Check out my computer shopping list

[blair888]

Hi all,

 

I'm an industrial Designer whos never worked in I.D because here in Australia, what would you design in terms of product??? - we dont design anything to be manufactured.

 

But I have done Interior, graphic and retail design forever, and in fact been an architectural illustrator (mainly commercial interiors).

 

I've always wanted to do CG - and so now I'm in the process of establishing what hardware I need, and buying a computer thats going to be powerful enough to learn 3dmax on and I hope to eventually learn Maya or Lightwave etc.

 

I've been to cgtalk.com and nvidia forums, but it seems the forums are full of mainly gamers and animators, and I believe that architectural modelling requires different hardware and especially different graphics card.

 

This is my shopping list:

 

AMD Athlon 64bit DC3800+ dual core

Asus A8N-SLI PCIe motherboard

2Gb DDR400 RAM

3.5"floppy

250Gb SATA2 HDD

Pioneer dual layer DVDRW drive

500W PSU

Graphics card

 

The graphics card is the first issue; I'm told the open GL interface on the GEForce 7800GT card is erratic - good for gaming, colours, environments etc - but the Quadro card is more suitable for AutoCAD, 3dmax etc.

 

-does anyone have any good advice about the wisest choice here??

 

I hope the system will be nice and stable, well capable and balanced on all fronts.

 

The next question is on the motherboard - is this one too high end for the rest of the gear, as Ive been told it supports 2 graphics cards etc?

 

Any suggestions or improvements on the list, any points to be wary of??

 

Cheers

[the.3dsmax.blogger]

Not that I am much of an expert in motherboard, here are some specs. ...

 

http link : http://www.directron.com/a8nsli.html

Asus A8N-SLI Motherboard, nForce 4 SLI, 2x PCI-E, Socket 939, DDR400, SATA & RAID, 1394, 8ch Audio, GB LAN

 

The A8N-SLI motherboard is an extreme gaming platform with dual-graphics card and dual-channel memory designs and supports the powerful K8 939 CPU. Play DOOM3 the way it is meant to be played and shatter all records on 3D Mark05. This powerful solution also features top specifications such as SATA 3Gb/s, RAID, 1394, 10 USB connections and 8-channel audio. If top-of-the-line graphics capability is want you need, then the A8N-SLI is your board.

 

Features: Supports AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64FX/Athlon 64. NVIDIA nForce4 SLI. PCI Express Architecture. SATA 3Gb/s. NV RAID. AI NET2. NV Firewall. AI Audio (8-channel Audio).

 

Specifications: CPU - Socket 939 for AMD Athlon 64FX / Athlon 64 - AMD64 architecture enables simultaneous 32- and 64-bit computing - Supports AMD Cool 'n' Quiet Technology Chipset: NVIDIA nForce®4 SLI™ Front Side Bus: 2000 MT/s, 1600MT/s. Memory - 4 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 4GB DDR400/DDR333/DDR266 ECC/ non-ECC un-buffered DDR SDRAM memory - Dual Channel Memory Architecture Expansion Slots - 2 x PCI Express x16 slot *SLI mode : x8 , x8 *Default(Single VGA) mode : x16, x1 - 2 x PCI Express x1 - 3 x PCI SLI: - Under SLI mode : support two identical SLI-ready graphics cards - Under Default(Single VGA) mode: supports all PCI Express graphics cards - ASUS EZ Plug - ASUS SLI Warning LED - ASUS EZ Selector - ASUS two-slot thermal design - ASUS PEG Link for dual PCIe graphic cards Storage/ RAID: nForce4 Storage - 4 x SATA 3Gb/s - 2 x UltraDMA 133/100/66/33 - NVRAID : RAID0, RAID1, RAID 0+1 and JBOD span cross SATA and PATA LAN: nForce4 built-in Gbit MAC with external Marvell PHY : - NV ActiveArmor - NV Firewall - AI NET2 Audio: Realtek ALC850, 8-channel CODEC Audio Sensing and Enumeration Technology Coaxial/Optical S/PDIF out ports on back I/O USB: Max. 10 USB2.0 ports ASUS AI Proactive Features: AI NOS(Non-delay Overclocking System) AI NET2 network diagnosis before entering OS Overclocking Features: AI NOS? (Non-delay Overclocking System) AI Overclocking (intelligent CPU frequency tuner) ASUS PEG Link for single/dual graphics cards Precision Tweaker: - vDIMM: 9-step DRAM voltage control - vCore: Adjustable CPU voltage at 0.0125 increment - SFS (Stepless Frequency Selection): allowing FSB tuning from 200MHz up to 400MHz at 1MHz increment - PCIe Frequency: allowing PCIe frequency from 100MHz up to 200MHz at 1MHz increment Fixed PCIe/PCI/SATA frequencies. ASUS PEG Link for single/dual graphics cards ASUS C.P.R.(CPU Parameter Recall) Form Factor: ATX Form Factor, 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.5cm).

[AJLynn]

For the MB-

 

I have an Athlon64 on an nForce3-250 board and I'm very happy with it. Some things about it are very nice, like the nForce network adapter - it bypasses the PCI bus, more efficient that way. Mine is an MSI, which is a good brand, ASUS is also a good one. Since you can do RAID pretty easily with SATA these days, consider going that route - 2 identical hard drives and a MB that supports SATA raid, configured for striping, is faster than one drive. The nForce boards usually have a pretty good overclocking capability, but I'm too conservative to use it. You probably won't use the SLI capabilities - that's pretty much for gamers. Just make sure you've got a board that supports your chip and you should be fine.

 

For the video-

 

I do like Quadro cards a lot, they really are that much better for 3D work. For example, my older notebook with 64MB Quadro4 500 beats my newer P4 system with 128MB ATI x600 PCI-E with complex 3DSMax modeling. And with what the 7800 costs, if you can budget that you can get a Quadro card.

 

The 500W PSU is a good idea. Make sure you also have a case with very good cooling. My AMD is in an aluminum case with 5 fans, which I kept when upgrading from an AMD 1700 with a MB that flaked out. That one had been in an older case with 1 fan that was inherited from an even older AMD system - the case was old an not meant for the newer CPUs, and did not have enough air flow. When I switched cases, my CPU temp dropped 10 degrees C.