Topic: Hardware specs

[Draftek]

What do you guys think of this for AutoCAD / Inventor?

PC Processor E6850 Dual Core 3.00 Ghz
3GB 800Mhz RAM (4 DIMMs)
nVidia, Quadro FX 1700, 512MB dual VGA or DVI
80GB SATA Hard Drive10K RPM
U320 SCSI Adapter

[Draftek]

Forgot to mention, I have to buy 140 machines in July - can't go overboard but still need to be acceptable.

[craigr]

The only thing that catches my attention is the RAM on the Video Card.

Isn't 512 kinda small?

craigr

[sinc]

If Inventor is going the way of C3D, then you probably want Vista x64 boxes.  (Too bad you can't wait for Win7.)

And with Vista x64, there's not much reason for a Quadro FX1700.  You could get GeForce 9600 GTs or similar PCIe2.0 card instead.

And with Vista x64, you'd be better going with more RAM.  It's cheap.  6GB is optimal for many, but you could go down to 4GB.  I wouldn't go any lower.

Also, with Vista x64, you really don't want a measly 80GB hard drive.  But 500GB vertical-write (i.e., faster than a 10K WD Raptor) drives are less than $80 now.

[Draftek]

Thanks, I think I'll boost the Ram and go with it.

We can get an upgrade to Windows7 when it becomes available.

[Bob Garner]

Draftek,

Are you going with Vista now and tben going to upgrade to Windows 7?  That seems to be what people in our office are doing on their home machines (everybody here runs ACAD at home, too).

Bob G.

[Draftek]

I'm sticking with XP for now.

Really not my choice though. Our IT dept has some issues with Vista even though I have a 64 bit machine running fine over the network.
I suspect it has a lot to do with some antiquated home grown software.