by the way, my current computer's 2ghz/768mb.. Solidworks didn't like that, so I ordered this today:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail
$189.99

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK - Retail
$104.99

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$149.99

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS120-04 - OEM
$23.99

Shuttle SG31G2 Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo / Dual-Core / Celeron 400 serial support Intel G31 Barebone - Retail
$209.99


I'll be able to model at home again, and get decent renders without taking ALL DAY :).

The shuttle will take 45nm chips - Q9440/9550 - the Q6600 that is a little old now - The newer ships will use less power which is good for a shuttle (i've built two shuttles before - my wife still uses one)

If you want the full 4GB you will need to look at running a 64bit OS

The built in graphics will be ok but not up to gaming...

Rather than a Raptor (again this is the older model) it might be worth looking at some of the 750/1tb drives they actually have great transfer rates acres of storage
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148274

Just got done with my custom HV ESC. Let me know what you guys think. :yes:

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...wnRCU/esc1.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...wnRCU/esc2.jpg

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...wnRCU/esc3.jpg

nice td, looks like a hybrid mm and mmm that should be the mm pro :P hahaaha

guys your soo lucky tot have such nice machines... i have a:
Compaq presario 6000 (circa 1998)
Pentium 4
1gb ram
2 hd's (total 250gig)
Inegated sound and graphics
Graphics card emulator ( very hard to obtain)

nope, price at the moment. and I figured quad would be better than a slightly higher clock on a duo chip. I'm not sure. I do alot of encoding and rendering. if I feel it's still too slow, I'll get a faster chip. the shuttle barebones comes with a motherboard, with onboard video, vga, AND dvi.. i'm already running dual monitors, so I thought that would work perfect.. but now that you ask, I realize that the onboard video might not support solidworks' "realview".. I've got an nVidia 7600gs, not sure if that works, or if I can edit the driver to make it a "quadro".
my current pc has an ATI 9800pro in it mod'd to a "FireGL X2", and it works great, but it's an agp card.

and 64bit, yes :)

I was thinking I'd just use a spare ~400W psu if the included one isn't stable.
I don't need any storage, I wanted a FAST drive.. but just not scsi fast ;). my other computer's a mini server with 9 hard drives ~3.5TB.

The shuttle PSU's are pretty high quality although I think that barebones only has a 250 mine was the larger case that came with a 400.

The "better" quad is about $100 more - these chips's OC really well but the shuttles don't tend to have the best bios for it. You should be able to get a 10% clock bump though pretty easily.

For rendering I agree a quad will be better - my core 2 E6600 2.4ghz native runs fine at 3.25 on air.

I'd look for one of the newer Nvidia's always EVGA as there warrantee is as good as castle

Ya it kinda does look like a mix between the two ben. :P

I guess I overexaggerate things.

Ben, be grate full, i have a IBM Thinkpad, pentium 2, 128mb of ram, 6.8 gb of hard drive, and running win xp hacked with vista theme :intello:

putting a vista theme on xp aint hacking....

you forget to mention your hous comp trev..:whistle:

http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s...tormountv4.jpg

Just got off the phone with Mike, gave me a few suggestions for the moutn portion of my system-
1. Bearing stops
2. motor mount screw countersinks


waiting for what he says about the revision, then what price he wants for them all

Somebody mention CAD? I'm your huckleberry then. :yes: The below pic was my first truggy conversion and is outdated in every way. The latest truggy design is beautiful but I am not allowed to show it or Mike would kill me.



http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...tmountidea.jpg

Nice Cadima, whats this truggy that your talking about based on? and is mike going to make it?