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.

[Brando]

They may not seem like a good retailer, but PC Club was having AMD64 upgrade deals. Asus mobos and AMD 64 combos going for like $200 or something. And they weren't slow. Here are their latest specials: link.