New PC advice

[neworldman]

Well I am getting ready to buy a new PC very soon. I know there are people here you know alot more about good deals on a high end PC then me. I will be using it for my Cam/Cad software and also coping Blu-Ray movies so it has to have a BD burner. I might also try some gaming since it will be hooked to a 32" Toshiba HD tv. This is what I have found so far.... it is a Dell. All this for $1100. Is this a good deal? My budget is about $1200


PROCESSORS Intel® Core™ i7-960 processor(8MB L3 Cache, 3.2GHz)

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English

WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1 Year Basic Service Plan

MEMORY 3GB DDR3 Tri-Channel SDRAM at 1066MHz - 3 DIMMs

HARD DRIVE 500GB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive

VIDEO CARD nVidia® GeForce® 310 512M GDDR3

MONITOR No Monitor

OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-ray Disc (BD) Burner (Writes to DVD/CD/BD)

SPEAKERS No speakers

SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

WIRELESS Integrated 10/1000 Ethernet

KEYBOARD Dell Studio Consumer Multimedia Keyboard

MOUSE Dell Studio Optical Mouse

MODEM No Modem Option

[redwudz]

If you plan to do much with video, I would add a couple of more hard drives.

If you really want to use a 64bit OS, especially with CAD/CAM or graphics programs, I would up the RAM to 6GB.

[neworldman]

If you plan to do much with video, I would add a couple of more hard drives.

If you really want to use a 64bit OS, especially with CAD/CAM or graphics programs, I would up the RAM to 6GB.

Great thanks. Is this a good buy? I have had good luck with Dell.

[JimmyS]

The price you are quoting looks pretty competetive for what you are getting. The only suggestion I have that you may want to investigate is, depending on the type and complexity of the CAD/CAM models you will be generating, you might want to trade some CPU power for a stronger GPU with more video memory. The GeForce 310 doesn't appear to be a very powerful GPU. Somthing on the order of the GTS 240 may get you closer to what you'll minimumly need. It can be pretty frustrating trying to translate a 3D model around the screen in slow clunky steps. It would also improve the gaming experience on your PC. Also, as redwuz mentioned, bouncing the RAM to 6 Gig.would certainly be reccomended. Here's a link to the NVIDEA GPU page for comparisons.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_family.html

[neworldman]

Well I am buying my new PC tomorrow. My wife found this one. What do you think? Is it worse then the HP? What is the difference between the i7 860 2.8ghz & the i7 920 2.66? What are the ZT pc's like any good? It has a 3 year full warranty. I will be upgrading the video card to a GTS 250 or better.

ZT

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.E212705.desc.ZT-Affin...-860-8GB-SDRAM

HP

http://www.ecost.com/Detail/Desktops/HP/NP267AARABA/52064330.aspx?navid=155438718&sour...=k1971&cm_mmc= Affiliates-_-Performics-_-k1971-_-Primary

[kip]

For the 1200 bucks you might want to consider buying the components and building the system yourself.

Nothing like the satisfaction of building your own. It really is not to difficult

[Soopafresh]

All of those choice are fine. If you get the HP or the Dell you'll want to run PC Decrapifier to remove all of the additional trial apps and junk they install on the machine. http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

Which CAD/CAM software are you going to be using?

BTW, that HP is quite a good deal but notice that it comes with a BluRay reader and not a burner. You can always swap it out or buy an external USB one once you get to that point. Blank media is still kind of expensive for BluRay.

[neworldman]

All of those choice are fine. If you get the HP or the Dell you'll want to run PC Decrapifier to remove all of the additional trial apps and junk they install on the machine. http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

Which CAD/CAM software are you going to be using?

BTW, that HP is quite a good deal but notice that it comes with a BluRay reader and not a burner. You can always swap it out or buy an external USB one once you get to that point. Blank media is still kind of expensive for BluRay.

I will be running MasterCam & SolidWorks. I only need a Blu-Ray player for now because I will be putting my BD on my hard drive. I hate having all of the discs to keep track of. I plan on upgrading the video card to a 1gb GTS 240 like was suggested for Cam software.

[Soopafresh]

Solidworks takes advantage of OpenGL, which is a graphics standard. Not many video cards are OpenGL optimized. If you find your system is sluggish running Solidworks, look into the Nvidia Quadro line of video cards. They're expensive but can really make a difference.

[edDV]

If serious about CAD/modeling, you would seek a workstation with Quadro/Firewire cards. The programs are very specific about system requirements and recommended system components.

[victoriabears]

I would go to a local PC builder, all my experience with off the shelf builders, Dell/HP is poor, may spend a bit more but I think you will get a better machine as it is for serious applications rather than wp/internet.

[neworldman]

Well thanks guys for all the info. I went with the ZT system because my wife wanted to make payments. It also had the three year full warranty. I still think she wants to spend the $ on shopping or something LOL

Now I need to buy a video card. I have about $200 to $300 limit for a VC. I have been reading about the Quadro cards for MasterCam & Solidworks. I was told that is what they recommend. How does the ATI 4890 or GTS 250 compare for Cad/Cam? I will also be gaming a little on the system. I will be using it with a 32" 1080P Toshiba LCD. Do I need a HDMI output? Or can I just use a DVI to HDMI adapter? I see most VC's have two outputs for monitors. I don't think I will need two outputs. Here is what I found so far.



http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-4890PE51GXOC-Radeon-256-Bit-PCI-Express/dp/B00275G140/re...=1266530324&sr =8-1

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-01G-P3-1158-TR-GeForce-PCI-Express-Graphics/dp/B002O0KM3O/r...=1266530774&sr =8-1

[Soopafresh]

Get a GTS 250 with HDMI already on board, although the GTS 260 is supposed to be much more powerful and better for a $50 price increase.

http://hardwarebistro.com/index.php?option=com_simple_review&Itemid=84&review=113-Gala...GTS-250-Review


http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/267349-33-quadro


There's supposed to be a way to mod a GTS card to a Quadro, although I've never tried it and I don't know if Nvidia has closed the loophole. http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=539&pgno=0#nowhere



Don't forget a wireless networking card in case you don't have one.

[neworldman]

What about this one? Will it work with my pc? It says GDDR5. What does GDDR5 mean?

http://www.ncixus.com/products/44932/HD577AZNFC/XFX/

[JimmyS]

What about this one? Will it work with my pc? It says GDDR5. What does GDDR5 mean?

http://www.ncixus.com/products/44932/HD577AZNFC/XFX/

GDDR5 is the type of video memory used on the card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDDR5

You may want to check out and join this forum for more specific answers to SolidWorks issues.

https://forum.solidworks.com/index.jspa

The Administration place may be where some of your hardware questions may get answers.