3D and the Mac Questions

XD-3

XD-3

XD-3

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Hello All.

wondered if I could get some advice. Basically I am going to Uni this September to begin a degree in 'Game Art' and I'm really stuck on where to go new computer wise.

I've had a Macbook Pro for about 1.5 Years which sadly got damaged recently and ended up being an insurance job so I am well acquainted with OSX and LoVE it and this is really my problem... Initially I was completely committed to getting a Mac Pro in about a months time so I could continue the love.

My dilemma however is '3Ds Max' and weather or not I will be able to use this in this environment with Bootcamp?.. after reading reports of people having issues with activation corruption I am a little worried I'll end up with an unusable platform.

So really my questions are weather or not 3Ds Max 2010 works correctly under bootcamp on Vista 64, and then later windows 7, but i guess that should be a no brainier if vista is game...

And of course i'm under the impression that V-Ray, Mental " " and Mood Box etc will play nice if the Max is down... (Why does that hole scentance sound a little like some kind of rap?)

And really just maybe if someone with a little more knowledge could tell me weather in this case a windows box would be a more practical option I really don't wont to give up OSX if possible (Apps etc) but Uni is more important then the platform I'm using.

I also no that there are some real nice smaller apps on OSX as well that I wouldn't mind looking at but Max is a must during the learning stages.

As you can see I'm at a loss as what to do, yes the windows machine would be cheaper and faster in some ways, but lets me honest it's not a Mac Pro.... But I guess it's all on whether or not 3Ds Max is good to go on bootcamp really.

Cheers for any input
XD-3
 
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You'll be fine using Bootcamp , it will run exactly like a Windows laptop will when you boot into windows, should be no issues there.
p.s. its 'whether', not 'weather' sorry it just annoyed me a little :p
 
electric ant said:
You'll be fine using Bootcamp , it will run exactly like a Windows laptop will when you boot into windows, should be no issues there.
p.s. its 'whether', not 'weather' sorry it just annoyed me a little :p
Click to expand...

Are I didn't notice that cheers!... Thing is a heard people are having issues with the activation, because Bootcamp changes the boot record therefore breaking your hardware code in the activation pmt on Max?

Don't no if this is a confirmed issue on 2010 though.

XD-3
 
Are you talking about activating the product or vista?

I did a vista install with boot camp last week and surprisingly my oem license reactivated its self when i was expecting it not too... (one of those moments of just nodding along and hoping nothing changes it) so would say theres unlikely to be a problem (oh and vista hp 64 naturally)
 
pingwing said:
Are you talking about activating the product or vista?

I did a vista install with boot camp last week and surprisingly my oem license reactivated its self when i was expecting it not too... (one of those moments of just nodding along and hoping nothing changes it) so would say theres unlikely to be a problem (oh and vista hp 64 naturally)
Click to expand...

I was referring to the activation of the 3Ds Max, but it seems the problems experienced with bootcamp on older versions have been fixed in 2010 from what I have read.
 
I know nothing about macs but I'd advise going with a regular PC. You'll almost surely be using them at Uni and in the games industry if you get that far. Most places are still on good old XP and will be for some time to come. We still use Photoshop CS2...
Max has enough issues at the best of times, no need to add any other reason for it to drive you crazy.
 
Hi all,

Cheers for the replays, tbh I'm finding it really difficult to decide but I'm not really sure I can justify the price of the current 2009 mac pro's.

when I could get,

Intel Core i7 950 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 3.06Ghz
Asus P6T7 WS Intel X58
Corsair Dominator 6GB X2 for some 12GB action
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4890 XT 1024MB x2 Xfire mmm
Coolermaster ATCS 840 - How nice is this new ATC's case
Dell 2709W

For 2000£

Obviously the Mac Pro is dual quad core which (only 2.26 GHz though, can't touch the 2.66 ones adds 900£) I thought would be wicked it's doing my head in now, I really do think it's the lure of OSX that's pulling me in because it's just so good, if it wasn't for that this decision would be easy, as by the looks of it windows machines are better for 3D.

And with that motherboard (7 PCI-e slots), I could add a Fire GL/ Quatro card a little later on...

Why do we have this thing called choice lol

XD-3
 
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We use PCs and Macs at work and in all honesty for 3ds max i would stick with a PC, for the reasons mentioned by the chap above. All 2d design for web/print i'd suggest a mac all the way. A decent quad core machine (doesn't have to be an i7) with a reasonable graphics card and 4gb Ram would get you through the 3D Elements of the uni course no problem, no need to go over the top while you're a student.
 
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With the setup above on the Asus P6T7 would I be able to run the Xfire, and then put in a Fire GL card into another one of the X16 slots to use in Max?

How would that work would i just be able to switch the DVi lead? or use a splitter like those things D-Link make?

Cheers
XD-3
 
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