Faster price/performance computer??

[jachristie79]

I want to build a few cheap systems that are blistering fast. I basically want to build a small cluster for render small movies in 3d studio. Can anyone give me what they believe t ome the best setup right now for this operation.

I was thinking about using a 1.4 tbird, with about 256 meg of ram. I don't need any fancy video or sound, just raw speed.

Any input would be helpful!!!

thanks

 

[Assimilator1]

Does 3d studio use much memory bandwidth? ,if so you'll want to use DDR RAM

Anyone else?
Is this in the right forum?......I guess it is if you're going to have those rigs cruching for TA when they aren't rendering

 

[jachristie79]

From what I've read they do use alot of ram, but not neccisarily bandwidth intensive. the main factor is CPU power

 

[xtreme2k]

Tbird 1.4 is very fast with 3ds. However, 256MB RAM doesnt look enuf. I would get at LEAST 512 and better of, go for 1GB

 

[jachristie79]

What about specific hardware??

I was thinking about the new ECS board, but as far as video card and case, I'm not too sure what I should go with. I don't think I'll need any fancy video card, since they will just be rendering.

The ECS baord comes with onboard sound and video. If anyone has a different recommendation for a mother board. I'm not opposed to overclocking, although at 1.4 I don't think I'll need to over clock much. Also, with the ECS baord I know there isn't alot in the way of overclocking. If I go with a different board with better overclocking features then I'll think about justifying the extra price for the megahertz. although with the way the ECS boards perform and at the price that they are I think that would be kinda of hard to beat.

 

[Fardringle]

The ECS board has onboard Sound and LAN, but not video... You can easily get a 4 or 8 meg AGP video card for under $20, so no problems there. Just make sure you get a good power supply (check the AMD approved list) if you put 1.4Ghz Tbirds in there. I have an ECS board with a 1.4 Tbird and 256MB Crucial PC2100 DDR ram and it is VERY fast! (and if you REALLY want to overclock, you can get an unofficial BIOS from Overclocker's Workbench (look for ECS under their Forums section) that allows some limited FSB overclocking. (138Mhz, 150Mhz and 166Mhz, but few can get it to 150, and I haven't heard of anyone yet successfully clocking to 166. I run mine at 138 now, and it's dropped my SETI times from 4:42 to ~4:30...)

 

[Insane3D]

I would suggest the following...

ECS K7S5A - $65
2 x 256mb Crucial PC2100 DDR - $72
Athlon 1.4ghz Thunderbird - $106
ATI Xpert2000 Pro 32mb (SGRAM) 4X AGP - $35

Total - $278

The Ati video card is very nice and cheap. It has hardware DVD decoding should you choose to watch an occasional DVD, comes with 32mb of SGRAM, and it's 2D is excellent. I would also suggest you get a fairly decent heatsink like the Taisol to keep that Athlon cool..especially if it will be under load a lot with encoding and decoding...