advice on a cg render machine

[jonkydong]

Hi all,

Putting together a slave machine, to dump projects to, for CG rendering, and dynamics simulation purposes...so, 100% cpu load most of the time, heavy on the ram and harddrive as well. Don't really need anything else at all, save a network connection and onboard video.

I'm really not looking to break the bank, this would ideally last me for a year or two, to be replaced by something newer at that time.

I'm thinking three options; (pls keep in mind these links are in CDN$)...some come with 1gig ram, others 512. I need 1 gig, so if i go the lesser route i'll purchase an addon.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/...ls.asp?EdpNo=1871079&sku=M450-2018%20G

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/...item-details.asp?EdpNo=1894273&CatId=0

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/...item-details.asp?EdpNo=1894264&CatId=0

I'm kinda stuck on this...i'm somewhat of a newbie; i've built my workstation a few yrs back, but that's it.

Are shuttlePC's good for intense functions? Also, is tigerdirect a good source? I'm DEFINATELY not looking to buy from american stores, because of customs hassles.

any help or advice would be GREATLY appreciated

thanks all

 

[aigomorla]

uhhh.. cg workstations.... hmmm... ur gonna need LOTS and LOTS of ram. a fairly quick hard drive, and a pretty dayam good processor. And if ur doing intensive CG, you'll probably need a overpriced expensive GL video card. :X Id say, save up a little bit more and buy a dual core desktop.

Tiger direct imo are lousy when it comes to prebuilt. A friend of mine loves them for single components, but he made the mistake of getting one of there prebuilts, and the nightmare of RMA, and getting it fixed is not worth the small difference in price.

Also im not too sure about this statement but, i believe pentium's are better in CG rendering and simulation running. Your best shot might be getting a low end custom dell, and then adding the upgrade components yourself. U can probably get away with a nicer dell with coupons, for cheaper.

 

[jonkydong]

Hey!

thnx aigomoria for the quick response...

sorry i should have specified more, this is NOT going to be my primary workstation, only one for rendering.

Also, a few renderers i'll be using are optimised for 64bit...so i'd much rather go that route...

That's not good that tiger sucks so much...i was starting to believe that cheap machines could actually be *cheap*... anyone else with bad experience?

thanks again!

 

[cheesehead]

I would avoid Dell at all costs. Their tech support makes me want to yarf. (HP is better in that respect.)
I wholeheartedly aigomorla; I've ordered from TigerDirect before, and although it's okay if you're buying a printer, I would not buy a PC from them. Ever.
What I would reccomend is a full DIY system. ATX makes more sense, if only because it's cheaper.
My advice: (NOTE: ALL prices USD. The vendors are american, but you can likely get similar deals in Canada, too.)
Asus A8N5X, 90$. Good motherboard.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131569

Opteron 165 dual-core. 320$. Although it runs at 1.8 gigahertz, it's really easy to OC these to 2.2, so long as you use a decent heatsink.

Thermalright XP-120 heatsink, 42$ (50$ w/ panaflo fan and Arctic Silver III). http://www.case-mod.com/store/thermalri...m-heatpipe-heatsink-p-1122.html?src=fr
It's the best heatsink around, from what I've seen, and should work fine with a lightly overclocked 165. Your temperatures should actually be lower than a non-OC'd opteron 165 with the stock heatsink and fan.

2GB G.Skill DDR400. It's cheap, but well rated. 155$.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231047

ATI FireGL V3100. 170$ @ Newegg, after rebate.
I don't know much about workstation graphics cards, but this one, although not fancy, should do the trick. It'll also free up some CPU time and RAM. (Also, most PCIe integrated graphics stink.)

Seagate hard drive(s) of your choice. I reccomend a 7200rpm model with 8mb of cache, and a SATA 1 or II interface.