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hi, After reading the majority of the "build posts" on this site and doing my own research, I think I have a fair understanding of the hardware needed. But fear the spec that i'm going for is overkill for what i actually need? Current Situation - University student (architecture related) going into final year - currently have 2011 Macbook pro, i5 @2.3Ghz, 4gb Ram (have ran VMware+3DSmax which was a fail lol) - Using AutoCAD, PS and sketch up with SU Podium plugin render. - Budget: £1.1k - £1.5k I have been a die hard Apple advocate throughout uni but after going through last terms work, I know that I need a faster machine, considered the knew 15" macbook retina display - fully loaded, but didn't seem worth it, as I want to start using Revit, 3DSmax, Vray and doing this through bootcamp on the retina display would have brought up headaches I don't need (icon+resolution issues)so have decided to convert to the dark side and build a windows workstation. Preferably would like to stay below £1.1k but don't want to build the workstation and have performance issues for the sake of a few hundred. Build Specs So here is the build that have came up with, would greatly appreciate your thoughts and advice: Intel i7-5820K Extreme Hex Core CPU Processor (3.30GHz, 15MB Cache, 140W, Socket 2011-V3, 28 Lanes PCI Express Generation 3) £300 ASUS® X99-E WS: SOCKET 2011-V3, DDR4, USB 3.0, SATA 6 GB/s: £394 FRACTAL DESIGN ARC MIDI R2 MID-TOWER CASE: £73 32GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DDR4 2133MHz (4 x 8GB): £190 PNY QUADRO K620 - 2GB GDDR3, 384 CUDA Cores - 1 x DP, 1 x DVI: £166 240GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s: £92 1TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 32MB CACHE: £35 *** CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY: £35 CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler (£29) Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ FX OEM: £20 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM: £15 ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND: £5 ASUS MX279H 27" Full HD AH-IPS LED DISPLAY: £244 Total:£1,569 Questions - Have I missed anything on spec compatibility? - Should I be going with DDR4 RAM and associated costs (main concern)? - Would you change certain parts? Suggestions?

Hi, I am here a bit sleepless contemplating my purchasing options for an upgrade. I am on a somewhat old Core2 Duo MacBook Pro 13" that has been revamped with an SSD HD and memory, to a state where it is more responsive in everyday life than my much newer Dell Inspiron with core i7 with dedicated ATI Video. So... after much pondering, I decided to sell both and invest on a new MacBook Pro, and leave the windows world. Even more after 8.1 ( went back to running Windows 7 ). Thing is, being in Brazil, the hardware cost is much steeper compared to the US ( in basic terms, I would pay for a low end 13" retina model close to the cost of the high end 15" retina model with nVidia card ). The option is to travel to NYC, buy it straight from a store, and spend on plane tickets and hotel lodgings the pricetag difference, which is indeed, nicer than just seeing that money burn elsewhere in taxes and profits, but still won't make it affordable. That said, my budget would allow me to, with the sells and some savings, go with some ease for the 13" retina 16Gb i5 2.4Gb model with 256Gb of storage ( storage not being really an issue for me ), for 1699. I could strain myself for the 13" i7 model also with 16Gb ram and 256Gb, if improvements would be that significant in everyday life ( Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, GIS, CAD, SketchUp ). Now, the jump from the 13" models to the cheapest 15" model, considering I am starting at 1699 would be considerable enough for me to decide to go for broke, seriously strain close to ruin my finances, and get the higher end 15" retina model with the nVidia card. My question is... as a student, not yet profiting... in everyday life... how much of a hindrance the Iris non-pro card is, for manipulating models? On SketchUp for example, the biggest we ever do is a few city blocks, with trees and people in separate layers, only turning everything on for final rendering in presentation. So, as I am an apple user, but not an apple fetishist... if you were in my shoes... what would you aim for, considering all models would be 16Gb ones? Is the i5 and i7 with iris so close to each other, I would hardly notice any difference in everyday CAD and SketchUp usage? Is the 13" i7 worth the added pricetag of 300 on an everyday basis, and I would feel a significant improvement? Or, life will be impossible with the added nVidia card? Sorry for the very tricky question, I realize maybe not many people here even use the low end MBP for anything other than browsing and light tasks and reserve serious work for a dedicated desktop... but I am hopeful Thank you so much, Jessica

I'm going to be doing a traveling architecture studio this summer so I unfortunately have to trade in to get a laptop to do the job. I would like to have a mac to normal word processing + email, and run bootcamp to do Rhino, Maxwell, 3dsMax, Autocad. . . I worried about the GeForce GT graphics card. I have a quatro FX 580 in my workstation and runs really nice for me. I would like a lighter machine but I'd but more marks on 3d modeling performance. Right now I'm in between this two: Macbook Pro 15" i7 2.6 8 GB ram GeForce GT 330 500GB HD @ 7200rpm high res screen $2500 (before tax) or Lenovo ThinkPad W510 i7-820QM NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M 8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333MHz SODIMM Memory 500GB HD @ 7200rpm $2300 (before tax) What do you think? Thanks.