WOT: Building a computer, to surf 914club faster Options

[MattR]

Ive been trying to research computers lately and thought I'd get the board's opinion. Here's the deal. I dont game or anything, this computer will be built to run CAD, specifically Unigraphics NX 2.0 and Solidworks 2005. I also want to keep the final price under 600 dollars if possible (for motherboard, cpu, memory, case, fan, and video card). I have some specific questions though:

Has anyone used the AMD 64bit technology? Would I be better off (for my application) with a 2.4 ghz AMD 64? or a 3.4 ghz P4? They come out to about the same price.

Can anyone reccomend a good CAD video card thats 256 mb and hopefully under 150 dollars?

Im planning on going with 2 gb of memory. Can you reccomend a brand thats "best"? Is DDR2 that much better then DDR?

Throw out some numbers. Give me a few options. I used to keep up with computers, and I built the computer Im typing on now about 4 years ago. Im not a total neophite, but Im not up to date with technology.

This will probably be coming from tigerdirect.com unless someone can reccomend a better source.

[type11969]

Just built an AMD system to run Solidworks, they have listed on their website the cards that work perfectly with SW, and ones that work most of the time. I chose one that works most of the time, saved about 100 bucks over the cheapest one that works all of the time. The card I chose will crash if I have more than 12 SW windows open. I can deal with that limitation. I use SW all day long and I rarely, if ever, have had 12 windows open. Here is the list, no monitor, for 600 bills all from newegg (I had to pay tax because I am in NJ, you may not):


CASE SCASE|PC-115 7C574-115 350W RT (Qty=1,Price=$22.00)
*VGA PWRCLR|RADEON9600PRO 128M 8X (Qty=1,Price=$119.50)
CPU AMD 64 |3000+ ATHLON 64 RTL (Qty=1,Price=$148.00)
DDRAM512MB|CORSAR64X64 VS512MB400 R (Qty=2,Price=$136.54)
HD 80GB|MAXTOR 6Y080M0 SATA % (Qty=1,Price=$67.00)
CDRW 52X32X52|OPTORITE CW5201 BLACK (Qty=1,Price=$21.50)
MB AMD VIA K8T800|SL-K8AV2-RL SOLTK (Qty=1,Price=$82.50)
FAN COOLINGFAN SPEEZE FD08025S1M4 (Qty=2,Price=$4.18)

Subtotal:$601.22
TAX:$36.07

It is a fast machine, runs SW better than my penti4 3.2 at work with the better video card.