Help with building a desktop for 3ds max.

[terryk]

Hi everyone,

 

I am an interior design student looking to build a desktop for my upcoming classes next semester. I did ask my professor, and she did tell me that I will be using 3ds max, and sketchup, not sure if we have any more other software we will be learning. I have a budget of around $1600 ($1800 after tax) for a monitor and the desktop itself. I don't know anything about computers. Is anyone willing to give me some sort of specs to go with?

 

Any suggestions or some help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Dimitris Tolios]

Welcome Terrence.

Are you sure you won't be better off with a decent laptop? It won't be as powerful as a desktop $ for $, but surely more convenient with you going back and forth school with "all your stuff".

 

That said:

 

CPU: 4770 (would not bother with a K model, unless you plan on overclocking)

Cooler: stock, as included in the box. See above

Motherboard (mobo): Asus Z87-A (ATX) or Z87M-Plus (mATX)

RAM: 2x8GB 1866 kit. Any. 2x8 so that you can expand to 32GB in the future if needed

GPU: GTX 760 or any Radeon in this price range will do (if you don't care for VRay RT/Octane etc)

Storage: Samsung 250 EVO or 256 Pro for OS / Applications / Working files + WD 2TB Black (best warranty) for general storage

Case: whatever you like. No need to go fancy. A Cooler Master N400 (Atx midi) or N200 (mATX) should be a good base point. So would any equivalent Fractal Design or Corsair Case.

PSU: Anything 80+ Silver or Gold from Seasonic, Corsair, Coolermaster

OS: Win 7 Pro or 8 Pro

 

Monitor: Pretty much any 24" 1200p IPS is a safe bet. Dell, Asus etc.

You don't "need" 1200p or IPS really, but IPS does help with viewing angles and generally finds its way in "better than average" screens. There are decent 23" 1080p IPS from Dell for roughly half the price the average 1200p goes for.

Edited January 20, 2014 by dtolios

[terryk]

Welcome Terrence.

Are you sure you won't be better off with a decent laptop? It won't be as powerful as a desktop $ for $, but surely more convenient with you going back and forth school with "all your stuff".

 

That said:

 

CPU: 4770 (would not bother with a K model, unless you plan on overclocking)

Cooler: stock, as included in the box. See above

Motherboard (mobo): Asus Z87-A (ATX) or Z87M-Plus (mATX)

RAM: 2x8GB 1866 kit. Any. 2x8 so that you can expand to 32GB in the future if needed

GPU: GTX 760 or any Radeon in this price range will do (if you don't care for VRay RT/Octane etc)

Storage: Samsung 250 EVO or 256 Pro for OS / Applications / Working files + WD 2TB Black (best warranty) for general storage

Case: whatever you like. No need to go fancy. A Cooler Master N400 (Atx midi) or N200 (mATX) should be a good base point. So would any equivalent Fractal Design or Corsair Case.

PSU: Anything 80+ Silver or Gold from Seasonic, Corsair, Coolermaster

OS: Win 7 Pro or 8 Pro

 

Monitor: Pretty much any 24" 1200p IPS is a safe bet. Dell, Asus etc.

You don't "need" 1200p or IPS really, but IPS does help with viewing angles and generally finds its way in "better than average" screens. There are decent 23" 1080p IPS from Dell for roughly half the price the average 1200p goes for.

 

Hi Dimitris,

 

Thanks for helping me out, really appreciate it.

 

Actually I had a macbook pro unibody for around 5 years (it was the first series of unibody) but it completely broke down last year, and it was my only laptop so I used everything on it, gaming, gfx and 3d. I purchased a macbook air in 2011, which is the only laptop I have right now, but it is obviously not powerful enough to run 3ds max etc. And I never had a desktop, and my friends have been telling me that for the amount I spent on a laptop I could get a more powerful desktop, which is why I am heavily considering on getting a desktop.

 

Also, I am pretty sure I will be using the VRay engine. Not sure what VRay RT is.

 

So is this an example (link below) of what you were talking about for a monitor? Personally, I have heard a lot of bad things about Dell, but I had an ASUS laptop before and it failed on me horribly within 6 months, hence I had to switch to a macbook pro in 2008. Do you suggest any specific monitors or brand?

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009H0XQRS/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B009H0XQRS&linkCode=as2&tag=pchahe-20

[Dimitris Tolios]

The MBA is what a portable device should be, i blame you not for not missing a MBP, which in all honesty lately departed completely from trying to be a 3D graphics oriented "Pro" machine, having nothing but IGP in all but the very high end models($2,500+ rMBP 15).

 

For this kind of money, or much less - closer to your budget, you of cource can get a desktop that is much faster. The config posted above, will actually rival and clearly surpass even a new Mac Pro, as a 4770 has a very clear advantage in single threaded applications over the average IB-E CPUs that are being used in the cute space-can.

 

Vray RT GPU is an engine developed in parallel by Chaosgroup, and uses your GPU to raytrace stills and animations. It is an unbiased engine (i.e. closer to QMC than light-cache/irradiance map) and still misses quite a few features the latest VRay adv (CPU only) offers, but for some the results are usable. It is also vastly faster than the CPU rendering using a proper GPU, with the high end GTX cards being multiple times faster than anything but CPU render farms with dozens of cores. But you don't have to hare for it, stick with what you trust for now.

 

Monitor: The best brands for affordable, but also high-end IPS monitors that don't break the bank, are Dell and Asus. With IPS being a proprietary LG tech, Samsung also offers great monitors, but are PVA tech.

 

The linked Dell S2340M is the most basic IPS offered by Dell. Lacks most of the on-screen settings (like color temperature) and Display Port input, higher end 1080p like the Dell UltraSharp U2312HM offer, or 1200p like the ASUS PA248Q and Dell UltraSharp U2412M or the even better 10bit Dell UltraSharp U2413, tho the latter is probably a bit over your budget.

 

I think a $300 range monitor fits your budget and won't disappoint, but going with a S2340M, with the possibility for a second one in the future, is also a good option that could push your productivity a lot. You could ofc go with a $300, opting for a second monitor in the near future.

 

 

Being unlucky with a laptop is a common, but should not give you definitive conclusions.

For example, 3rd party statistics by Square Trade (independent warranty provider), have proven in the past that Asus ranks much higher than Apple in reliability for devices older than 1st year (when usually the 3rd party warranty starts kicking in). Apple is lower than even Acer (including Lenovo and Sony, HP was dead last, just FYI). It is just outside the average Apple's customer mentality and/or pride to complain about that specific brand. Keep in mind that most of the laptop failures are HDD based, and most HDDs that are going to fail within warranty, fail the 1st year.

[terryk]

Thanks for the help, really appreciate it.

I will pm you when I get the parts in. And if anything is needed or added.