I am a pressure vessel engineer and want to learn fea on my own time to gain experience and understanding.  

I am looking at downloading the student edition of abaqus but am having trouble determining hardware requirements.  

I want to buy or possibly build a computer that can run the student edition effectively. 

I started out by checking out the tested graphics cards on the website but dang they are all so expensive.  

I take it that these aren’t the only graphics cards that will work. Where can I find recommendations on what I would have to have if I want to learn at home? 

I havent built a computer before or bought a computer for a specific purpose before so I am at a loss where to start. Realistically, I would hope to keep it under \\\$1000 for the computer if that is even feasible

Any recommendations would be most appreciated.