proces2 Posted February 20, 2003 Share Posted February 20, 2003 Anyone have any reccomendations for getting a workstation that could be, say, around the price of $1200 (no monitor, of course)? The box needs to be able to function smoothly in Acad and VIZ 4, but obviously won't be a rendering workhorse. Just something that can render out simple radiosity and lo-res renderings without too much difficulty. This might all be a dream, but just wanted to see what others thought. sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted February 20, 2003 Share Posted February 20, 2003 Hi Sean, Are you interested in a, already built box, or recomendation for parts to put together? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 You can build a similar system to Doron's at around 2.66 gigahertz for a good deal less money if you order online. (Fry's has a 25-50% markup..your paying for the convinence) www.newegg.com is my primary US retailer for system components. I'm not going to comment more until you respond to some of the other posts. Technically for a bit more money, you could build a dual athlon system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proces2 Posted February 21, 2003 Author Share Posted February 21, 2003 Thanks for all the great responses! I am not quite technically proficient with assembling the hardware stuff. I can maintain a box that's been built for me (upgrades, peripherals, etc.) But, i wouldn't really consider building my own box an option (nor do i currently have the time to do so). I have checked out boxxtech, based on great reccomendations of performance on this forum, but once you add the amount of RAM that i would need (at least 1GB) to run radiosity with VIZ, the price quickly approaches 2k. Then it gets close to a dual AMD and then its out of my price range (unfortunately). I am hiring a full time employee so i have all the overhead tied to that. This machine is for that person, so with all the other costs involved, i have to be very thrifty with this computer purchase. I'll check out DELL again. Last time i looked, i kept ending up with a machine that used RDRAM - going to 1GB with that sends the price way over the top. If there is a recomendation for a local shop that can do a reliable system, send the info. As for SF - definitely a small world. I have bumped into a few other bay area-s here as well. To the arch. student in SF, are you at CCAC? Academy of Art College? sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 Boxxtech will normally negotiate prices, as their not a giant hulking corporation of doom. I'd push for a boxxtech purchase if possible, and possibly email the quote to them and start discussing the purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoron13 Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 WOW, I can't believe there's another Norcal up here!!! Hi from Oakland That's not a problem. About 6 months ago, I built a very powerfull machine to handle my 3d stuff (when I bring it home from work) and pro audio recording, and I got a top end system(at the time) for $1300 at Fry's. I built it myself, but it has the following specs: Soyo P4s-645dx Motherboard P4 2.2ghz 333mhz cache (I think) 512mb pc2700ddr 80gb Western Digital 7200rpm drive ATI Radeon 8500 128mb Dvi Card QUE Fire 24x10x40 burner 56x CD drive This past weekend, I upgraded to two 80gb hd's (using the onboard RAID) and added 512mb ram...to put this system in perspective, I spent 300 on the ram in may, and 88 last weekend (http://www.kingston.com) Now the expensive part for me was the pro sound card (aardvark Direct Pro q10) which ran a cool 800, but the soyo board has a very nice built in surround sound system, as well as raid, 6 USB 2 slots, and an onboard NIC card. Also, since you're up here, I can recommend you to someone I know (a software engineer) who sells computers and parts on the side. He gets systems at .COM auctions, and chop shops them. So I've bought 3 systems from him, along with about 7 monitors (the nice 17" sony trinitron crt-but with the dell logo on front) for get this: $75 each. So if you want, a chop shop can be had for your purposes for WELL under 1000, especially if you don't need to render high res. Now if you want to put something together, go to Dell. They have outrageous deals right now... A comparable system to the above mentioned specs that I bought for $2300 on June 6th for work (but with monitors, rambus ram, and the Nvidia gforce 128mb card)-Dimension 8500, can now be had for I believe $1100 or so. Let me know if you have any questions, and I hope this helps Doron Serban Graphic Design CUREE schmoron13@aol.com serban@curee.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoron13 Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 what a coincidence.... bigcahunak, shalom, ani mi ha-aretz....I was born there, then moved to Switzerland when I was 5, and have lived in the US (San Francisco, Walnut Creek, and now Oakland) since I was 8 In one post....what a small world? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Sean, Hi again. I second Greg about the dual AMD and about the Newegg price as well. However, if the sistem is not for yourself and its not gonna be multitasking a lot, I'd go with a n intel P4 on an intel chipset. Stability is your number one concern and thats what you'd get with the above combination. I'm saying it inspite the fact I'm an AMD guy myself. Originally posted by schmoron13: what a coincidence.... bigcahunak, shalom, ani mi ha-aretz....I was born there, then moved to Switzerland when I was 5, and have lived in the US (San Francisco, Walnut Creek, and now Oakland) since I was 8 In one post....what a small world? Hi Doron, There are a few from Ha'Aretz around here (at least one more). but there are lots of NorCals thats for sure. BTW: I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (3.5 hours southern to you). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoron13 Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Originally posted by bigcahunak: Sean, Hi again. I second Greg about the dual AMD and about the Newegg price as well. However, if the sistem is not for yourself and its not gonna be multitasking a lot, I'd go with a n intel P4 on an intel chipset. Stability is your number one concern and thats what you'd get with the above combination. I'm saying it inspite the fact I'm an AMD guy myself. quote:Originally posted by schmoron13: what a coincidence.... bigcahunak, shalom, ani mi ha-aretz....I was born there, then moved to Switzerland when I was 5, and have lived in the US (San Francisco, Walnut Creek, and now Oakland) since I was 8 In one post....what a small world? Hi Doron, There are a few from Ha'Aretz around here (at least one more). but there are lots of NorCals thats for sure. BTW: I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (3.5 hours southern to you). Actually, I graduated from UC Riverside, so we have even more in common Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawyer Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 I got a Dell dual xeon. Love it but it weren't cheap. I know someone who may be able to build one if you want to go that route. Actually I shouldn't speak for him but I could ask him see what he thinks. I have been rather surprised that I haven't seen more people from nor cal here at cga. Guess I wasn't looking hard enough. Just a random aside, Sean you have an unique site. Seems like you do a lot of free forms kind of nice to see some fluid shapes after all the box's we do here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 BTW: I graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo I was just at CalPoly last Thursday. What did you study? All I saw was cows. Here's a picture of me conversing with some students: OK, it's really my son, Luke. My sister went there. She says they have a big architecture school. But I stand by my point--all I saw was cows. One had just calved an hour earlier. Nice cows. Have some hay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 Originally posted by Ernest Burden: I was just at CalPoly last Thursday. What did you study? All I saw was cows. My sister went there. She says they have a big architecture school. But I stand by my point--all I saw was cows. One had just calved an hour earlier. Nice cows. Have some hay. Thanks for the hay, it looks good, but I really prefer those cows... Its a big school there, but whats nice is the town and its surroundings (including the cows). Architecture - thats what I studied there. Ernest, thats why you traveled west for? to see cows? thats why you missed Strat proposing in snowy NY? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted February 25, 2003 Share Posted February 25, 2003 Ernest, thats why you traveled west for? to see cows? thats why you missed Strat proposing in snowy NY? Did I mention my sister? Cows are always good, but visiting family is better. She studies communication at CalPoly, was in radio. If I ever need a good voice-over for an animation I will get her to do it. I missed Strat's romantic momment and a blizzard. But SF and SLO were wonderful, as usual. I guess this is just a bit off the topic, so I'll wrap it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nisus Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 Ernest... I thought your son was Ernest Burden IV instead of Luke Burden I... *lol* rgds nisus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ernest Burden III Posted February 27, 2003 Share Posted February 27, 2003 how far OT can I take this before getting ejected from the forum? My sons are Luke and Kyle, not an Ernest in the lot. Some things are only funny for so long. Although my middle name is passed on to Kyle, making him the seventh in a line with that middle name, taken from an ancestor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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