Alright, I'm building this setup for a family member, and he's wanting to do some photo editing and CAD. He has a STRICT budget of $600, and that includes Mobo, PSU, CPU, HDD, Optical Drive, Case, GPU, and RAM. HE deos want it to be upgradeable, but the question is, what sort of GPU should we be looking at? Is 12gb (3x4GB) of memory enough?
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3h4YU
Many thanks
-Hot Steam
For the record, he's pretty dead set on the case I have selected.
Again, he's pretty dead set on a 3.0ghz quad core.
His other components are going to suffer with a case of such a high price. Keep in mind that the Athlon X4 740 is pretty weak, and that core clock doesn't tell a whole lot, especially when compared to other architectures.
2x4GB should be enough for his use. 2x8 would be optimal, but try not to run an odd number of sticks as it can't take advantage of dual-channel technologies.
This build could be in a much, much smaller case.
Hitachi's ultrastart lineup is cheap quality and aren't very reliable. Try switching to a WD Blue.
Totally ignoring the "dead set" stuff, here's what I would probably get for $600.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3h6d8
There are two more slots for RAM upgrades, and a slightly larger power supply in case he wants to upgrade his R9 270. The R9 270 is pretty damn capable, though. It's much, much more powerful than a 7770
Forcing in a Define R4 on that budget isn't smart...
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3hlnk
I'd build this... most, if not all CAD programs, are single-threaded, so Intel is typically a much faster way to go... you don't need much of a GPU to run them either... just something capable... they do have a tendency to eat RAM for breakfast tho... he's gonna end up with a really disappointing system if he tries to shove an extra $50 out of the insides for a Define R4...
For CAD, this will smack around the first build...
I've used many different types of CAD programs over the years and work with AutoCAD 2014 primarily at the moment. It depends on what CAD program you're talking about... CAD simply means computer aided design. Are we talking 2D AutoCAD or 3D design programs like solid works, Catia, CADKey, Autodesk etc.? 2D CAD doesn't require too much in terms of graphics horsepower, unless the drawings are quite complex and large. 3D modeling and rendering, on the other hand, would require a lot more GPU muscle.
I would go with at least 8GB RAM and as the others stated. These programs can consume a lot of memory, especially if its 3D CAD. Would also recommend an Intel CPU for a CAD/workstation machine as many of these programs are single-threaded.
Here's my recommended build: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3hmAh This should handle any type of CAD quite well, considering the budget. Can add another dual channel RAM kit later on easily with the 4 DIMMs available.
HA! I hadn't even looked at your build before I posted mine. They're almost identical.
They say great minds think alike... ;)