How-To Geek

Alright so I am very new to this, so please be gentle if I obviously screwed up or did something silly; hey that's why I'm here!

The PC I'm planning to build will be my only computer, and therefore I need it to be versatile. I do some autoCAD, sketch-up, and photoshop frequently...so theoretically I should get a workstation graphic card. However, the prices are steep, and I'm not even sure if it's so worth it. I've also heard some about softmodding geforce -> quadro cards and was thinking this could be an option if I felt like it really needed to happen. The reason I didn't want to do a quadro is because of price, and also I do plan to game a little (not intense games though...just Sims and counter-strike, maybe halo. I'd like to have the options to try other games though).

Goals: Accommodate using a lot of programs at once, including graphics-intensive ones (CAD, photoshop). Speed, dependability. Support gaming occassionally. And to be upgradeable in the future.
Budget: Around 1,000 or under

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400

Hard drive:
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Memory:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK

Motherboard:
EVGA 123-YW-E175-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 750i SLI FTW ATX Intel Motherboard - (I just chose this because it was a combo deal with the video card)

Graphic card:
EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Power supply:
Seventeam ST-650PAF 650W ATX 12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - (combo deal with the processor)

OS:
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit for System Builders -

Case:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UB Black /Blue Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -

Basically... I don't know what I'm doing...but I'm trying to learn. Thanks everyone for your help! I am curious what you guys think in regards to choosing a graphics card... is it better to choose a gaming or a workstation card if you're trying to be as versatile and cost-efficient as possible?

Oh I wanted to post my entire configuration in a separate post so that people could point out if something was not a good choice as far as the big picture. I received your reply yesterday and appreciated it! It's cus of your reply I started considering the gaming card.

madmacs, I completely forgot about the DVD burner, haha. I need to get one of those too. I use an external HD most of the time and planned to eventually upgrade the HD in the future to something bigger, but keep it cheap starting off.
Currently I only have a laptop with a dead video card (hence the new computer), so I can't test the softmodding. I'm wondering if I could get away with not even soft modding at all. Autodesk approved the video card to work with autocad, so I'm guessing I'd be okay.

Thanks for bringing soft modding to my attention. I love this kind of thing!

Megabeast,

As per my check on your parts, everything seems very compatible so that shouldn't be a problem. But as mention earlier its good to buy a larger hard drive, and about the graphics card it looks good, thought I would have preferred one with at least 1GB instead of 512 MB. And your power supply has 650 Watts, which is pretty good, but my suggestion would be to upgrade to 700-750 Watts, as it would be sufficient and also if you do any future upgrades it will be able to handle it and MAKE SURE that it is 80% efficiency rating or better. And I hope you do plan on getting some thermal paste to put between the processor and the heat sink. And again as someone already mentioned don't forget a DVD write. Other than those points it looks great to me!

PS: Instead of Vista Ultimate try going for windows vista premium as its much cheaper, and Ultimate doesn't really have such good extra features to pay for it (In my opinion).

megabeast. Not you. Don't worry :)