New Workstation

[xref]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing?
Revit MEP

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1900 (includes tax and shipping)

3) Which country do you live in?
Oakland, CA

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
Ivy bridge, 16GB RAM, SSD boot drive, GTX 560 Ti 2GB or better card for Revit.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
N/A

6) Will you be overclocking?
No (but might in the future).

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor?
24" 1920x1200.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
NOW

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support?
USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 <-- something like this or better

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No. Need Windows 7 x64 Home Premium.

Thanks guys!

 

[Dangman]

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
Ivy bridge, 16GB RAM, SSD boot drive, GTX 560 Ti 2GB or better card for Revit.

So you'll need motherboard, hard drive, case, PSU, and DVD drive as well for that $1900 budget?

Also, why the GTX 560 Ti 2GB as the starting point for the GPU?

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support?
USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 <-- something like this or better

Ok that doesn't help us at all. Please list the features you actually need. We're definitely not going to recommend the Asus Sabertooth for a few reasons:
1) It might be overkill for your needs since you're not overclocking
2) It might be overkill for your needs since you haven't said what you want exactly in a motherboard
3) Asus' customer support has been going down the drain lately to the point that, at least in this subforum, Asus motherboards aren't being recommended.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No. Need Windows 7 x64 Home Premium.

Is the cost of the OS part of that $1900 budget?

 

[xref]

My first post sucked. LOL!

I'm putting together a new computer for Revit MEP. I'm not reusing any old hardware so I need to purchase all the necessary parts.

Regarding the GTX 560 Ti 2Gb, it's recommended by a lot of Revit users. But if you can find me a better card, that would be great!

Now for the motherboard. USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s, eSata, UEFI, don't really need onboard video, RAID would be a plus, SLI would be a plus, don't need WiFI or bluetooth.

Cost of the OS is part of the budget.

Thanks!

 

[Dangman]

Ok, while I setup a build list for you, I highly recommend that you buy this SSD RIGHT NOW as it's on sale:
$200 - Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2 2.5" 256GB SSD

It's a solid SSD, more than enough space for your OS and applications, and an awesome deal even with the CA sales tax added on. So get it ASAP!

 

[xref]

That went fast. Sold out already.

 

[Dangman]

$320 - Intel Core i7-3770K
$160 - Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H
$188 - 4 x Corsair CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$260 - eVGA GeForce GTX 560 TI 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$125 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SSD
$130 - Hitachi Deskstar 0S02861 2TB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$16 - Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE SATA DVD Burner
$90 - Corsair 750TX V2 750W PSU
$25 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
$140 - Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit OEM
---
Total: $1454 shipped.

Notes:
- I went with Amazon.com as much as possible as they do not charge CA residents tax like Newegg does.
- Yes that's 32GB of RAM. You had the budget for it and I figured it couldn't hurt to have more RAM for your kind of use. As a result of going for 32GB of RAM, I upped the OS to Windows 7 Pro as Windows 7 Home Premium is artificially limited to 16GB of RAM max.
- That PSU is definitely overkill for your use but it's such a good deal, it'd be foolhardy not to get it.

Case wise, choose your own case. I recommend the following cases (look for them on Amazon.com if needed):
$80 - Corsair Carbide Series 300R ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$100 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$115 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$120 - Fractal Design Define R3 Arctic White ATX Case
$120 - Fractal Design Define R3 Silver Arrow ATX Case
$125 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl ATX Case
$120 - Lian Li PC-9F ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$130 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$130 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$140 - Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 ATX Case
$140 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-WA ATX case
$150 - Silverstone TJ04B-EW ATX Case
$160 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$164 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$162 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$220 - Silverstone FT02S-W ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$270 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case

 

[Prav]

delete please - 560 Ti 448 does not appear to have autocad support

 

[twwabw]

We have a lot of Architectural and Engineering clients- lots of Revit. Your absolute biggest bang for the buck, especially rendering, is processor speed. Video is not a big factor. I7 is a great chip for Revit.

 

[xref]

I picked the Corsair Carbide Series 500R case and just placed the order, $1695 shipped.

Thanks a lot guys!

 

[K1tty]

500R is a great case, you'll enjoy building in it. I've really enjoyed mine, even hacking it apart for mods lol.

 

[xref]

This thing is f-ing awesome! Thanks guys!