[Bharat]

A mate of mine is an engineer (structural and architect I think) and he asked me if I could build him a solid machine for using CAD software (Autocad, and some other name with R, like Rabbit or something ???).

I've built different spec machines based on different requirements, but I don't really know what a machine for CAD use would need ? Loads of RAM ? Failry powerful graphics card ? Quad-core ? Or is that an overkill ?

I'm thinking along the lines of 2 x 500GB SATA2 in a RAID, or maybe 1 internal and 1 USB drive so he can transfer files between work and home.

He will have the other normal usage, i.e, browsing, emails and Word/Excel, etc. No gaming, or so he says.

Could someone please point towards some hardware for me to start with, and maybe I can look at various options from there on. All advice appreciated. Thanks.