sweetca
Senior member
Hi (old timer here),
Pre-ramble: I am trying to build my wife a work-focused PC. As a Structural Engineer, she will use the machine primarily for AutoCAD work. Unfortunately, I am not very current on PC builds. I built mine 2 years ago, and it was designed around gaming.
Stipulations: Intel system, USB 3.0 capable motherboard, and an SSD.
I am thinking that a Intel i3 might be a little too gimped for her computing tasks, and so perhaps one of the lower end i5's?
Also, I am doubtful that a discrete GPU is necessary. Integrated graphics would certainly help keep the costs down.
Additionally, I think the Samsung EVO would be an excellent balance of performance/price/capacity. She does not need a large capacity secondary storage drive.
Those are my thoughts. Any help or recommendations, primarily in the CPU/Motherboard department, would be very much appreciated.
Finally, I plan to install Windows 7 Pro on this machine. Memory prices are a little painful right now, and so I will install 8Gigs at first. I can certainly upgrade later if necessary. I know the memory will be a little tight, but as this is a work PC, there will be very little fluff in the taskbar hogging resources.
Thanks.
Pre-ramble: I am trying to build my wife a work-focused PC. As a Structural Engineer, she will use the machine primarily for AutoCAD work. Unfortunately, I am not very current on PC builds. I built mine 2 years ago, and it was designed around gaming.
Stipulations: Intel system, USB 3.0 capable motherboard, and an SSD.
I am thinking that a Intel i3 might be a little too gimped for her computing tasks, and so perhaps one of the lower end i5's?
Also, I am doubtful that a discrete GPU is necessary. Integrated graphics would certainly help keep the costs down.
Additionally, I think the Samsung EVO would be an excellent balance of performance/price/capacity. She does not need a large capacity secondary storage drive.
Those are my thoughts. Any help or recommendations, primarily in the CPU/Motherboard department, would be very much appreciated.
Finally, I plan to install Windows 7 Pro on this machine. Memory prices are a little painful right now, and so I will install 8Gigs at first. I can certainly upgrade later if necessary. I know the memory will be a little tight, but as this is a work PC, there will be very little fluff in the taskbar hogging resources.
Thanks.
