What would be the best spec of hardware in my limited budget?

James H

Hi guys! I really need your help on this matter. What would be the best spec of hardware in my limited budget ($1000-$1300)? I use ZBrush, 3dsmax, Maya, Photoshop, Marmoset…etc.. I will be working on my portfolio to get a job in the near future. I want to sculpt high poly mesh without any lag in zbrush. I’ll be waiting for your help! Thanks a lot in advance!!

MeintevdS

I have very little hardware knowledge sooo:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=136825
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137152

These questions are asked quite a lot on this website, it's worth a search and see what you find Those two topics seem to ask the same question and with a similar budget. Good luck.

beefaroni

I can write out something longer if those links aren't enough info, but you'd probably end up with something like.

Intel i5,
16GB Ram
128/256SSD + 1TB HDD
770GTX

Mark Dygert

beefaroni wrote: »

I can write out something longer if those links aren't enough info, but you'd probably end up with something like.

Intel i5,
16GB Ram
128/256SSD + 1TB HDD
770GTX

That sounds about right, I would probably jump up to an i7, but there are some higher end i5 processors that are better than some low end i7 processors so you might want to research some of them.

I would also look into mainboards and not be a total tightwad because while it might not be a sexy piece of hardware like a graphics card, it does allow everything to talk to each other. The fastest Ferrari's in the world can still get stuck in rush hour traffic if you're highways suck.

EarthQuake

I agree, go i7 over i5 especially if you will be doing a lot of rendering.

For motherboards, you shouldn't spend more just to spend more. Often times more expensive motherboards simply have more crap that you will never use, like SLI support, advanced overclocking support, etc, that if you don't need you're simply wasting your money by buying. I would not recommend overclocking for a workstation, stability is more important than 5% extra performance or whatever, and i7's OC on the fly by design.

Get a mobo that does what you need and is stable, nothing more. I'm partial to micro-atx boards these days as you get only what you need, not 7 pci ports or whatever that nobody actually needs these days.

I would go with:
I7 4790 $315 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116987&cm_re=i7_4790-_-19-116-987-_-Product (non K version will save you a litte money if you're not OCing(
LGA 1150 H87 mobo ~$100-150 (Z87 is for OC/SLI, redundant if you aren't going to)
770 GTX 4GB $380 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125462&cm_re=770_4gb-_-14-125-462-_-Product
250GB-ish SSD $140 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147248&cm_re=samsung_250gb_ssd-_-20-147-248-_-Product
1 TB HDD ~$100
16GB ram ~$150
650W 80+ power supply $100
Reasonable, mid-sized non-flashy case $75-100
DVD drive $30

That will put you a little over your budget. You can go with the 2GB 770 or the 760 to cut some cost as well. A Xeon E3-1230 v3 will save you a little ($65) while only being slightly slower (diff between i7 and xeon is i7 has integrated GPU which you don't need). SSD could be dropped to 120/128GB too but I wouldn't recommend it. If you go with a 760 you can probably go with a 550W PSU.

beefaroni

^ Yep, that looks about right.

I filled up a 128GB SSD rather quickly so I think 250GB would be a much better bet.

Mark Dygert

Yep I agree with EQ price should not be the sole determining factor to the quality of the mainboard. Do some research and buy quality, just don't assume they are all the same and go with whatever without looking into it.

EarthQuake

Mark Dygert wrote: »

Yep I agree with EQ price should not be the sole determining factor to the quality of the mainboard. Do some research and buy quality, just don't assume they are all the same and go with whatever without looking into it.

Yeah totally, definitely don't buy the cheapest mobo you can find either. I try to stick to well known brands like Asus, and Gigabyte, though the last couple boards I bought were ASrock and I haven't had any problems with them.

James H

Thanks for all of your help! You guys rock!:)