I used to be up on all the newest hardware out there and what was good for the money but that was 3 years ago when I bought my last computer and we know how fast computer technology changes.
Something on my computer is about to take a dump, not sure if its the HDD or graphics card but I've decided to buy an entire new computer anyways.

Price isn't really an option but as always, the cheaper, the better, however it does need to run my CAD software so the processor has to be quick and I'm thinking at least 2G of RAM. My old desktop has only 512Mb and my laptop has 1G and the both run, just not exceptionally well.
I don't need a case, sound card, speakers, keyboard or mouse, monitor, and depending on what the issue is on my current computer an HDD. I will need a graphics card regardless as this one is only AGP and I might as well upgrade to PCIX.
TIA

 

http://www.alienware.com/

 

I didn't even click on that link. I remember those computers. Let's scrap that "price isn't an option" thing and say <$1000 please. I can build it my own as well which is why I said no case, no OS needed as well to help cut down on costs.

 

www.cdw.com or www.dell.com


Cases are all of $50, and unless you plan on detroying your old PC and moving the OS license to it your going to need it. Your not going to save any cash doing it yourself. Just order up a nice $1000 Dell and call it a day.

 

Or a $13,000.00 Alienware and call it a year.

 

Case still works fine and is large enough for most mobos, probably the PS will be powerful enough as well but I can't remember what size it was. The OS that's on the desktop currently may or may not be 100% legal already so there is no problem moving it over.
My last computer I made cost me $650 CAD and was way better than anything you could buy for $650 and that time I did have to buy the case, PS, and everything else.

 

Okay, just to let you know my qualifications, I've been custom building computers for over 10 years and I'm the administrator of a PC forum.

You will need a new power supply because PCI-Express has placed new demands on the power supply, you need ATX 2.0 with a 24 pin main connector and dual +12 volt rails. I would recommend a new SATA hard drive regardless of the condition of your existing hard drive. If the old drive is still healthy, you can put it in an external USB housing for backups.

So, you need motherboard, ram, CPU, DVD burner, hard drive, graphics card (CAD, not a gamer) and power supply for 1000 hoser bucks or less. Here is a list from ncix.com with QUALITY foremost.

Motherboard: Asus P5B
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...nufacture=ASUS

Ram: Corsair XMS 2x1gb
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=CORSAIR

CPU: E6600
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ufacture=Intel

DVD burner: Lite-On SATA
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...facture=Liteon

Hard drive: Seagate 320gb
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...acture=Seagate

Video: ATI FireMV 2200
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...anufacture=ATI

Power supply: 500 watt Fortron Blue Storm II
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...%20GROUP%20USA

$990.20 plus shipping, less a $30 mailin rebate on the ram.

If you need to cut this cost, first place would be the processor, you can cut back to a E6420 or E6320. Next place would be to cut hard drive size, but stick with a Seagate 7200.10 SATA with 16mb cache. The FireMV is an entry level workstation type card, it will do CAD better than the equivalent Radeon or GeForce. The power supply is the best unit out there for 100 bucks and I would not skimp on that, there are way too many poorly made units out there these days.

 

X's 2

You will spend as much or more money, for 1/2 the computer, building it yourself.
Not to mention all the headaches of getting everything set up and finding the right combinations of compatable drivers and hardware and software.

I use to build my own when it was worth it, now I can get more power for less mula by buying off the shelf. It was such a nice change this last time. I ordered my dell, less than a week later it showed up. I litearlly pulled it out of the box, hooked it up and turned it on. Everything was already installed and running for me. SAWEEEET 5 mins of importing my old settings, address book and favorites, then I was back to surfing for internet **** like nothing had every happened!
I'd still been fighting trying to get a home built to run stable for atleast another week or more.

 

Thanks. I'm actually going to Burnaby/Vancouver this weekend where NCIX is located. I'm not sure if they'll be open on Saturday because of the long weekend or not though. I'm not even sure if a DVD burner is necessary as I have one in my laptop which I can network easily enough (even though it's only $50)

 

Well, you need an optical drive - and for 50 bucks you might as well get a DVD burner. The motherboard only has one IDE controller, and it's a 3rd party chipset that has known issues trying to boot to an IDE optical. That's why I recommended a SATA burner. Intel is no longer making chipsets with native IDE support.

Yes, you can definitely set up a will call at NCIX, save the shipping if you are going to be in the Vancouver area anyway. They *should* be open on Saturday unless that is the actual holiday - do you do the same thing as we do and celebrate on Monday?

Store Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:30AM-6:30PM / Saturday 10AM-5:30PM
Closed Sundays except the Richmond branch and closed on holidays

 

Whoa.... Canadians have an Independance Day?????

Who's tea did you dump?



Google says...... No one's, you didn't have to fight.
Great Britan just grew tired of all the traveling back and forth to take care of bizness and finally said, "Sorry kids, your on your own." Much like a parent kicking thier kid out. It was a sink or swim situation. Glad you kids learned to swim.




Well it's now 12:34 July 1st here, so officially it is now independance day for central Canadians.

Happy July 1st to our northern neighbors!!!!!

 

Building it yourself is seldom cheaper but I would still rather go that route. I like GLC's recommendations except for myself I would go with one of the GeForce 8800's and add a couple more gb's of ram.
For sure get the new power supply unless you already have a 500w or better.

 

Odd, July 1 doesn't come here until Sunday. Are we really that far behind the rest of the world?

 

Ahh poop, I'm an idiot, I was looking at this months calender... crap!!!!! LOL

Sorry so make it an early Canada Day wish.

 

i build my computers. if you buy a store bought computer first thing you need to do is format it so you can get rid of all that oem software. i hate the way them come with all that software that is free for 30 days!!if you build one buy a cool case with a lot of fans in it. i got 5 80mm and 1 120mm fans in mine