Where would you start?

[xscavenger]

Hi,
i'v been reading here for a while, but just signed up today.
my question:

i would like to put together my first computer.
i want to use it for digital art, and Maya program and some games. Right now I have $ 800 To spend. You guys got any suggestions? I have a friend who said he would help me put it together,
thanks

 

[smp]

Welcome to Anandtech!


800 eh?
You should be able to get a pretty decent setup for that, minus a monitor. If you're doing 3D rendering you're better off getting an AMD processor as they are better at it and you get more bang for your buck right now IMO. A good graphics card is what you need (I would recommend something in the Radeon line, but that's just me) and maybe a 40 gig hard drive or something.

When you have your system all built and stuff, don't desert us, stick around (you'll probably want to anyways, you're bound to have more questions down the line)

 

[Rafael]

Welcome to AnandTech!

I agree with SMP!
THe AMD you will get more bang for ur buck. Put a good amout of ram too, at least 256, I recommend 512 if you going to work with digital art, 2D , and 3D.
As SMP said ATi Radeon is the best pick IMO. Works great in 2D and 3D since you are working with graphics.

Good luck on ur pick!

Raf

 

[jaeger66]

From www.newegg.com

Cases PC - ATX - Mini/Med Tower
ENLIGHT ATX MID TOWER MODEL EN-72500AZ - $44.00

DVD ROM
PIONEER INTERNAL ATAPI 16X DVD-ROM MODEL DVD-117 $44.00

Floppy Drives
Teac 1.44MB 3.5 Inch Floppy Drive # FD235HFC291 $9.00

Hard Drives - IDE
MAXTOR Quiet Drive 40GB 7200RPM Model # 6L040L2 -D740X OEM, $78.00

Keyboards - English
Microsoft 114 keys (10 internet Hot Keys) Internet Keyboard PS/2 (New Color) $17.00

Memory - PC (DDR)
CORSAIR 512MB PC2100 VALUE SELECT. DDR RAM - $148.00

Motherboards - AMD
MSI Motherboard for AMD Processors Model KT3 Ultra2(6380E-050) Retail $79.00

Mouse
Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse PS/2 & USB (New Color) Version 1.1a - $16.00

Processors - AMD Athlon Thunderbird, XP, MP
AMD ATHLON XP 2100+/266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU - RETAIL BOX 2100+/ 1.736GHz,$139.00

Sound Card
Guillemot Hercules Game Surround Muse LT - OEM $14.00

Video Cards
GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce 4 Ti 4200, 4ns, 128MB DDR, Power Pack Golden Sample,$165.00


Subtotal » $753.00
Shipping and Handling Charge » $ 39.33

Total $ 792.33

 

[chucky2]

Doing about the same thing for my cousin (as soon as he decides to actually start saving some money)

I don't know how much digital art tasks the hard drive, but it might be worth it to splurge a little on the hard drive and maybe get either a Western Digital 80GB or 120GB Special Edition. The speed they provide may be worth the extra money. The 120GB version, WD1200JB at NewEgg, costs $166; the 80GB version, WD800JB at NewEgg, costs $107. Might be worth it, might not. Possibly a little digging around on these forums/The Net may yield the answer if a faster hard drive helps in digital editing - I don't know.

Also, from reading a bunch of forums, it seems like the nForce platform from nVidia seems to be very stable. Like I said before, I don't really know anything about digital editing, but I think it would suck to be working on something and have the computer crash. Asus's A7N266-C can be had for $105 right now at NewEgg. It would also save you the cost of a sound card, since it already has very good onboard sound (widely regarded as somewhere in between a Live! and an Audigy).

It doesn't sound like you're going to be doing work full time. Perhaps a little less CPU could save you some money. Maybe a 1800+ or 1900+ CPU would be better. Then again, maybe not. It might be better to have all the CPU you can get and have a slow hard drive for what your doing. Maybe this is something you need to look at, i.e. research.

Memory: Two sticks of Mushkin 256MB Hi Perf PC2100 DDR SDRAM 222 are $79 each right now. I think that's a pretty good deal, but then I'm biased towards Mushkin.

Just some more options for you...

Hope this helps!

Chuck

 

[smp]

Originally posted by: jaeger66
From www.newegg.com Cases PC - ATX - Mini/Med Tower ENLIGHT ATX MID TOWER MODEL EN-72500AZ - $44.00 DVD ROM PIONEER INTERNAL ATAPI 16X DVD-ROM MODEL DVD-117 $44.00 Floppy Drives Teac 1.44MB 3.5 Inch Floppy Drive # FD235HFC291 $9.00 Hard Drives - IDE MAXTOR Quiet Drive 40GB 7200RPM Model # 6L040L2 -D740X OEM, $78.00 Keyboards - English Microsoft 114 keys (10 internet Hot Keys) Internet Keyboard PS/2 (New Color) $17.00 Memory - PC (DDR) CORSAIR 512MB PC2100 VALUE SELECT. DDR RAM - $148.00 Motherboards - AMD MSI Motherboard for AMD Processors Model KT3 Ultra2(6380E-050) Retail $79.00 Mouse Microsoft Optical Wheel Mouse PS/2 & USB (New Color) Version 1.1a - $16.00 Processors - AMD Athlon Thunderbird, XP, MP AMD ATHLON XP 2100+/266 FSB PROCESSOR CPU - RETAIL BOX 2100+/ 1.736GHz,$139.00 Sound Card Guillemot Hercules Game Surround Muse LT - OEM $14.00 Video Cards GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce 4 Ti 4200, 4ns, 128MB DDR, Power Pack Golden Sample,$165.00 Subtotal » $753.00 Shipping and Handling Charge » $ 39.33 Total $ 792.33

I agree with everything here except for the video card .. I work at an art school in the computer lab and in my experience, ATI cards are better suited for 2D (read photoshop etc) and stuff than any geforce cards. Also, the 3D on the radeons is great for doing stuff like 3DSmax/maya whatever. Yeah, a GeForce Quadro would probably be ultimate, but pricey .. we have some geforce quadro 4's here in the labs and I've noticed driver issues with them in 3DSmax ... drivers for my radeon have never exhibited these problems in 3D software. The Radeon cards are cheaper too which is my primary motivation for going that route... and yeah, I too feel that you could save some money by going with an 1800/1900, not noticably slower, but noticably cheaper.

 

[xscavenger]

Hi,
thanks for the welcome
thanks for all the info, I think I?m a bit overwhelmed with all this help.
i'm going to have to do more research on video cards, check out new egg,

smp: thanks for your experience from the art lab
i'll be back