PC Build Specs? CAD and Office Needs

[Phil3]

I have decided to upgrade my existing PC. I really would like to keep my Lian Li PC-V1200 case w/side window and 74GB Western Digital 10,000 rpm Raptor hard drive. Other than MS Office, e-mail, web surfing, YouTube, some photo editing, and maybe a bit of video work, the single most challenging thing it may face is Alibre 3D CAD. Alibre says 2 GB minimum RAM, support for Direct X 9.0c, 64 meg minimum on video card, Pentium of 2Ghz or better. All this looks pretty easy. 500MB for software.

None of this look demanding. Recommendations? Budget of $750 is fine, but expect a motherboard, CPU, RAM, video card, and Windows 7 can do this. My Plextor CD/DVD, power supply and other stuff is sufficient.

- Phil

[MR2Chuck]

A recommendation, from many years experience building and servicing PC: Power supplies and hard drives are the primary causes of failure in the typical PC. If the case and PS are over 1 yr old, I think that it is false ecconomy to use them in a major rebuild. Used hard drives can be used as second drives.

[Phil3]

The entire computer (I built it) is about 5 - 6 years old I think. They may fail, but not a big deal to replace. You say if the case is over one year old, replace it. What can go wrong with a case?

- Phil

[MR2Chuck]

Nothing wrong with reusing the case if it has all the connectors, etc, that you need. I generally think about buying the case/pwr supply as a unit, if possible, because that frequently is better deal $$$. I don't like a potential failing pwr supply, as that could take out the mother board and other components and is a PITA troubleshooting.

[iareConfusE]

Just throw something cheap together on Newegg. With that budget, you could probably build the same gaming computer I have right now (which is WAY more than the minimum required specs you listed). I built mine about 3 years ago for around $1000, you can probably build the same for even less than your current budget, probably.

Q6600 quad core OC to 3.2GHz
4GB DDR2 RAM
Geforce GTX560 Ti (Used to have a 9800GTX+, should be more than powerful enough for CAD...)

[MR2Chuck]

+1 for Newegg's Bare Bones kits.