3D - 2

Can any one suggest a computer dream set up, with option for expansion to run autocad 08, pictures editing,etc

I'm and engineer and i would like to run modeling programs as autocad 3D, pictures editing, maybe even pro engineering. i would like a really fast computer with excellent details and with expansion capabilities for couple of years to come. i don't want to go over board with stuff that will never used that is why i'm asking your opinion, by the way i don't do any gaming. thanks, sk

Public Comments

1. The sky is the limit basically.... You could easily go drop $7-$10k for a high end setup. Some questions that would need to be answered would be... 1) How much are you looking to spend 2) Are you working in 2d or 3d 3) How many monitors are you running A basic setup would probably include 1) Quad core processor (Intel Q6600 or better) 2) 4GB RAM (DDR2, Non-ECC) 3) Good Graphics card (Quadro series) 4) > 500 GB SATA Hard drive A high end setup would look something like 1) Dual Quad Core XEON processors 2) >8GB RAM ECC 3) Dual video cards 4) RAID 0/10 with SCSI/SAS drives Really depends how much power you want and how much you wan to spend. As far as expandability... don't bother. In cutting edge computing you don't upgrade, you replace, and you replace often. Trying to update a 3yr old computer to come close to a current computer is always going to be impractical.