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New build, Engineering student.

I

inked420

Junior Member
I am building a new computer and have some ideas for a build. I am on a $1000 budget, engineering student. I need components that work well together for CAD, CAM, Solidworks, and other programs. I am looking for any help and ideas on this build.

ASUS P8Z77-M LGA 1155 Intel Z77 motherboard

Intel Core i7-3770 Ivy bridge 3.4 GHz

AMD Firepro V4900 graphic card

Intel 520 series Cherryville SSD

Patriot Intel extreme master 8GB

External hard drive

Thanks
 
Hi, not sure about the ASUS board, but the ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, will turn that non-k i7 from 3.4 to 4Ghz with a click in the BIOS....
Do any of your CAD or other programs get accelerated by the GPU?, quite sure AMD pro cards still lag behind NV Quadro
 
The Samsung 840 Pro(Pro is important) series SSDs are the best performing SSDs on the market, and they are reliable too.
 
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I've run solidworks on a dual core laptop with an Intel IGP, real view graphics isn't available (which I consider a gimmick anyway,) and there were some other minor annoyances, but it was very usable for design. If I were learning CAD I'd probably want something with a little more oomph, but despite what the software vendors tell you, a pro level graphics card isn't always necessary. That isn't to say that any consumer graphics card will work, but some may work for some software.

I've got a quadro 600 in my CAD workstation, I honestly don't know how it compares to the FirePro card you picked, but I haven't had any issues running solidworks on it, it would certainly be adequate for learning CAD. As I recall it cost about $250 last year, I see newegg has a PNY card on sale for under $150.

Take a look at the pricing on Dell Precision T1650 workstations, they're usually pretty aggressively priced and fairly well built.
 
That RAM sounds really expensive. If you're US based, go for this Crucial branded RAM instead for $44.47 with shipping. Also, make sure you get the i7-3770K and a cooler (like this one for only $25.50) to get the most bang for buck by overclocking.

That SSD also seems needlessly expensive (as would be the 840 Pro). Your use doesn't really require the durability of the Pro, and the plain 840 would be fine (and is backed up by Samsung's good reputation in the SSD market).
 
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Sleepingforest said:
That RAM sounds really expensive. If you're US based, go for this Crucial branded RAM instead for $44.47 with shipping. Also, make sure you get the i7-3770K and a cooler (like this one for only $25.50) to get the most bang for buck by overclocking.

That SSD also seems needlessly expensive (as would be the 840 Pro). Your use doesn't really require the durability of the Pro, and the plain 840 would be fine (and is backed up by Samsung's good reputation in the SSD market).
Click to expand...

It's not typically advised to overclock a workstation running enterprise software like CAD. Stock cooling should be fine.
 
I see. I was a little confused as to how critical errors would be, as there was a workstation GPU and a non-overclocking CPU, but a Z77 motherboard and non-ECC RAM.

I'll change my previous recommendation: since overclocking is inadvisable, an H77 board like this for $60AR will suffice (and generally cost less).
 
You might also consider a Xeon E3-1245V2 processor if comparably priced to I7-3770 . Nice processor, and handles thermals nicely w/ just the stock cooler . Just put one in an itx 'baby beast' machine
 
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