New System Advice

[Gnome]

So, friend of mine needs a new PC. Will be used for fairly heavy applications (CAD, etc.)

Any suggestions welcome, I've also included price if you think see it cheaper somewhere please advice. The budget is negotiable but lets set it at R8-9k max for the case alone.

So far I have:
Core i7 950 - R 2335.86
Mushkin 1600MHz DDR3 6GB Silverline Low-Voltage 3x2GB Memory Kit - R 1185.00
Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB - R 774.06
Seasonic S12-II-520 520W ATX PSU - R 746.13


Appreciate some advice on a decent video card, case and motherboard. Needs a good video card but not top of the line, so performance on a budget.

EDIT:
So far for motherboard I was thinking: ASUS P6T SE - R 1936.86

 

[Archer]

R4900 for case, mobo and GPU. Should be doable. Depending on how urgent it is you could also wait for the ever popular Sandy Bridge stuff.
But going with the specs already listed (which will perform really well for CAD)
MSI X58 mobo - R2100
CM690ii basic - R900
GTX460 GPU - R2000 or
HD6850 - R1800

Nice thing about AMD GPU is that you can easily connect 3 monitors, which in my personal experience, is a huuuuuge want for CAD work. Must have at least 2 screens (which Nvidia can do as well) otherwise productivity really suffers.

 

[Gnome]

Yeah apparently he wants it now. It's not for me, so sandy bridge is out.

I've gotten quite a liking to AMD GPUs, best price would probably be: Club3D CGAX-68524 Radeon HD6850 from Prophecy considering free shipping for orders over R1500.

Is there a reason to take the MSI over the Asus board (check edited section above)?

Thanks for input btw.

EDIT: Wait where can the HD6850 be had for R1800?

 

[Lounger]

Prophecy already lists the Sandy i5 2400, so not long to wait.

 

[Gnome]

Hmm, yes, from what I can see performance does seem significantly better. Has the CPU been officially launched. I know the launch date was in early Jan. some time but don't recall the date exactly.

But wonder if it might be a while before motherboards become available...

 

[Pada]

I'd suggest that you wait for the Sandy Bridge Core i7 CPU's to be available in SA.

The MSI X58A-GD65 has better spacing between the PCI-E 16x slots + it has SATA3 & USB3!

You won't need anything better than the HD 6850, and IMO the AMD graphics cards perform better in CAD than the Nvidia ones, since Nvidia restrict the OpenGL performance.

You should be able to get away with a cheaper case like the Coolermaster Elite 430 for about R500.

 

[Lounger]

So when is Wootware getting stock?