A Cad/cdd Pc...

[RABIES]

I need some tips to help me tilt my decision on a mobo. I am constructing a CAD/CDD computer system for my cousin who is creating his own company out of his house. Don't get me wrong, he has many clients that trust his capabilities in CDD. He designs multi-million dollar homes for these super filthy rich investors, and these homes are no joke, I have seen one. He is sending in his 2 weeks notice so he may work from home, but he does not have a PC...GAH. He came to me first considering I usually build all of the PC's in the family and neighborhood....oy (hey, it's business). So far I have some specs for what the base product will be like. The products can be found online later. My question is, what mobo do I go with for these specs?

P4 >2.8Ghz
ATI Fire GL T2 or Z1 not sure ~$300
PC3200/3500 512-1Gb Dual channel
basic onboard sound nothing fancy
monitor is still being argued between LCD and CRT + size
Dual 40GB WD drives ATA133/100 nothing fancy just storage

He mostly needs the CPU, RAM, and Video to be sufficient and I know Fire GL cards are nice for workstations but I am not sure if it is too much for CDD? What would he get away with if he were to go with....oh....an ATI 9600pro? Or possibly.....er.....an nVidia based card?

 

[crabcakes66]

Id say go with an nvidia workstation card...they seem to perform alot better and be more stable than the Firegl's and such.

 

[vgard]

Yeah, the Nvidia cards are supposedly better at 3d applications/office applications than Ati cards. Don't know for sure though, but i don't believe they are alot better than ati.

 

[RABIES]

nVidia workstation card - check
but what kind? There are so many models and some are a little robust. Need one relative to $300....

Oh, and a mobo? I like Abit but I was also looking at Asus and Chaintech, any suggestions here?

 

[crabcakes66]

I assume a p4 based system, and you got that.

A gig of pc3200.... that should work. corsair,kingston and ocz are all good brands.

As for a mobo....any 865/875 based board from abit,asus or msi...the specific board depending on what features/extras you want.

As far as a specific vid-card...im not sure, i dont follow workstation gfx hardware :monkee:

Id help you more but i have no experiance with cad/cdd, so im not sure what would be best.

 

[crabcakes66]

I'd go for an ATI card, but I don't know enough about that to make a good call. The one thing I would say is that you should go for a large CRT if he's doing CAD/CDD on it unless you spring for one of those sweet 16 ms PRT LCDs.

The nvidia workstation cards seem superior.