STop listening to these guys. If you have the money, do whatever you'd like. If your on a budget, sell some of this stuff and get a faster/cheaper Athlon XP system.
Don't bother building a new system right now. Wait until the socket switch for both Athlon and Intel boards, and PCI-express, and considering that Geforce 6800U and X800Pro are coming out in a WEEK, spending more than 50 bucks on a vid card is blasphemous!
Anyway, guess it all depends on if you ahve the funds.
Don't bother building a new system right now. Wait until the socket switch for both Athlon and Intel boards, and PCI-express, and considering that Geforce 6800U and X800Pro are coming out in a WEEK, spending more than 50 bucks on a vid card is blasphemous!
Anyway, guess it all depends on if you ahve the funds.
Thanks for the support. I'm not building a system right now, just want to upgrade ram, which one should i get for my board?
Chaotic42
Lifer
- Jun 15, 2001
- 34,794
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That depends on how specialized you want your system to be.
If you're going to be doing hardcore image work, video editing, or 3D rendering, you'd want to go dual if your programs support SMP. Heck, even if they don't you can run two apps at once.
You said that the PC has "better 3D capabilities". What are you doing? 3D Studio Max? Maya? Break down what your computer will be doing by percentage. Are you going to be playing games 80% of the time or 5%? Are you rendering models 70% of the time or 30%?
Ok heres the breakdown:
My PC will be running mostly PHOTOSHOP, FLASH MX, DREAMWEAVER MX, MAYA, 3D STUDIO MAX, CINEMA 4D, PINNACLE STUDIO, ILLUSTRATOR, INDESIGN AND ADOBE PREMIERE. As for playing games, I will only play games 20% of the time, and that also mostly strategy, like C&C: Generals etc. Any suggestions? I can use my current system and boost the ram, and get a WD raptor drive?
My PC will be running mostly PHOTOSHOP, FLASH MX, DREAMWEAVER MX, MAYA, 3D STUDIO MAX, CINEMA 4D, PINNACLE STUDIO, ILLUSTRATOR, INDESIGN AND ADOBE PREMIERE. As for playing games, I will only play games 20% of the time, and that also mostly strategy, like C&C: Generals etc. Any suggestions? I can use my current system and boost the ram, and get a WD raptor drive?
mechBgon
Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
- Oct 31, 1999
- 30,699
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You can certainly use your present rig and kick up the RAM, yeah. Do you really have all that software already? :Q Dang, send me some money too! 
LOL! In all honesty, why not use your dualie Mac for some of that stuff, and your PC for the 3D-intensive stuff? I thought the dual-processor Macs were supposed to be great for most of the video and image editing... what do you own it for, if not for that stuff?
LOL! In all honesty, why not use your dualie Mac for some of that stuff, and your PC for the 3D-intensive stuff? I thought the dual-processor Macs were supposed to be great for most of the video and image editing... what do you own it for, if not for that stuff?Well when I'm using Maya, I have to use Photoshop and video editing softwares to work with maya hand in hand, photoshop for texture maps and premiere and pinnacle studio for putting together the animation and editing it. Maya is very demanding. Otherwise i use my dual macs for every other need.
mechBgon
Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
- Oct 31, 1999
- 30,699
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Ok, and Maya isn't a Mac application, so you have to run the whole kaboodle on a PC as a result. Gotcha. It does sound like you could benefit from a dual-processor PC if you run those apps concurrently, and a whole bunch of RAM and fast hard drives as well. Or maybe start with a single processor on a dual-ready motherboard. Be aware that many dualie boards use an EPS power supply, not ATX, so budget about $100-150 for a good PSU when you're considering that option.
I'll keep that in mind. I think I'll stick with what I have and max out the ram and get a WD Raptor Drive. I think that might solve my problem. Just last year I use to do all of this stuff on a P4 dell laptop and it ran just fine, but if the animation went beyond 3 mins, things started to look dim.
.Yep, I agree that a dual opteron system would serve him well. I have a feeling his software was "free" tho, but we probably shouldn't go there.
Well, my software wasn't free, I bought it through my company discount so I saved a lot, but the Maya software cost me about $4000 with company discount. I have spent more on software so I'm low on cash these days. Once I get back upto speed, I will invest into Dual Opteron systems.
Ok people, heres a task for you, since you guys insisted on Opteron systems, give me some kick ass specs and I will look into it in the future.
mechBgon
Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
- Oct 31, 1999
- 30,699
- 1
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I'm on the same continent as Chicago...
Ok, here's the stuff I picked: Wish List We got a Tyan Thunder K8W, two retail-boxed Opteron 244's, an Antec full-tower case with no PSU, five low-noise 80mm cooling fans for the case, and a 550W Antec TruePower EPS power supply. No RAM, I figure your best bet is to pick up the RAM straight from Crucial using their memory selector (they'll guarantee it for a lifetime if you select it using their selector). Remember that Opterons have dual memory controllers, and there are two of them, and on this board, they really DO both have their own dedicated memory busses. So get modules in multiples of four. I guess that makes four 512MB or four 1GB modules the likely options... ouchies!
As a second option, Asus makes a budget dual-Xeon board that I believe is called the PR-DL? and Xeons are good workstation CPUs too. You can run "regular" non-Registered modules on that board, although it does allow ECC and that might be a good idea considering what you do with it. I think it takes a standard ATX power supply too. Newegg has those too.
I'd also get a really nice APC uninterruptible power supply if you can afford it, maybe a SmartUPS 750XL or 1000XL (extended runtime, auto voltage regulation, and you can even buy add-on battery modules to extend the runtime). Surely you can make this into a tax writeoff... yeah, that's de ticket...
Ok, here's the stuff I picked: Wish List We got a Tyan Thunder K8W, two retail-boxed Opteron 244's, an Antec full-tower case with no PSU, five low-noise 80mm cooling fans for the case, and a 550W Antec TruePower EPS power supply. No RAM, I figure your best bet is to pick up the RAM straight from Crucial using their memory selector (they'll guarantee it for a lifetime if you select it using their selector). Remember that Opterons have dual memory controllers, and there are two of them, and on this board, they really DO both have their own dedicated memory busses. So get modules in multiples of four. I guess that makes four 512MB or four 1GB modules the likely options... ouchies!
As a second option, Asus makes a budget dual-Xeon board that I believe is called the PR-DL? and Xeons are good workstation CPUs too. You can run "regular" non-Registered modules on that board, although it does allow ECC and that might be a good idea considering what you do with it. I think it takes a standard ATX power supply too. Newegg has those too.
I'd also get a really nice APC uninterruptible power supply if you can afford it, maybe a SmartUPS 750XL or 1000XL (extended runtime, auto voltage regulation, and you can even buy add-on battery modules to extend the runtime). Surely you can make this into a tax writeoff... yeah, that's de ticket...
Yeah, the opteron setups are really really expensive, but then again so are the xeons.
If it were me I would stick with what you've got and wait for a bit. The latest from the rumour mill is that opterons will have dual-cores by the end of the year, and they will be pin-compatible with the 939-pin chips. Basically that means that if you were to buy a dual-socket 939 motherboard as soon as you can, you'll be able to have essentially a QUAD cpu setup down the line, providing that the rumours are correct that is. With a setup like that you would probably more than quadruple your current performance in Maya.
If it were me I would stick with what you've got and wait for a bit. The latest from the rumour mill is that opterons will have dual-cores by the end of the year, and they will be pin-compatible with the 939-pin chips. Basically that means that if you were to buy a dual-socket 939 motherboard as soon as you can, you'll be able to have essentially a QUAD cpu setup down the line, providing that the rumours are correct that is. With a setup like that you would probably more than quadruple your current performance in Maya.
Damn, thats one heck of a setup. How much is that going to run me? For now I'm sticking with the system I have, in the near future, I will go out crazy and build a new one. If anyone of you guys were in chicago i would pay you to build me a system.
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