Hi,
 
As i'm sure a few of you are aware by now, my computer knowledge is fairly limited. Basicaly, i'm looking to buy a new CAD pc for my freelance bits n bobs and have been looking at a few things on ebay with fairly high specs.
 
I'll be working on 2d and 3d detailed perspectives and the occasional 3d video etc. So i guess i need a machine that can handle most aspects of CAD realy. Would this kind of pc handle intense operations?..
 
XP Pro 64bit
intel xeon w3570 2.8GhZ
Ram: 12288
HDD: 1500 SATA
Video: 1024mb Quadro FX 3800
 
Any advice appreciated!

A few things I would think about doing to this system,
 
1) 120G Solidstate HD (for OS and program install only)
2) Win 7 Pro
3) Multiple processors
 
Is the RAM Triple Channel memory?
 
How much 3D are you going to be doing?
Will you be doing any Stress analsys?
 
If you are going to be doing Lg assemblies and/or dynamic/stress analsys you would be happer with more memory.
 
Just in case you didn't know Autodesk product (ACAD, Inventor) only see the processor as a whole...the hyper threading (multi-core) processors are not as good as having actual multiple processors.Breeze1042010-11-01 16:48:04

Well this is the one i've been looking at:  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350406150845&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT


 
my mate will be installing the OS so it can be anything i want it to be really, so you reccomend win 7 pro then?
 
With regards the 120G Solidstate... if im honest, i'm not sure what this is and what the benefits are   could you give a simple explanation?
 
No, i doubt i'll be doing much (if any) stress analysys, although it would be nice to have the power there if i do end up getting involved in such work.
 
so you recon i would be better of having 2x dual core processors?
 
ta
 
 
 
 

A solidstate drive is like a large thumb (flash) drive. 
 
It has no mechanical parts, so it doesn't have arms/heads that move back and forth to read data on the platters like a normal HD.  Because of this the drive reads super fast and normal boot times go from around 30sec to 8 sec for example.
 
You can Google info about the drives.  I have a 160G in mine and with just software install and pagefile I have about 70G used and I have had mine for about a year.
 
If you have the money I would highly recommend gett dual processors.
 
For a really good CAD system look at Cadalyst.com and see their reviews on different systems.  A Referbished system could have issues.  One company that Cadalyst has found to make consistanly good computers is "XI computers".
 
Check link: http://www.xicomputer.com/reviews/2009/cadalyst_64-Bit%20Systems%20Deliver%20CAD%20power%20for%20less_prof.asp
 
You can get a system like the one the link refers to or you can config your own...like I just did (made super CAD system) and it was only $46,000 US.  So there is a lot of different routes to go.Breeze1042010-11-01 20:46:31