Creating a hardware database

I am one of the many people who are building their own CAD
workstation. I propose that we make some kind of database of MB,
memory, processor and video card combos that can be browsed. I am
getting ready to build a system with a Quadro FX 1400 and I can't find
anywhere what motherboards it has been tested with! Very
frustrating. Anyway, I appreciate your comments. System proposed so
far is: (WXPPSP2)

Core 2D E6850 Proc
GA-P35-DS3L MB
2x DDR2-800 Crucial 1G sticks (certified on GB MB)
Quadro FX1400

So far I have found that it is easy to find matched proc/MB/mem but
terrible to find VC compatibility.

Love to hear your comments.

 

When choosing / recommending HW for SolidWorks, I alwas have a look
at http://www.spec.org/gwpg/apc.data/specapc_sw2007_summary.html which
contains SPEC results benchmarks. They used to have more lines in the
past, when it was based on SW 2005...

The "cost per composite" shows the (inverse) bang/bucks ratio, so you
can choose for the most efficient solution that fits your budget, and
the try to build a similar machine for less money...

Choose the VC according to SolidWorks requirements, and a good
motherboard selected from tomshardware.com, they will always pair up
nicely.

RAM speed is most often overlooked, while it's a crucial element for
performance.
Same for hard disks : I prefer 70 Gb rotating at 10'000rpm than 300Gb
on a slow disk.