New Machine??

[Joe Luckett]

Hi all,

 

I'm a student currently doing a placement year as a 3D Visualizer and will be back in uni in September so I'm looking to get my own machine. Mainly using 3DS Max, V-ray, AutoCAD. Currently i'm working on a core i7-3930k processor with 32 gb RAM.

 

After researching already I know this sort of configuration is a bit out my league financially. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions?

 

The budget im looking at is about £1200 more or less.

[SkylineArch]

I think any i7 with 8 or 16gb of RAM and a decent video card will suit you just fine. you can easily get a decent machine for 1200, or less.

[Joe Luckett]

Cheers Mark, do you have any idea where's the best place to look for a machine?

[SkylineArch]

sounds like you are from the UK? Do they sell Dell there? if they do, look at the XPS series. I have an XPS desktop and laptop and have no problems rendering with them. if they are not available there, at least you can see what the specs are, the desktops can be purchased for under $1000

[Dimitris Tolios]

I would really look into getting a laptop if it is for school work, despite the compromises in absolute speed.

Yes, laptops are nowhere near a 3930K or even a 3770K in rendering speeds, but 3rd gen i7s are VERY decent - much faster than what a good 3D Desktop workstation would be 3-4 years ago regardless of cost...

 

DDR3 is dirt cheap. Counting beans when you want to build a $500/£500 desktop is one thing, having a £1200 budget 32GB are "easy", and 16GB are default. So-Dimms for laptos are also very cheap, though few laptops can do more than 16GB of RAM.

 

If you insist on a desktop, there are quite a few threads lately on 3770K builds that are well within the stated budget.