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Re: A good, CHEAP PC for Autocad
I have used AutoCad for Windows, and I learned much about how it demands resources. Autocad doesn't demand very much from the CPU. A Pentium III is quite happy with it. However AutoCad hearts RAM. I'd recommend 512MB RAM for low and medium end work, and more for massive designs. The Athlon XP will be excellent for AutoCad, while the Athlon64 and the Pentium 4 will be even more so. Also, fast hard drives are good, as they speed up everything in general.
The system I had used AutoCAD 2004 on was a Pentium 4 2.0GHz (256K L2), with 512MB of PC800 RDRAM, a GeForce4 Ti4200 128MB, a Seagate Barracuda IV SCSI, and Windows 2000. Not a particularly common type of system, but it was one of the most stable and smooth systems I have ever used. I would never have built such a system as RDRAM was amongst the worst memories ever...
Anyway, if you intend to use this computer just for AutoCAD, then a minimal set of specifications will do just fine. However if you have other tasks you intend to use the system for, you should consider those also. One of the recent HP machines, such as the one linked above, will be excellent for all-round usage.
Good luck drafting.
__________________
-- vs, me@acm.jhu.edu
Mentor, Team 1719, 2007
Team 30, 2002-2005
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