I'm thinking of upgrading to a 915 chipset mobo with 512mb ram.. the motherboard has a built in Xtreme Graphics accelerator. Other than more ram, any suggestions? I hear built-in graphics cards arent as effective as standalone ones.. is this true?
depends on what you have, what you do with it, and how much you're willing to spend.
for the most part, integrated graphics are very low end. can be good for running a second monitor for menus/palettes/music players/webpages though (frees up more space on your main monitor)
512 MB of RAM is pretty small these days. My laptop has 768 and my desktop has 2 GB. If you are running a single processor system, RAM is pretty cheap these days. A gig can be had for $100. Built in graphics are dump. Heavy 3-D, might want to step it up to a Quadro or something. 2-D, a more conventional card should do fine. Some people have said that high end gaming cards are fine for 3-D. I think they perform ok, but aren't as stable. The students that use consumer/gaming PCs tend to have more stability problems. Just things like Rhino chugging down with certain types of real time rendered views etc. A lot of people have issues when using the ghosted view for example. But rendering for output RAM RAM RAM RAM and CPU CPU CPU CPU.
all comes down to how much you want to spend. Boxxtech has got a snazzy quad beats of a machine for about $27k and Dell has a decent setup for $600.
How much are you going to spend is where I'd begin....?
I would not use an integrated video card for anything but word processing or surfing online. Also, I would not go below a 1gig of ram.
Don't bother with a Quadro card - just not worth it especially if you even have to ask how much to spend. The current Geforces do just as well (with the exception of the top end Quadro, which will cost much more than your entire machine!!).
I've got two quadros, 1 geforce and one ati something-or-other. Not really any difference on teh Quadros.
I just got a machine for basic PS work and online, documents, etc. (no heavy 3D) from Dell for $1050. That's with a 30% off.
3ghz P4
250 gig drive
DVDR
Sound Blaster
1 gig of ram
256 mb graphic card (still a very basic version, but as low as I'd go).
Office Basic
3 year onsite warranty
garpike, but if you use the better gaming cards, like the Nvidia geforce 6800 gt, with 256mb, they should run pretty good for maya too.
Actually we just bought a dell with that card, so i will try running maya on it and letting you know....
as for the original post, maybe you should let us know what software you are going to run on that, so we can advise on the type of hardware..but in most cases, stay away from integrated video cards...they are crap even for pretty basic games.
remember, if you spend on your hardware (and i mean that in a computer-geek way), you will save lots of time later and probably make up the money you spent on the computer very soon.
I agree with everything everyoone is saying but I would even take it a step further and say that if you have the money, shoot for a dual core dual processor. Dual core has 2 physical processors per chip and that cost is coming down. I have dual 3.0 Xeon processors and they are used by both Max and Viz alike. Most Adobe products take advantage of dual processors. Lastly, if you are still a student it might be even more crucial to get a set up like this if you do 3D modeling and such because you can run a rendering and do work in PS while listening to music and surfing the web. Also keep in mind that RAM is very important for multi-tasking...without it the processor can only take yo so far.
sameold, I disagree. The GeForce should work well, but they don't. I had a pretty good GeForce card crap out on me about a year after I owned it. Maya/Alias strongly recommends against ANY GeForce cards.
Strange, they should work fine. "Qualified" on their site basically equals HUGE dollars. Obviosly, if you can afford a Quadro 4400 then you wouldn't be on here asking for advice. Plus, mid to high end Quadros will cost more than the entire machine ManuG is looking at.
Lower priced quadros ain't worth it.
SW - 'crap out on you'? Who made the card? 'Crapping' out would have nothing to do with the 3D program, but with the quality of the card. Remember, 'geforce' is only the chip, there are tons of manufacturers, some good, some not good.
Best computer config for designers?
I'm thinking of upgrading to a 915 chipset mobo with 512mb ram.. the motherboard has a built in Xtreme Graphics accelerator. Other than more ram, any suggestions? I hear built-in graphics cards arent as effective as standalone ones.. is this true?
depends on what you have, what you do with it, and how much you're willing to spend.
for the most part, integrated graphics are very low end. can be good for running a second monitor for menus/palettes/music players/webpages though (frees up more space on your main monitor)
512 MB of RAM is pretty small these days. My laptop has 768 and my desktop has 2 GB. If you are running a single processor system, RAM is pretty cheap these days. A gig can be had for $100. Built in graphics are dump. Heavy 3-D, might want to step it up to a Quadro or something. 2-D, a more conventional card should do fine. Some people have said that high end gaming cards are fine for 3-D. I think they perform ok, but aren't as stable. The students that use consumer/gaming PCs tend to have more stability problems. Just things like Rhino chugging down with certain types of real time rendered views etc. A lot of people have issues when using the ghosted view for example. But rendering for output RAM RAM RAM RAM and CPU CPU CPU CPU.
all comes down to how much you want to spend. Boxxtech has got a snazzy quad beats of a machine for about $27k and Dell has a decent setup for $600.
How much are you going to spend is where I'd begin....?
I would not use an integrated video card for anything but word processing or surfing online. Also, I would not go below a 1gig of ram.
Don't bother with a Quadro card - just not worth it especially if you even have to ask how much to spend. The current Geforces do just as well (with the exception of the top end Quadro, which will cost much more than your entire machine!!).
I've got two quadros, 1 geforce and one ati something-or-other. Not really any difference on teh Quadros.
I just got a machine for basic PS work and online, documents, etc. (no heavy 3D) from Dell for $1050. That's with a 30% off.
3ghz P4
250 gig drive
DVDR
Sound Blaster
1 gig of ram
256 mb graphic card (still a very basic version, but as low as I'd go).
Office Basic
3 year onsite warranty
integrated graphics? run away. run away....
agreed on the geforce over the quatro. my pc with ge6800 canes my work computer with a simmilar priced quatro on 3dmax and even 3d autocad.
more ram is better too. specialy if you have a large number of images open in photoshop simultaneously, less time spent accesing the hard drive.
built my pc over about 6 mounths. some components more expensive than they would have been if i did in one go.
amd 64. 3800. 939 socket.
asus. sli delux. mb.
4g ram.
geforce 6800. 256.
40g 10,000rpm hd.
200 7,200 rpm hd.
Geforce sucks with Maya. Models disappear from the screen.
Useful even for non-Maya users.
garpike, but if you use the better gaming cards, like the Nvidia geforce 6800 gt, with 256mb, they should run pretty good for maya too.
Actually we just bought a dell with that card, so i will try running maya on it and letting you know....
as for the original post, maybe you should let us know what software you are going to run on that, so we can advise on the type of hardware..but in most cases, stay away from integrated video cards...they are crap even for pretty basic games.
remember, if you spend on your hardware (and i mean that in a computer-geek way), you will save lots of time later and probably make up the money you spent on the computer very soon.
I agree with everything everyoone is saying but I would even take it a step further and say that if you have the money, shoot for a dual core dual processor. Dual core has 2 physical processors per chip and that cost is coming down. I have dual 3.0 Xeon processors and they are used by both Max and Viz alike. Most Adobe products take advantage of dual processors. Lastly, if you are still a student it might be even more crucial to get a set up like this if you do 3D modeling and such because you can run a rendering and do work in PS while listening to music and surfing the web. Also keep in mind that RAM is very important for multi-tasking...without it the processor can only take yo so far.
sameold, I disagree. The GeForce should work well, but they don't. I had a pretty good GeForce card crap out on me about a year after I owned it. Maya/Alias strongly recommends against ANY GeForce cards.
Strange, they should work fine. "Qualified" on their site basically equals HUGE dollars. Obviosly, if you can afford a Quadro 4400 then you wouldn't be on here asking for advice. Plus, mid to high end Quadros will cost more than the entire machine ManuG is looking at.
Lower priced quadros ain't worth it.
SW - 'crap out on you'? Who made the card? 'Crapping' out would have nothing to do with the 3D program, but with the quality of the card. Remember, 'geforce' is only the chip, there are tons of manufacturers, some good, some not good.
I run a geforce 6800 and it runs Maya just fine.
A western digital raptor 10,000rpm drive is a nice choice for a system drive...and ram, like everyone else mentioned.
Looking great price for quality products? Newegg.com
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