Building A Computer CAD use

Hello,

I am planing to build or purchase a computer for home. This computer will be used for gaming, AutoCAD/Revit MEP 2010, watching movies, browsing on internet.

And my question is what should I go with AMD computer or Intel type?

And also what is better Intel i7 860 or AMD Phenom II X4 965 black or AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black or Intel (some) quad core or what you guys will suggest?

Thank you it would help me a lot.

Personally I like Intel over AMD for CAD work but the system I now have at home is AMD based (quad core) while my work system is Intel based. That's probably because my home system is set up primarily for gaming. I only use it once in a while for CAD work.

Whatever CPU you choose I would recommend Win7 Pro 64-bit and get as much RAM as you can afford.

I didn't know that 64-bit playing a bid role on CAD. What I have right now at work is Vista 32-bit, 4GB RAM but computer reads only 3GB weird?, AMD quad 2.20GHz processor. When I use CAD available ram 300kb out of 3GB and my processor is almost running at 100%.

I just wanted to know which is better intel or amd for gaming and CAD before I start to purchase stuff.

I didn't know that 64-bit playing a bid role on CAD. What I have right now at work is Vista 32-bit, 4GB RAM but computer reads only 3GB weird?,.

32-bit OS can only address 3GB of RAM. RAM is probably the most important consideration in CAD. Therefore 64-bit OS to address more RAM.

Invest in a high quality video card with substantial video memory to handle 3D renderings. I prefer AMD for gaming but Intel for CAD works. If you do extensive 3D modeling and rendering, get the most expensive Intel-based system you can afford.

I was under the impression that "rendering" is handled by the cpu and not the graphics card.

I was under the impression that "rendering" is handled by the cpu and not the graphics card.

GPU based rendering is on the way

http://www.refractivesoftware.com/

As for the CAD station, if funds are an issues look at AMD based systems. If not then Intel is a bit better at the moment although I do like the power/price of the AMD Phenom 6. Go nvidia with the graphics. 4 gb min ram if not 6, ram is cheap.

Do all Nvidia graphics cards get used by AutoCAD?

I have a Nvidia Gt220 at home (i really want to update it but can't afford to atm) but in AutoCAD it registers that the card is there but I got a message when i first installed it about it not being an AutoCAD registered card (or something along those lines)??

I'm using AutoCAD 2010 64-bit on the system in question by the way!

Thanks

AutoCAD, like all other Windows based programs, will use whatever graphics card you have installed.

ah ok! Thanks for that! !

AutoDesk maintains a grpahics hardware list that you can check yourself. There are three categories. They are: Supported/recommended, Supported/not recommended and Not supported. You can get a list of all cards or just the certified cards. Follow this link for more info.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/hc?siteID=123112&id=6711853