CPU, RAM, and motherboard. However there are ways to upgrade the above build:
- Another SSD for program installations
- A larger SSD
- A faster Quadro or FireGL card
- Another SSD for RAID 0
- Additional hard drives for storage