mattclinch Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 need to sort myself out with a workstation- if money was no object *within reason - no £20k machines* what would you buy right now? i want everything, mice, monitors, gfx cards, processor, motherboards, case, fans the lot. one for you hardcore builders out there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buckley Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 who's buying? you or work? but i too am interested in the answer to this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattclinch Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 you should wait till the 8 core machines are out in 2010 and get a 16 core 32 threads machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattclinch Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 yea, i realise there is some great tech on the horizon, but i'm more interested in something now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
easy3dsource Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 Obviously once the 8 core machines come out, they'll be on the bleeding edge for a while; even the few 6 core CPU's I've seen are still ridiculously priced. The intel i5 and i7 processors are seeming a lot more reasonable nowadays, but due to the (still high) cost of all the supporting hardware (appropriate mobo, ram) you'll still end up spending a LOT more than if you go for one of the less expensive quad cores like the q8200. My hope is that more software companies get on board with GPU processing within the next year, but since it doesn't seem like much software is taking advantage of that YET, I would focus more on the CPU / ram combo, but still get a great video card for the sake of modeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattclinch Posted December 2, 2009 Author Share Posted December 2, 2009 ok, well as a starting point, this is kind of what i was thinking of... http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-003-OB Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz @ 4.00GHz Max Gigabyte EX58-UD5 Intel X58 Motherboard Corsair 6GB DDR3 PC3-12800C8 1600MHz DDR3 Bundle http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-HT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1515 HIS ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card + appropriate power, cooling, and case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kippu Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 why not dual xeons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 dual xeons, 3+ GHZ with 16GB Ram if not 24, 4 hard drives in Raid5 for speed+protection, and the absolute most expensive ATI card available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amer abidi Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 yup, dual quad core Xeons (E5540 to be specific - best value for power; plus they support intel's new advanced hyperthreading Technology, so you'll actually have 16 buckets rendering =)) 16GB Ram (never had to use more); and a Nvidia GTX 295 Graphic card. Thats the best value for money setup in my oppinion....mmmmm..RAW power! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted December 2, 2009 Share Posted December 2, 2009 # Intel Core i7 Processor Extreme Edition I7-965 3.2GHz 8MB LGA1366 CPU # ZALMAN DELUXE EDITION COOLER LGA 1366 # Asus P6T Deluxe V2 Core i7 / Intel X58/ DDR3/ CrossFireX & SLI/ A&2GbE/ ATX Motherboard # 12GB (6 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory # Boot Drive: G.SKILL/KINGSTON 128GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD) # # Storage: Western Digital/Seagate 1TB SataII 32MB Cache 7200rpm # LITEON/SAMSUNG 22X DVD-RW DUAL LAYER W/LIGHTSCRIBE (PROMO ITEM) # nVidia GeForce GTX280 1GB DDR3 2DVI SLI PCI-EXP Video Card # REALTEK 8-CHANNEL DIGITAL SOUND ONBOARD # REALTEK DUAL 10/100/1000 Gigabit Network Card (onboard) # Antec Nine Hundred Two Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case # THERMALTAKE 700 WATT TOUGHPOWER/PUREPOWER ATX # Windows 7 beta loaded - good until July 2010 Thats my machine, bought it 2 months ago for around $2500. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.S Posted December 3, 2009 Share Posted December 3, 2009 ASUS Z8NA-D6C (Dual LGA 1366 Intel 5500 ATX) 2 x Intel Xeon X5550 Quad 2.66GHZ(6.4GT/S) LGA1366 L2 8MB 24GB (6 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Quadro FX3800 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 -------------------------------- Should run you aboot 4K If your really looking to spend some cash look at buying a Cray Jaguar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiform 3D Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Being a die-hard Mac guy I would get a Mac Pro: Two 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 16GB (8x2GB) 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s 1TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB One 18x SuperDrive Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel) Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel) Apple Magic Mouse Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) and User's Guide AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi Card with 802.11n Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro - Auto-enroll Total price including those twin 30" screens is $11 015. I treat myself to something like this every 2 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Total price including those twin 30" screens is $11 015. I treat myself to something like this every 2 years. Wow, you spend 11 g's on a workstation every two years? I just treated myself to a Toyota 4Runner for 5 grand and Im hoping it will last until 2015..... I need new clients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky Lane Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Look at them sweeeet dual drives man... DUAL DRIVES! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky Lane Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 (edited) Apple Magic Mouse Do you get a voucher for free carpal tunnel surgery later? All mac mice are bollocks really. theyre the most uncomfortable, unergonomic and most unusable mouse for 3d stuff. Get a decent logitech high def laser mouse and save yourself the shoulder and wrist pain. Other than that, that spec is my current workstation (although id like a better vid card - best we could get at the time was a 8300GT which is fine i guess, but its the bottleneck in my workflow. And save yourself the money on the dual 30" screens. you'll get a headache from having to move your head all day long, and apple displays are fairly overrated for what we do. Get some good 24" led panels. Im still running dual 22" widescreens, and thats about perfect for me. Until Max allows me to detach viewports to the other monitor (can it?) i dont see the need for anything more - but thats just me. Edited December 29, 2009 by Ky Lane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Look at them sweeeet dual drives man... DUAL DRIVES! wo! is that the fisheye, three button, 1:1 screen? Niiiice!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warprat Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Hi, My office just bought a new machine, it was built by some guy I don't know. Claiming it to be fast but yet it still takes 14 hours to render an evermotion scene. Here are the specs, CPu: Intel X5450 harpertown 3.0GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 771 120W Quad-Core Processor x 2 MOBO: Intel D5400XS Skulltrail GPU:Radeon Sapphire HD 3650 Ram : 4GB Fully buffered DIMM We only render out still images, and we would like to render them at a higher quality but in reasonable time. We were hoping to be able to render the evermotion scenes in say a couple of hours instead we are looking at 14 hrs, which is unacceptable for the money spent. I would be greatfull if anyone could help with their views and advise. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiform 3D Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Hi, We only render out still images, and we would like to render them at a higher quality but in reasonable time. We were hoping to be able to render the evermotion scenes in say a couple of hours instead we are looking at 14 hrs, which is unacceptable for the money spent. I would be greatfull if anyone could help with their views and advise. Thanks in advance. That is a fast machine, but your RAM is way too small. Double the RAM as that could be the only hardware slowdown I see. Otherwise you will just need to reduce the complexity of your scenes as those processors are fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Also Evermotion's models usually have reflective and refractive materials at very high samples rate, sometimes 50, using 8 would cut down that render time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Buchhofer Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 --stupid didn't read the topic heading comment removed-- And the newer motherboards going in from 12gb to 24gb with no 16 makes me sad @TommyL, most of his cost there was the monitors.. 2 30" monitors would give me a headache personally! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihabkal Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 I had problems getting used to one 30", but now that I am used to it it is hard to move down to a 24" imho 2x30" is not practical, you will hurt your neck turning your head all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 If you want low cost and high power with minimum headache get the Mac Pro. It was a full $1000 cheaper than any other supplier when I bought mine in June. I now have the best of both worlds and can boot Windows or OSX depending on what I want to do. Its the closest thing I've seen to the magic bullet since I started using computers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky Lane Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 That is a fast machine, but your RAM is way too small. Double the RAM as that could be the only hardware slowdown I see. Otherwise you will just need to reduce the complexity of your scenes as those processors are fine. Run a 64bit OS too.. especially for Windows and more than 3GB ram. I run 16 in mine, and it flies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ky Lane Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 If you want low cost and high power with minimum headache get the Mac Pro. It was a full $1000 cheaper than any other supplier when I bought mine in June. I now have the best of both worlds and can boot Windows or OSX depending on what I want to do. Its the closest thing I've seen to the magic bullet since I started using computers. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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