My dad needs a Mac

[alent1234]

Is building a PC really easy?

just buy the parts from newegg or ebay. i used to buy from MWave years ago.

all the holes are pre-drilled in the right places because there are standards for this. just screw in everything where it needs to go, connect the wires which are also shaped exactly right for each device, pop in a Windows DVD and run the install.

first time in 1998 it took me 2 weeks to figure out how to fix IRQ conflicts and jumper settings for my Zip Drive. not it takes me around an hour to put everything together, another hour for a Windows install and then a few hours to a day to install the apps and updated depending on which media you use. the latest media has the latest service pack integrated which in Mac speak is the x in 10.5.x and no need to download any updates.

i've even used HP branded Windows DVD's to install Windows on a Dell and vice versa. very easy to get around the protection.

it won't look as nice and neat as a Mini or iMac, but it will be a lot more powerful for the same price

 

[alent1234]

No. I built a Vista machine being selective with the components (eg: Asus motherboard), and it's a failure.

what went wrong? i've built stuff with Abit, Asus and my current PC is an MSI. i've had intel and nvidia motherboards.

few years ago the big problem was people trying to use hardware RAID1 for the OS drive and couldn't figure out that they needed to load drivers during the Windows install. you had to press F6 when prompted and then tell it where the drivers were.

 

[cube]

what went wrong? i've built stuff with Abit, Asus and my current PC is an MSI. i've had intel and nvidia motherboards.

Some internal hard drives do not work or are not detected at all; "Vista-compatible" Logitech USB 2.0 hub works only as 1.1

 

[alent1234]

which hard drive didn't work?

2 years ago i junked 10 hard drives i've collected over the years and every single one worked in every PC i've ever built. my current PC has a SATA drive for the OS and an older IDE drive for data.

one time back in 1999 when i was still learning i decided to put NT4 on my home PC. I had 2 hard drives and spent a weekend pulling my hair out because not all were detected. in the end it turned out to be a jumper switch that was set wrong that i thought was set right and never checked. i always set mine to master or slave. haven't used auto-select in years.

bit PITA is that i had to be careful to tell Windows 7 to install on the SATA because for some reason my motherboard gives the IDE drive a lower number. but the MSI board i bought was kind of cheap. i didn't feel like spending $150 for a better quality board.

 

[cube]

which hard drive didn't work?

2 years ago i junked 10 hard drives i've collected over the years and every single one worked in every PC i've ever built. my current PC has a SATA drive for the OS and an older IDE drive for data.

bit PITA is that i had to be careful to tell Windows 7 to install on the SATA because for some reason my motherboard gives the IDE drive a lower number. but the MSI board i bought was kind of cheap. i didn't feel like spending $150 for a better quality board.

2 additional SATA drives in perfect condition connected with premium cables bought from a non-consumer company are not detected/dissapear/cannot be formatted etc.

 

[alent1234]

have you tried regular SATA cables? i've used Monster Cables before, but don't believe the hype anymore

if by non-consumer you mean HP, Sun or IBM you have to be careful. our HP servers use seagate drives but it's custom firmware. Just like Apple's servers. it's the reason you have to buy branded hard drives for a branded server

 

[cube]

have you tried regular SATA cables? i've used Monster Cables before, but don't believe the hype anymore

They are "premium". They just look the same. I tried others before.
I got tired of trying to solve the problem.

 

[cube]

have you tried regular SATA cables? i've used Monster Cables before, but don't believe the hype anymore

if by non-consumer you mean HP, Sun or IBM you have to be careful. our HP servers use seagate drives but it's custom firmware. Just like Apple's servers. it's the reason you have to buy branded hard drives for a branded server

No, non-consumer reseller selling only quality stuff to corporations. I only bought the new cables there, supposing the problem could be the random cables sold by consumer shops.

 

[alent1234]

have you tried to get help at anandtech, tomshardware, one of the other 100 PC hardware sites? MSI has it's own support forum, and other makers probably do as well.

i remember last time i built mine there was a big deal about the super duper "premium" RAM and AMD CPU's. a lot of the expensive RAM didn't work because the memory controller in the CPU was tuned for generic settings and a lot of people assumed that just because something is expensive and supports higher speeds it will automatically work as advertised. it got so bad that a lot of mobo makers put out HCL's for tested RAM and it was around that time that NewEgg started getting stricter about returns. i used to read of people buying stuff, getting benchmark scores they thought were too low and RMAing it saying it was defective

 

[cube]

Nobody will fix this if Asus/AMD/MS updates won't.

 

[jdechko]

I would get a Quadro card for AutoCAD since it can do rendering on a GPU; a GPU will speed up rendering the complex stuff.

Since you need Windows to run it as well, I'd stick with buying a PC for this job; sometimes it's not good to go with a Mac, and this is one of those cases.

His dad is only doing 2D rendering (with AutoCAD 2004. While 2004 had 3D rendering 2008+ added the good rendering stuff.) Also, they are on a tight budget. I know there are some "low"-end Quadro Cards, but they'd end up adding unnecessary expense to the rig for practically zero returns. I've run VIZ/3DS on a Radeon x850 XT 256MB and a GeForce 7800 256MB.

If you're going to go the PC route, seriously, just buy a mid-range Dell or HP tower with XP installed on it. Core2Duo 2.0+, 2GB RAM (4 if you're feeling generous) and a 160-320GB Hard Drive. If you really feel spendy, configure it with a Radeon or GeForce Card. Buy the 3-year warranty on it. No offense to anyone else, but this is a business tool first and foremost. Any time spent configuring or building is time not spent working and earning money. And buying too high spec of a machine, or new software (especially something like AutoCAD) is spending money that could be spent elsewhere. When the economy picks up, buy a new Mac Pro and AutoCAD 201x if you feel like it.

Please note that I'm not trying to come down hard on anyone. Please don't take it that way. I have been drafting for 9+ years, so it's not like I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm just trying to be practical/realistic here.

</rant>
</get off my lawn>
</only 27 years old>

By the way, here are the System Requirements for AutoCAD 2004:

* Intel Pentium III or later, with 800 MHz or faster processor, or compatible
* Microsoft Windows XP (Professional, Home Edition, or Tablet PC Edition)
* Windows 2000, or Windows NT 4.0 (SP6a or later)
* 256 MB RAM
* 300 MB free disk space for installation
* 1024x768 VGA with true colour (minimum)
* Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
* Mouse, trackball, or compatible pointing device
* CD-ROM drive

 

[DrFillster]

Just built a hackintosh and love it. BUT not for a beginner.

Agree with building a system based around AutoCAD; not trying to make AutoCAD fit the computer you buy...

to the OP, if your dad wants OS X but doesn't want to pay the price for an iMac check out Anandtech.com. there is a whole thread in the Apple forum there on how to build a hackintosh and which parts to use.

 

[youbetcharaid]

Serious? AutoCAD doesn't run on Macs? I guess we will have to buy Windows XP or Windows 7 when it comes out.

Autocad does not run on Mac.