Topic Title

I need to purchase a new desk top PC for my work station. I'm not asking for a particular brand name but would appreciate suggestions of a good configuration for my drafting needs. For example, what size memory/RAM, hard drive, processor type/size, graphics card type/size, etc. I do mostly 2D drafting but am interested in learning more about 3D modeling too. I presently use DataCAD X3.
Kindly reply, Tim Shaw, Shaw & Shanks Architects, pc

Tim welcome to the forum,

DataCAD itself isn't all that demanding, except when you get into lots of XRef's, and 3D HLR's. I would get an Intel i5 or i7 quad core CPU with 4-8GB of RAM (with room for expansion if needed) so that means a 64bit flavor of Win7.

I'd get a video card with 1GB of RAM on it (or more!) as these are pretty common nowdays. I would get a video card with 2 DVI outputs -- dual monitors are really nice to use, and monitors are amazingly low cost. 23-24" LCD with LED backlighting are about $150 or so.

As for a hard drive, I can't imagine there are drives smaller than 500GB typically, so 1TB or so is probably plenty. Up to 3TB are available, if you are going to collect a huge number of photos or keep every job you have ever worked on.

Thanks, Neil