Liza Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Right, I need a new PC for Arch Vis ! Whadooyatink of this badboy (bare in mind I'm an idiot when it comes to hardware, explain simply). Xeon 5345 Quad Core 2.33GHz Passive 2x4MB Cache (times 2) 4GB DDR2 800MHz Memory (or should I go for 6GB)? Western Digital Raptor 74GB S150 16MB 10000RPM (times 2) PNY Quadro FX1500 256MB GDDR3 PCIE Dual DVI (apparently because max 9 utilises more of directX10 this graphics card it good enough?) Microsoft Win XP Pro x64 SP2B OEM 620W Modular Power Supply (should this be higher?) I was going to go for two dual xeons 3GHz but I found the quadcores for a reasonable price so figure it's worth it? I find it hard getting my head around all this dual/core 2/AMDvIntel/quad/squad/squid no matter how much I read ! Does anyone have any suggestions? I would really appreciate some guidance. Thanks in advance, Liza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Denby Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 What about your monitor...TFT or big box? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Posted April 13, 2007 Author Share Posted April 13, 2007 Big Fat CRT ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Liza, if you dont mind me asking, how much are you paying and where are you getting it from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Posted April 13, 2007 Author Share Posted April 13, 2007 Good question. Well, I was hoping it would be as simple to ring some pc companies up, tell them what I'll be doing and get them to give me some ideas of what would suit me and I could pick one based on price and speed for my money. It seems these systems are too specialised and I've been fobbed off with people trying to flog me something I know won't last me five minutes, or, something I don't need but makes for better commission, possibly. Sooooo... I'm trying to understand all the bits and go to them with the spec and say "price for that, and only that, please". I'll shop around the pc companies and maybe look at buying the bits and having a nice person build it for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Tizard Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Boxx would be a good starting point as they are most likely to be able to spec a machine according to what you wanna do. My understanding is that they specialise in machines for graphics etc. You will probably pass out at the price, but it should give you a clue for what hardware to go for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Posted April 13, 2007 Author Share Posted April 13, 2007 I did try them, and they were very helpful but I didn't feel guided really. what I would say for them is that their services is very good. I've had real trouble having people get back to me, but these guys are on the ball everytime. They don't keep you waiting and they seem better trained than most. I agree they are very expensive, but if their aftercare is as good as I think it would be it may work out the same in the end? I'm still stuck though. Where are all those geeky boys who know all about pieces of metal, chips and wires !? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Tizard Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Probably over at CGTalk.................just kidding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Posted April 13, 2007 Author Share Posted April 13, 2007 ... well bring them over here so I can pat them on the head and feed them Twister ice lolli's whilst they read to me about hardware Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macer Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 Liza, First of all, current dual xeon motherboards will take max 667MHz ram (has to be FB and reg). Western Digital Raptor 150GB 16MB 10000RPM drives are newer than the ones specced and have better performance due to improved disk density. (costs 150GBP compaired to 100GBP) or go for 4 x 500GB SATA2 16MB drives in raid 0+1 to give similar performance (I think?) and 1000GB of store plus good redunancy for the same price give or take a tenner. Personally I'd go a Nvidia 8800GTX graphics card as they perfom well in direct X in comparision to higher priced workstation quadro range. It might be worth waiting for the ATI R600 varieties to come out, as the rumors about them make them sound like they could be better performers? If you can afford it I would aim for 1GB memory per core too - depending on your software and model size etc... Good luck, this lot will cost a small fortune over here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slawnick Posted April 15, 2007 Share Posted April 15, 2007 You might look at btnsystems.com; they sell Dell refurbs and returns, but the systems come with standard Dell warranties. jncs.com also has great system prices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excalibur1814 Posted April 16, 2007 Share Posted April 16, 2007 Hello Everyone, first post! Wooo Direct X10 1 - The 8800gtx has various problems with directx10 and thus people should really wait for the range of cards that are about to be offered by nVidia and Ati 2 - Direct X10 is only available on Windows Vista. Is a visual designer willing to run Vista yet? No. I run Ultimate at home but the business here is not ready for Vista, especially when items such as virus applications have to catch up. Liza, I was unable to open the documents you sent me before but will be able to do so tomorrow night. The ‘easy’ option would be to purchase the following machine: Link 1 - http://tinyurl.com/yoq2f8 (Don't be fooled by the price, look at link 2) Link 2 - http://tinyurl.com/26jblh …and put another quad cpu in, along with an appropriate gpu (Graphics card), hard drives and config. Done. The machine only has PCI-Expressx4 but in all honesty, are we using x16 yet?. The best option is the 3 year parts, 3 year labour and 3-year on-site support. Sure, support is always lousy, but think of the support you’ll have when putting together individual part systems. Time is money after all. (You could install Windows XP onto the server but, in all honesty, unless I can find SCSI drivers it won’t go on. Then I’d use the onboard sata) So… Windows Server 2003 or Server 2000. The software can be purchased with 5 cals for £400… from me!!!! (oem) I know you want to run XP but if you want a server, run server software http://tinyurl.com/25jhdk - An extra cpu for above Quad core (not Xeon) benchmark but the only useful one is using 3d max http://tinyurl.com/28vabe What do you guys think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Posted April 16, 2007 Author Share Posted April 16, 2007 What do I think?.... urrrrr.... I think I need a lie down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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