Building a Workstation, need pointers.

[snipingkid]

Hi,

I am currently building a Workstation and need a few pointers as I've always done gaming rigs.

I would like to know more about nearly every component (feel free to send me articles, as this may get complicated). My main concern is the motherboard, I think I can figure everything else on my own, but this is really out of my league.

Could you guys show me a few model lines? I'd like to stay under the $200 mark, as this is probably going to be a budget build.

This is mainly going to be used for SolidWorks and SolidEdge. Thanks.

PS- I'm not asking you guys to tell me everything up front, just simply point me in the appropriate direction. Hopefully I can learn a little bit about workstation hardware in this process. Tell me everything you have in mind (related to this) if you have to (or have time to).

Thanks again.

 

[ahslan]

well I've heard that you can buy non-workstation graphics cards and somehow have them recognized as their workstation counterparts...I say definitely look into that because those workstation videocards are waaaaayyyy too overpriced...you pay like $700 more for the same freaking hardware...greatest rip off ever...

 

[snipingkid]

Yeah, I read an article about that about 20 minutes before the post, I didn't want to mention it, so I didn't get ahead of myself.

The article mentioned that the only difference with the gaming and workstation cards were stability, and support. Other than that, the cards had some functions locked, and a different case.

I'm thinking of getting the PNY FX 570 which is pretty cheap, and according to TomsHardware's charts, it performs nearly as well as the others.

I hate the fact that the user won't be able to do anything but 3D graphics on it. Forget gaming with a card like that...

 

[angry_ducky]

I think that it's possible to have two different graphics cards in a system; not running in CrossFire/SLI, of course, but I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to have a gaming card and a workstation card in the system. Anyone know?

 

[snipingkid]

It usually runs natively if your drivers are the same. For example, the latest 177.0 drivers from nVidia work on nearly every card.

I know it's possible, but it'd still be a waste. You know, a 180$ GFX for 3d apps, and another 180$ for games...

Any ideas on the mobo or can I take any mobo?

 

[megamanx00]

Well you can use an 8800GT as a Quado since it's really the same hardware with a different device id. You can do it with Riva Tuner, but your going to have to use older drivers like the 169 series. Check out this tutorial

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=539&pgno=0

 

[snipingkid]

This is great! Do you know if you get the same performance as the real card or should I go with a recommended card to be safe?

What about the motherboard? Any ideas?