Upgrades for a gaming/autocad rig?

bm23

bm23

Active Member
Hi. Here are my specs at the moment:
Asus P7H55D-M PRO
Core i7 870 2.93Ghz
2x2gb Team Elite 1333 DDR3
Asus GT 9600
WD Caviar Green 1tb + Seagate 500gb
Silver Stone 560W PSU
CM HAF 912 Advanced Case

Since I'll be doing architecture in college (assuming i get into 1), I'll have to use autocad so im thinking of the following upgrades in a couple of months. I'd really appreciate your thoughts on it, like whether the part is suitable/compatible or if there are better parts within the same price range :)
GPU: XFX 6850 (stock)
RAM: 2x4gb Corsair 12800 Vengeance C9 OR 2x4gb G.Skill RipJawsX F3-14900 C9

Edit: Just to clarify, can I use RAM for P67/Z68 chipset on my P55 MB?
 
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put in 16 gig of some ddr3 1333 to make sure you have enough ram if you really want to go that route...id go more slow(er) ram than less fast(er) ram. (i say this because for most intensive purposes...you wont tell the difference)

and in terms of the gpu, possibly go with a 6950 or maybe a 560Ti, would be a bigger upgrade, and possibly more worth it in the long run than the 6850. However you may need to upgrade that psu, 560W even from a silverstone may be too small.
 
Thanks for the reply. The 6950 is kinda out of my budget at the moment, even the 6870 is too, since it cost about 100SGD (82USD) more than the 6850. But I'll keep this in mind because Im only buying the parts after my exams, so hopefully there will be a price drop.
Yeah, i'll most likely be getting 16gb of RAM, though not right away due to budget. The reason why i picked the 1866 ones is because it only cost about 15usd more than the 1600 (I dont see a lot of 1333 on the price list im looking at, mostly 1600 and above)
One question, my current chipset is P55 but the RAM website states that the RAM are meant for Z68 and P67. Can i still use those RAM?
 
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from what i heard autocad should be used with a workstation card. and also, unless the college gives it to you, autocad will for sure be out of your budget lol. i would assume you would be using autocad on their compuiters
 
Yeah, i understand that autocad needs a workstation card but those things are definitely out of my budget. As for the software itself, I dunno, I guess i'll see what the situation is like when i actually get there. In the mean time, I guess I can mess around with trial versions and stuff.
What I want to know is, can the 6850 even run autocad decently, without too much lag? Or does the CPU matter more in this case?
 
your not running autocad lol, the system requirements are,AMD Athlon 64 with SSE2 technology, AMD Opteron® processor with SSE2 technology, Intel® Xeon® processor with Intel EM64T support and SSE2 technology, is what you need for a processor, and for a gpu you need this, 1,280 x 1,024 true color video display adapter 128 MB or greater, Pixel Shader 3.0 or greater, Microsoft® Direct3D®-capable workstation-class graphics card. along with the $4,500+ so unless you got a lot of money laying down, say good bye to that idea
 
ixiboneheadixi said:
your not running autocad lol, the system requirements are,AMD Athlon 64 with SSE2 technology, AMD Opteron® processor with SSE2 technology, Intel® Xeon® processor with Intel EM64T support and SSE2 technology, is what you need for a processor, and for a gpu you need this, 1,280 x 1,024 true color video display adapter 128 MB or greater, Pixel Shader 3.0 or greater, Microsoft® Direct3D®-capable workstation-class graphics card. along with the $4,500+ so unless you got a lot of money laying down, say good bye to that idea
Click to expand...

I've done a bit more reading and it seems that Autocad has moved away from OpenGL and is now using DX which means gaming cards are now more suitable for Cad. Is that right? I dont have much knowledge in this area so I'd like to clarify.
On side note, it turned out that students actually have access to free AutoCad programs. I just downloaded Architecture 2012 (for the fun of it) :D
 
the workstation cards are just a preference, they only increase performance, not required for it, and i would say to get 1600mhz ram since it's like the same price, and even if it says made for the p67 or z68 or whatever it should work with others too.
 
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