Advice on PC Build for Mech. Engineering Student

[Nicolas Gomez]

So I am a 2nd year as a mechanical engineering student and soon I will enter my third year. I want to build a PC (desktop) specifically for running the CAD programs that I will use (Solid Works, AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, and CATIA V5) in addition to running flow analysis and simulation software and doing slight programing/coding.

Currently, I have the CAD programs mentioned above on my laptop, but I use my laptop for everything else as well and although it seems to be running great, I know I am overworking it. The laptop will be left for browsing, youtube, social media and for working on assignments for my other non-engineering classes and the desktop will be engineering focused with web browsing.

Anyway, my cousin helped me put the following parts list on pcpartpicker.com and I would like to have it critiqued:
link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Awqs

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($92.99 @ NCIX US)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($6.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($82.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 270 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($76.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-16D1HT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($139.99 @ NCIX US)
Keyboard: Corsair Raptor K30 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1219.85
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-29 02:33 EDT-0400)

I am looking to purchase the components over the summer with early September being the latest I will purchase/built it.

On side note I am also looking for a tablet but that is on a low priority for me at the moment. Regardless, I would like advice on that as well. Most likely it will be general college/university use (note-taking, slight mobile gaming...) but if there are engineering specific ones, that will be great.

 

[i7Baby]

What minimum pc specs do you need to meet minimum requirements for all of them?

eg https://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/SystemRequirements.html

What's cuda (nVidia) and whats open cl (Radeon) based?

Have you done your homework?

 

[Guest]

firstly, i would go for an nvidia gpu for the softwares you wish to run because they are optimized for cuda....secondly, i would get an i7 4770 (if i am not overclocking) or i7 4770k (if i am overclocking)....you need more ram speed...1600 is used by gamers....for cad, high speed rams are much better....have a look at this build...this is what you should look for...
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3Ay6f

 

[i7Baby]

Usually, for a workstation, I'd expect to see a workstation graphics card eg http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1507&products_id=23850

 

[Guest]

Usually, for a workstation, I'd expect to see a workstation graphics card eg http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1507&products_id=23850

but then he will play games too right?
anyway, good point..

 

[i7Baby]

No - he said "specifically for running the CAD programs"