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Hey there! I'm a student in college looking to buy a desktop machine to hone my CAD skills. I'll mainly be using it to learn how to make animations in 3DsMax using Vray. I'll also be using Solidworks, Rhino, After Effects, and Premiere for HD video-editing, along with the usual Adobe trifecta (Ps, Ill, Indd). Being a student I don't have that much money so I'd like to spend around 1k—even less if possible. I'd like to build it myself, but I'll admit that I have no idea what parts I need. It's also a bit daunting to see that there are so many different components out there that I can use. If building it myself is too difficult, I'd be willing to buy a pre-assembled desktop. A friend suggested I look into older high-end machines that often are still quite good and cost relatively little. He mentioned something like a Lenove Thinkstation D20 could be good. But even on eBay they range from $350 to $1500. (http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=thinkstation+d20&LH_BIN=1) I have no clue what to do... I just want to start making some animations! Got any suggestions on what I could do?

I'm thinking of building my own desktop computer with the main aim doing 3D AutoCAD. I've made a few phone calls to various suppliers of components but on the whole, they haven't been particularly helpful in terms of the best spec for the job. Can anyone please advise me how far I should go regarding the spec. say, of a graphics card, motherboard, RAM and processor or any other advice you can give me? Please bear in mind, I have not done this before and am a novice! Many thanks in advance for helping me with this project.