Hey guys,
So I'm finally in a good enough financially that I can afford to put together a true Rig for modeling, and I'd like to get some input on what to put in this thing.
I'm going to be building it myself, and I'll just be building the tower (don't need a Monitor,etc...)
I'm looking to stay under $1500 for total cost.
So here's what I'm thinking so far based on some basic research.
CPUIntel Core i7-930MotherboardEVGA E758-A1 3-Way SLI
Video CardE-VGA GeForce GTX 275MemoryCORSAIR DOMINATOR 12GBPower SupplyCOOLER MASTER Silent Pro RSA00-AMBAJ3CaseCOOLER MASTER Storm Sniper SGC-6000Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar Green WD20EADS 2TB
Now with this list I'm about $500 over budget, so I'd like to find some areas I can cut down the price or salvage from my current PC.
My Current PC has some decent parts like a E-VGA 8800 GT 512mb Video Card. I'm not sure how much a better video card would affect 3D Modeling performance in Max and Zbrush.
If I kept this same card, I could cut out almost $400 bucks from the total cost.
Replies
You don't need 12gb memory, 6 or 8 will do just fine.
You don't need 1000w PSU, 600 will be more than adequate.
If you wanna save, get a GTX260 instead or even keep your 8800. It's still a good card if you just do 3D modeling with it.
Might be safer to go for two or more seperate physical hard drives, if that 2Tb thing ever breaks, everything on it is gone. I'm always wary to put all my stuff on a single physical HD...
oh and I'm a big advocate of this, but try and get an Intel X25 80GB SSD as bootdisk. It'll make more difference in day to day use than buying 1000$ worth of premium parts.
6 gigs of ram to start, you can probably get more later at cheaper prices.
Hopefully you're not buying the Mo-Bo for the 3way SLI, if you are its a total waste, buy a cheaper board and stick with a single card.
Probably drop the 2TB hd and go with a smaller cheaper SSD and then buy more storage later when you need it. Probably not a good idea to put all your data in one basket either.
Swap out the case for something cheaper but just as good, maybe this?
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137
Probably drop the video card down a peg get great performance without getting dicked, maybe this?
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130514
Also: this (shame on you, Vig! I was waiting for it.. )
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188049
This actually brings up an interesting philosophy regarding upgrading. You either spend more up front and get the top of the line system, but have to wait longer to upgrade again because of the boutique price. It's harder to go from the sweet system to a mid line system because you're basically paying regular price for a mediocre upgrade, locking you into the high end upgrade path. The other end is you get into the mentality of having a budget system, always paying less, piecemealing together parts more often, but always being in the middle of the tech curve. I'm firmly in camp 2, but it seems to be a pretty even split amongst people around here.
A note for the small SSD OS drive:
You can remap your profile to another drive, it's best that you do that. Makes backing up cake, and 80 gigs is small. I have almost 40 gigs in application installs/OS and my profile is 39 gigs.
What do you mean remap the profile? I've never used a SSD Drive for the OS before....
Isn't it just a seperate drive soley for the OS?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136534
The main thing I did was buy a 64gb SSD just for my OS. It seem(or be) be an unnecessary addition but it ensures that windows itself will never lag. Combine it with your i7 and the 6-12gigs of ram and you shouldn't be hungering for more power for a good while.
I'm wondering if it's more sensible to upgrade rather than build a totally new system
I currently have
Your setup isn't a bad one, especially compared to some people on here looking at new machines. You could breathe a bit of life and zippyness into it with 4gigs of ram, a newer gfx card and the SSD/SATA drives, for a fraction of the cost. All of that but the ram would carry over into a new build when you decided to do it. It's really a question of whether you want to spend the money and how much performance you really need. I'm guessing the processor alone wouldn't make that big a difference in day to day tasks, especially compared to the speed you'd get out of the other stuff.
I'd just upgrade, wait until your CPU/mobo are really outdated and replace that and the ram. Get the case now or later. If you've got ~5-600W PSU you're probably good, otherwise throw that in now.
EDIT: Lamont ftw. Damn these slow fingers...
My Mobo only supports DDR2 ram, and I'd have to replace it all to go to 6GB, since I'm using all 4 slots right now.
Is it worth getting a new mobo with DDR3 Support (which is cheaper than DDR2).
Also, I'm pretty sure my memory should be running faster than 399mhz, anyone know why that might be?
The Main reason I wanna upgrade, is that I find Max and Zbrush run pretty slow sometimes (especially Max 2010!) , and it makes my workflow really annoying sometimes.
That sounds sensible, though I'd go with 8gigs for the dual channel support.
I'd say no, unless you go with a new CPU as well, which puts you back in the new system category vs upgrade. Usually people will get the best CPU/mobo/ram they can and reuse the rest. You're looking at doing the opposite.
The slowest ram for the DDR2 standard is 400mHz, which is what yours is running at. Depending on the age of your computer, it may be that the ram is actually supposed to be running at that speed, or it could be that something is set wrong in the bios. RAM speed is dictated by the front side bus, so you might just need to up it. It'd be worth poking around in there to see, and opening your case and checking the sticks. There should be something printed on them that tells what they're rated at. Also, check the specs for the mobo and see what the highest rated ram it will take is.
If the ram is 400 and the mobo will take faster, just buy the fastest it can handle. If the mobo only takes up to 400, I'd just bite the bullet and go for the whole shebang...new everything. Or, you could pick up a new 775 mobo like this one for about $50. At that point, the only thing you're saving is the CPU, but it'd be cheaper than an upper tier CPU/mobo/RAM setup. Your call on that one.
I'd guess your slow ram plays a part in this, as well as sluggish drives and the gfx card. I'm currently using a Q6600 with 8gigs of ram (1066mHz) and an SSD and a newer ATI card, and I don't have much in the way of slowdowns. I don't think it's your processor. More likely a combination of the other stuff. It's hard to tell without knowing about the mobo.
to go to 8 GB DDR2800MHz Ram.
I'm curious about the SSD tho.
I currently have a pretty slow internal hDD and a 750GB External fro backing up.
I'd defenitly like to get a new internal drive with more space, something like a 1TB, but you guys are saying SSD's in addition is worth it?
So the intel X25 SSD 80GB is what xoiulul recommended, and that retails for $300 bucks.
Is the performance increase worth that much money for only 80gb of space? Or should I just save the money and get a bigger 7200RPM SATA HDD?
I have a EVGA nForce 650i ULTRA
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/motherboard/evgai650/
EDIT: Sounds like you're good with the RAM. You should be set.
So basically this allows your core programs to stay fast and windows to run smoothly?
So how much space would I need in a SSD for Windows 7 64, and the core programs like Max/Zbrush/Photoshop, etc...
30gb doesn't seem like much
ED
Honestly, with the budget you quoted and the money you're going to save, go with a 60 or 80gig drive. It assures you won't run out of room, you don't have to watch things that closely, and there's room to grow. You'd be looking at around $2-300 for that size, and it'll be good for a long while.
Also: only get Intel. When i got mine, the rest was barely catching up or plain shit compared to Intel. The price premium is worth it: Photoshop, for example, went to a 2-second startup. Full system reboot is about 20 seconds.
How much performance increase do you think I would see for my work flow? Meaning using Max, Zbrush, Photoshop, App launching, windows booting, loading files etc...
I would have my OS and main apps on the SSD and everything else on my existing 280gb 7200 RPM Raptor Drive.
this would run me just shy of $400 CDN. Worthwhile upgrade for the money? Or would the difference be minimal?
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148212
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139133
But really, I feel that it still holds up fine. It can play most current games on high (or at least medium) and does fine with modelling (not that I really push that aspect very far )
What I plan on doing to keep it up to date a bit is just overclock the cpu to around 3ghz (the q6600 is pretty decent for Overclocking). Also plan to bump the ram up to 8gb or so.
If you couple that upgrade with a full windows reinstall (i advise to get Windows 7 64bit, it has support for TRIM, which basically will grant you better long term performance with your SSD), it should definitely be worth that money.
Yah im using W7 64, and I would do a fresh install of it.
i recomend an ati 5xxx (cheaper and more power)
and they work well with amd processors which are also cheaper and have about the same power like intel
I'm already going to buy 8GB of Crucial Ballisitix Ram PC26400 800Mhz, an upgrade from 4GB of OCZ 400mhz DDR2.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148212
Now I'm split to whether I should spend the rest on a upgraded video card, or a SSD Harddrive.
Which would gain me the most performance using zbrush and max?
System:
Intel Q6600
XFX 8800 GT Ultra 512 MB
8GB DDR26400 800mhz
eVGA 650i Ultra Motherboard
Windows 7 64bit on a 7200 RPM Seagate 240GB Hard Drive.
fwiw: The issue with SSD is you still if you want the most life out of the SSD want things that are written to often to be on another HD. So turn off windows swapping. Put PS swapping on another drive.
Save all documents to another drive.
Per tzbrush or Max. A newer card would help with Max with showing newer shaders. If you have a more recent Max. Thats about it. Wont really benefit with Zbrush. Other than startup, both wouldnt really benefit from the SSD.
Suggestion instead? Max the CPU out as much as you can. Get the highest grade CPU available. Or one that can overclock the highest and a heatsink that will allow.
Yah I can't really afford a new CPU atm, I'd rather wait for the Six Core's to come out or the i7's to drop in price.
So I have $200 to spend on a worthwile upgrade still.
Will the SSD be a better buy than a upgrade to the 8800GT specfically as it relates to workflow?
It's a bit of a damned if you do situation. SSDs probably aren't going to get any better in the next year or so, but they'll get larger and/or cheaper. So you could get the gfx card and hold out for more storage or a better dollar/storage situation. On the other hand, DX11 cards are hot off the press with a crazy price point, so it might be worth waiting awhile to pick one up when the prices drop and get an SSD now.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139132
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148212
Let us know how it works out.
Go for the SSD. Wait on the GC.
I almost never get slow downs anymore, app launches are super fast.
Max 2011 launches in about 10 seconds flat, compared to about 2 full minutes on my old PC.
Everything works a lot better, less hang up in Max, overall a lot easier to work with.
Max still has an issue working with high poly objs over 400,000k or so, it's very slow in the viewport with navigating, but that may be unavoiable.