enpena Posted November 16, 2003 Share Posted November 16, 2003 Hi! i'm new here, and recently I have just started to use VIZ4. I plan to get a new pc. Can you give me a good specs for my pc. Like, what would be the best processor to use? Do I need dual processing? Video cards, and the amount of ram to use in ordred for VIZ to run smoothly? Hope to heare from you guys....Thanks a lot. enpena Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted November 16, 2003 Share Posted November 16, 2003 If you have the money, duals are a must. 1-1.5 gigs ram, or more if you have money, or perhaps just plan on an easy upgrade later on and put the money into the processors Graphic cards - personally, I have not seen a huge difference in performance between the game line and the lower pro line (I've got a 64mb GeForce and a 700 GXL Quadro - no difference that I can see!). Maybe if you buy an upper line pro card you'll notice, but they cost a ton more. Hard Drives - I'd go with the SATA RAID 0 set ups a lot of systems are shipping with (not sure if it's only on P4s or not, but it's nice). If money is a big issue, look at the refurbished Dell 450s. Really nice and you can get some good prices on the Dual Xeons. They are all pretty much spec'd out for 3D and high end graphics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lerker Posted November 21, 2003 Share Posted November 21, 2003 mbr, can you (or anyone else) explain why dual processors are so important for viz? thanks in advance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoron13 Posted November 21, 2003 Share Posted November 21, 2003 not sure if I have this correct or not, but I believe that a lot of it has to do with rendering. Whith dual processors, you can render twice as fast, and since new "duals" are hyperthreading enabled, you can in essence, render 4 times as quickly as before... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgarcia Posted November 21, 2003 Share Posted November 21, 2003 Originally posted by mbr: ...Graphic cards - personally, I have not seen a huge difference in performance between the game line and the lower pro line (I've got a 64mb GeForce and a 700 GXL Quadro - no difference that I can see!). Maybe if you buy an upper line pro card you'll notice, but they cost a ton more.... Markus: Even using Maxtreme drivers in Max you see no difference? There has to be. You'll see the difference starting around 500,000 polygons. Rotate the entire scene in wireframe. Maxtreme is great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digi_archi Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 What is Maxtreme drivers? Where can I get it? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgarcia Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 http://www.nvidia.com/object/maxtreme_4.00.29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joseph alexander Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 athlon 64 w nvid 5900 256 card $2149 http://www.internetishop.com/product_detail.asp?main_cat_no=DT&sub_cat_no=01&item=MSLFX51A I got my system from this company and was happy with them. They're cheap and this system comes with a very powerful graphics card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 Xavier, Thanks, I'll try those drivers. Really, I am still shocked everytime I try to move something in Max and it hesitates, flickers, and then I always over estimate how far something needs to move. This gets exponentially worse as the scene gets larger - it's almost unmanageable. It is the same on my PIII 933 with a Geforce 2 64mb and my workstation with dual 2.2s and a Quadro 700 gxl (well, not quite, but it's a close call - definitely not worth the cash for expensive cards, imo). I never noticed any hesitation in Maya or FormZ (on other computers that were less powerful). Is this simply an issue with Max? This is why I have not ever thought about better graphics cards - as the difference between my two cards is substantial and I should see a difference (right?). I'll see if those drivers make any difference, but it's so bad, it would have to be a remarkable difference to really make an impression. Anyone have comments about this? This is the way Max 3 was at my former employers and Max 2 at school, so I am pretty sure it's not just my setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nully Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 I think tomshardware has most of your answers 3dsm max cpu comparison http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030923/athlon_64-48.html and http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030422/opteron-23.html Originally posted by schmoron13: not sure if I have this correct or not, but I believe that a lot of it has to do with rendering. Whith dual processors, you can render twice as fast, and since new "duals" are hyperthreading enabled, you can in essence, render 4 times as quickly as before... hyperthreading doesnt double the power of cpus's its just an optimization and I dont think it makes a great deal of difference in max/viz Athlon MP systems are the best if rendering speed is a major issuse for you (if it is then you need a render farm afterall), if not then a athlon/intel 2600-3200 with 1 gig of ram or more is great. I think Athlon mp systems yeild a around 60% increase in rendering speed not 100% as you might expect. Regarding video cards if your scenes are going to be complex then you'll probably need to invest in a professional card otherwise id opt for a highend nvidia or ati radeon game cards. mbr mentioned sata hard drives, these can be used on any system but they arent really any faster than regular eide hard drives and they are a pain to install sometimes. Fast HD's make everything load faster. It all depends on how much money you want to spend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newbie Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 If your budget doesn't matter, workstation graphic card is better rather than use the gaming graphic cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgarcia Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 Originally posted by mbr: [QB] Xavier, Thanks, I'll try those drivers./QB]Did they work for you Markus? I'm running my GeForce3 Ti500 as a Quadro DCC (last true softquadro conversion) with Maxtreme drivers and also Powerdraft drivers for AutoCAD. Runs great. Much better than my regular Geforce3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 Ah, sorry, I forgot :-/ I am battling my DVDRW now and that's been taking my 'update' time. I'll get to it and let you know asap. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgarcia Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 I think for Christmas I'm treating myself to a DVD writer. I'm looking at the multi-format Sony DRU-510A ($175 on newegg). I've got at least 9 gigs of school work, including my wife's (also architecture student) that I need to backup before I have a major hard disk failure. You never know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 Look around, the Sony was great before but I believe their are better ones. I dont' really know, though, it was an article in PC World a while ago and I didn't really read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgarcia Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 Which one do you have Markus? Yeah, the Sony is only 4x write for DVD, kinda slow no? I'll research some more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbr Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 I think 4x is the standard. I've got a Dell OEM model. It's an NEC model and I woult not recommend it. It did not ship with software and I have yet to get it to work correctly. I've bought Roxio, Sonic, and replaced it once. It really stinks!! So I have one more try with new Sonic software and then I battle Dell for my money back (I only bought it through them because I wanted tech support - I've spen probably 20 hours on the phone and they have no idea!). That's about all I know. I'd suggest looking at http://www.pcmag.com and reading the reviews. I want to say the Pioneer came out on top, but don't hold be to that. Oh, and mine cost $250 plus $130 in software. Yeppie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xgarcia Posted December 7, 2003 Share Posted December 7, 2003 Try Nero Burning Rom. Best burning software I've ever used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Posted December 9, 2003 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Hello @Schmoron > ...render 4 times as quickly as before... No, you can NOT. There are still 2 CPUs inside the BOX So factor 2 is realistic + some "presents in %" from Intel Richie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 schmoron13, If your using a 3rd party renderer like Vray, Brazil, or FR, hyperthreading will net you an additional 20-25% performance increase over a non hyperthreaded setup. (In a dual xeon). Do note you'll have to run Windows XP to get full hyperthreading support from a dual 1.8 Xeon or later. (Windows 2000 doesn't natively support hyperthreading). So a more realistic approach would probably be 120-140% faster then a single processor. (2.2-2.4x) nully, If your going to use tomshardware as a reference, make sure to also check some other sites first. Tom Pabst barely writes or even checks on his website anymore, and it has fallen into a shadow of the site which it once was. They've replaced editors multiple times, been sued for criminal slander, refuse to change glaring errors in their reports, and tend to change "data" as they see fit. If your looking for a single reputable site...you really won't find one. Only by combining the literature of multiple sites will you be able to develop a more clear picture of how the hardware is working together. Some of the best sites to check out are...(IMHO) http://www.2cpu.com (especially the forums) http://www.aceshardware.com http://www.ars-technica.com http://www.anandtech.com (good place for mboard reviews) http://www.tech-report.com http://www.3dgameman.com (Videos of products, not the best reviews, but very handy at actually seeing an installation of a product, or noise) http://www.overclockers.com http://www.xbitlabs.com/ Once again, don't use a single sites reviews, but look at a selection. That way you get a much better guage of both positives and negatives...instead of a single biased viewpoint. And all reviewers are biased...any who say they aren't are plain lying. (I'm very biased myself, though I try not to be) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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