PC for archi design-autocad, photoshop, 3dstudio max--pls recommend components

[p1tin]

1. What is the purpose of the computer? (Note: If you are planning to say multimedia, you will have to be more specific as all types of systems are capable of doing that)
A: Graphics processing,Architecture softwares, AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max, photoshop etc.; other purpose include using it for internet browsing, downloading, Microsoft office, watching HD movies, songs etc;

2. Are you open to alternate ideas/products giving similar better performance but offering more VFM/ sellers? If not- why?
A: yes

3. What is your MAX budget?
A: Maximum $650-$750Approximately Indian Rupees-35000( Let this not keep you from providing your inputs.Whatever you recommend.... I will check availability here in India.)

4. Planning to overclock?
A: No

5. Which OS are you planning to use?
A: Windows XP or Windows 7

6. How much hard drive space is needed?
A: Minimum 500GB

7. What resolution will the screen run at & whats the size of the screen you want?
A: 19" to 22" Monitor;

8. How would you rate your hardware knowledge from the count of 1-10? (1 being the lowest, 5 being you are somewhat in sync with the current performers and 10 being the highest)
A: 8

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
A: I myself have built systems and know how to do it. I want inputs on current high performance, good value components;

10. When are you planning to buy the system?
A: Withing next 2 weeks (anytime between 27th august - sep 10 2010)

11. Are you one of the types looking out for "future proof" configurations?
A: Yes, At least it should be future proof for 2-3 years;

12. Are there going to be any components that you don't want to include in this new rig? If yes, do mention.
A: CPU coolers,

13. Which city do you live in and are you open to buying from shops from other city/states?
A: bangalore or Chennai, India. Let this not keep you from providing your inputs.

14. Mention any other points if deemed necessary
A: nothing as of now

 

[darkewaffle]

AMD Athlon II X4 635 $100


MSI 870-G45 Chipset770 Mobo $70 (Not too expensive, good chipset, good brand)

4GB 'value' DDR2 or DDR3 RAM, depends on your motherboard and your best choice is probably Corsair, even though it's expensive, since I know other brands can be hard to find in some foreign markets. Shop around though. $100

Corsair 400w or Seasonic 500w or Antec 380w It's hard for us to know what you have available, so trying to give you some good options - $50

Hard drive - Look for a Western Digital Caviar Blue or Samsung Spinpoint F3 in the sizes you want, good values and good performers. $75 (overestimate)

MSI GTX 460 1GB $240 - I don't have a lot of experience with CAD or rendering, so it's very possible this is overkill, someone else will know better; but a GTX 460 is a great price/performance card so it's a good place to start.

Case - Whatever you can find that you like / can afford. $50

Win 7 - $100

All together that comes out to $785 which is a little over budget, but I'm not sure if you need a copy of Win7 and you probably don't need such a powerful video card; also the prices are somewhat conservative and you can probably find some parts for a little cheaper. So with a little digging and a little more research you should be able to fit in your budget.

Also, other members will know better than me, you might benefit from upgrading to an AMD 6core processor and downgrading the video card, it's really going to depend on what kind of projects you work on, how big they are, and how much time is spent on GPU and CPU dependent tasks. If you could give us a bit more information on your work, we could be more precise

Is SATA3 or USB3 important to you?

 

[mfenn]

I would start with Darke's build, but would definitely get rid of the GTX 460 and just get something cheap that will display video (5450, GT 240 or whatever) because those programs use the CPU for rendering. With that change, and a bump to the Phenom II X4 955, you should be within budget.

 

[p1tin]

Thanks!
I would like to hear more combinations from others too. I too am working on this...
Keep the inputs flowing.

 

[darkewaffle]

Haha, well that's my bad on the 460; I though your tasks were more GPU intensive than that. With that said, something like a GT 240 sounds good; small, low power, low heat, capable.

If you swap the 460 for a 240, that will save you something around $150 I should think, which would probably get you to at least an AMD 1055T, which you would probably take quite good advantage of.

 

[zerogear]

I would recommend bump to 6gb or 8gb ram if you can.

 

[p1tin]

Thanks!!

Of the two combinations which ones to choose:

Issues:

In general Will using an AMD CPU cause more heat & deteriorate/slow down/ require extra cooling? (this pc is going to be used in a hot & humid City without air conditioning)
Will using a AMD CPU cause more power consumption?

config 1:

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz 6 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT55TFBGRBOX
Mobo : Help me out here ???????????
HD5670 DDR5
6GB RAM

Config 2:

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor
GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 LGA 1156
HD5670 DDR5
6GB RAM

All other components are going to same.

Purpose:
Graphics processing: Architecture softwares, Revvit, AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max, photoshop; other purpose include using it for internet browsing, downloading, Microsoft office, watching HD movies, songs etc;It should not hang while using any or all of these softwares simultaneously

 

[Cerb]

If worried about cooling, you may want to get a nice case (WRT to cooling), and maybe stick to 95W and lower CPUs. For running in a warm place, a good 80+ PSU, and a good case, would be the first things to take care of.

I normally wouldn't go for it, but I wonder if a i3 w/ HT might be a good choice, v. a real AMD quad? The more threads you can use, the better the AMD will be, but you'd have 22W less max power usage w/ the Intel, and a bit better single-thread performance. For what you want to do, you'd want at least a Phenom II X4, which also cost about the same as ~3GHz i3 CPUs w/ HT. Not counting power consumption, AMD clearly has a edge, especially for a computer meant to be kept for a few years, but evacuating heat clearly will be an issue. Any other Indians with powerful CPUs and no AC want to chime in?

Unless PC parts are radically less expensive where you are, you'd need to be keeping several old parts to properly fit an i5 quad in your budget, wouldn't you?

For video, IMO, if you go AMD, just use IGP. Otherwise, the GT2xx suggestions are good ones. With Intel, the difference, even in mostly wire-frame CAD viewing, is substantial enough, IMO, to get a card (Intel's IGP HW isn't bad, but they are not serious about making great drivers; and they like to pawn off GFX work to the CPU, but you need those CPU cycles!). If you know that what you are doing can use GPGPU, then get a compatible nVidia card (GT 240 is still the best balance for non-gaming, or light gaming, needs). Using AMD IGP might slightly decrease graphical performance, but would free up your budget for a much better CPU, or allow your budget to fit better quality components, as this is still nowhere near a complete build spec.

 

[mfenn]

Dude, why did you have to make two threads on the exact same build? And post the exact same post in both? Oh wait, that's because you're spamming the same post in a bunch of different forums.

Please ask the mods to merge your two threads and refrain from making any new ones about this particular build.

 

[p1tin]

Dude, why did you have to make two threads on the exact same build? And post the exact same post in both? Oh wait, that's because you're spamming the same post in a bunch of different forums.

Please ask the mods to merge your two threads and refrain from making any new ones about this particular build.

Hi Sorry Guys!!

Its my mistake. Will request merging the two posts.

& Thanks for all your inputs. Will be deciding on final components today. Will post later, what I will be buying.

 

[p1tin]

Hi Mods,

I posted this topic first: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=30424787&posted=1#post30424787

& again posted the same request here ( as I was preparing the post for other forums as well) in another post: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2103997&highlight=

Its my mistake.
can you please merge the two posts so that it would be useful for others as well.

Thanks,
p1tin

 

[Howard]

I would recommend a budget pro graphics card like the Quadro FX 580. Much better for 3D work than a regular gaming card.

 

[Cerb]

I would recommend a budget pro graphics card like the Quadro FX 580. Much better for 3D work than a regular gaming card.

Except for budget. With a budget equivalent to $1200 or more, it would be worth considering, for the Quadro drivers (what you're paying for w/ the low performance Quadro cards). But, with a budget for a low-end gaming box? Better to leave such things as future options, I think. Catalyst and Forceware drivers, w/ IGP, work just fine.

 

[Howard]

Except for budget. With a budget equivalent to $1200 or more, it would be worth considering, for the Quadro drivers (what you're paying for w/ the low performance Quadro cards). But, with a budget for a low-end gaming box? Better to leave such things as future options, I think. Catalyst and Forceware drivers, w/ IGP, work just fine.

$160 or less

 

[Modelworks]

Is the focus rendered frames or rendered animation ? What resolutions ?

If it is single frames then you want to put as much money into processor FPU performance with as many cores as you can and 4GB memory should work well for most scenes. Memory isn't so much an issue with single frames because the little time spent if any on hard drive swapping for lack of memory is nothing compared to the time it will take for the cpu to crunch the numbers.

If you are doing animations at 24/30 fps then you either will be working with low resolutions or using a render farm. Resolutions of 720P and 1080P are not practical for rendering on a single pc unless your animation is very simple or short. A decent hobbyist quality animation takes on average about 3 minutes a frame at 720P on the fastest of core i7 machines. To do 1 second of finished animation means 1.5 hours render time and that is time that you cannot be using the pc for anything because the rendering will max all cores at 100%.

Most students and hobbyist render at very low resolutions to check the layout then set it for higher resolution renders and just leave the pc on for days to finish.

Graphics cards. This is the year that GPU is making a difference in rendering. There are quite a few GPU based renderers on the market and one of them ships with 3dsmax 2011. The renderer is about 5x faster than a cpu but has limitations. It cannot do all the functions that a cpu renderer can do. There are things that it doesn't support renderering and so the cpu has to be used for that. It also requires the scene be set up differently so if you intend your final output to be different from the gpu renderer you might want to just use cpu to start with.

Max supports any directx9+ level card for gpu rendering. Other applications rely on cuda for acceleration so you might want to look at an nvidia card. It doesn't have to be a pro card, gaming cards work fine too. More memory the better, but no need to go over 1GB.

If you have some free cash and need to render something quick there are online render farms that can do it for a fee. A lot of people take that approach when they are ready for the final render. Payng $550 for a render might seem like a lot, but when they can finish it in 6 hours vs you taking 2 months, it is worth it
http://www.rebusfarm.com/
http://www.renderrocket.com/
http://www.respower.com/page_howto_3dsmax
http://www.rendertitan.com/main

I like rendertitan but they all have free trials .

 

[Cerb]

$160 or less

I'm not seeing that, anywhere. I'm seeing ~$700, which is really about 35k rupees. If that can be stretched to fit a better CPU, be it Phenom II or i5 quad, let the video card be damned. A video card can always be added later, should he find himself bogged down in situations that a video card will greatly help with. If he needs dual displays or something, then a cheap nVidia non-Quadro would be a good bet, for the time being.

I get to $650 or over with a i5 760, 4GB RAM, and a GT 240 (no combos or rebates or anything, as Newegg isn't an option for the OP). Getting more RAM, IMO, would be a better way to spend any extra, if there still is some when it goes from us specualting, to the OP buying in India (this is of course ignoring any software costs, if any--I dunno how much Windows is over in India, or if he has any special deals regarding it). Or, if he knows he could use a nice video card, get something dirt cheap, like a 8400GS, for now, and save up over time for something nice.

I'm not against video cards for professional work. I'm against taking a massive hit in CPU performance, and possibly squeezing out other aspects of the build, for the sake of it, especially given that it can be added to the PC at any time. I'm also not in the camp that believes the maximum budget someone gives is at least $50 less than what they should really spend . I'm considering every USD I see over 650 as stretching it.

 

[Howard]

I'm not seeing that, anywhere. I'm seeing ~$700, which is really about 35k rupees. If that can be stretched to fit a better CPU, be it Phenom II or i5 quad, let the video card be damned. A video card can always be added later, should he find himself bogged down in situations that a video card will greatly help with. If he needs dual displays or something, then a cheap nVidia non-Quadro would be a good bet, for the time being.

I get to $650 or over with a i5 760, 4GB RAM, and a GT 240 (no combos or rebates or anything, as Newegg isn't an option for the OP). Getting more RAM, IMO, would be a better way to spend any extra, if there still is some when it goes from us specualting, to the OP buying in India (this is of course ignoring any software costs, if any--I dunno how much Windows is over in India, or if he has any special deals regarding it). Or, if he knows he could use a nice video card, get something dirt cheap, like a 8400GS, for now, and save up over time for something nice.

I'm not against video cards for professional work. I'm against taking a massive hit in CPU performance, and possibly squeezing out other aspects of the build, for the sake of it, especially given that it can be added to the PC at any time. I'm also not in the camp that believes the maximum budget someone gives is at least $50 less than what they should really spend . I'm considering every USD I see over 650 as stretching it.

Huh? A Quadro FX 580? Search again.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133273

 

[Cerb]

Huh? A Quadro FX 580? Search again.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133273

That's a video card, which is $160 more than IGP, and $90 more than a GT 240. I was under the impression that the OP's budget was for an entire new computer; and we still don't know if the OS cost is inside the stated budget. If it is (bringing the max down to $650 or so), and OP wants some future-proofing, it would be silly to go with a significantly lesser CPU, when that part is not easy and cheap to upgrade/replace, IMO.

 

[Howard]

That's a video card. I was under the impression that the OP's budget was for an entire new computer; and we still don't know if the OS cost is inside the stated budget.

Oh, sorry, I thought you meant you found the video card at a price of $700.

 

[p1tin]

Usage:
I am going to install Revit (architecture design software), Adobe photoshop, 3D Studio max etc on this and mainly use it for Archi design.

How is it going to fare? Give your inputs.

One thing I noted is that Onboard graphics does not work with core i5 7xx + Gigabyte board. One has to use i5 6xx for it to work.

let me know whether this config is a overkill or shortcomings of this config, if any?

CPU: Core I5 760
Mobo: Gigabyte GA H55M-UD2H
RAM: 2 x 2GB Corsair 1333
HDD : WD 1TB with 64MB cache
GPU: MSI R5670-PMD1G Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
Cabinet: Cooler Master 310
SMPS: cooler Master 500W


I am going to install these:
OS: windows 7 x64 & Windows xp x64
and other softwares like AV etc.

 

[betasub]

You are correct that the H55 motherboard video output requires an Intel i3 or i5-6xx (dual core with IGP). So for your i5-760 build you have correctly selected an add-in graphics card. Otherwise the H55 motherboard is fine, although you may be able to find a better priced/specced P55 motherboard (no video output) that is equally well suited to the i5-760.

 

[mfenn]

Looks good to me.

 

[Modelworks]

Usage:
I am going to install Revit (architecture design software), Adobe photoshop, 3D Studio max etc on this and mainly use it for Archi design.
GPU: MSI R5670-PMD1G Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
.

ATI based cards are not a wise choice for pro apps. Just about every app supports Cuda but not ATI stream. You will be losing quite a bit of flexibility by choosing a ATI card.