Build Suggestions for an Architect

chokedoke · 26 Jul 2010 at 13:21

good build but you could save a bit more by going with the samsung spinpoint f3 which is just as good as the one listed

Hagar · 26 Jul 2010 at 13:51

nkata said:
My take on this is Dual core AthlonII 3GHz is quite adequate, main emphasis on memory, graphics capacity for rendering etc., AM3 and Crossfire for good upgrade route in future to hexcore and/or dual graphics. This is not the same as a gaming rig. My occupation, Civil Engineer.

andy.

Iiyama ProLite E2008HDS 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £109.99
XFX ATI Radeon HD 5750 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £88.11
OCZ Reaper Low-Latency 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 12800C6 (1600MHz) Dual-Channel (OCZ3RPR1600C6LV4GK) £82.99
Asus M4A785TD-V Evo AMD 785G (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £74.99
AMD Athlon II X2 Dual Core 250 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £51.69
Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD5001AALS) £44.99
Corsair CX 400W ATX Power Supply (CMPSU-400CXUK) £39.99
Logitech Wireless Desktop MK300 (920-001633) £29.62

Sub Total : £444.57
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £11.25
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £79.77

Total : £535.59 incl shipping, everything except case. Uses DVD-RW from previous build.

Spinpoint F3 saves about £10, same except for cache.

chokedoke · 26 Jul 2010 at 14:04

does the cache actually make that much difference? I thought the samsungs came with a very robust read / write alogorithm and could take much better advantage of cache on the pc?

Hagar · 26 Jul 2010 at 14:17

chokedoke said:
does the cache actually make that much difference? I thought the samsungs came with a very robust read / write alogorithm and could take much better advantage of cache on the pc?

That is true, if the drive stores the most likely next reads it will be more efficient, I have not seen any definitive answers to this, it would be a statistical problem as it would work sometimes and not others. Cache can only smooth the flow of data using faster access memory instead of disk access timing. It does not change the actual access speed.

I specified the processor based on 1Mb cache per core.

I would be happy using either of these disks in any system.

andy.

chokedoke · 26 Jul 2010 at 14:23

sorry i like both disks as well and have always had great reliability with western digital, didn't realise it was only a £10 difference.

Came across like i was nit picking

Hagar · 26 Jul 2010 at 14:37

chokedoke said:
sorry i like both disks as well and have always had great reliability with western digital, didn't realise it was only a £10 difference.

Came across like i was nit picking

not at all

andy

Cycrow · 26 Jul 2010 at 15:13

PhoenixUK said:
Last thing would be regarding the GPU, I'm not sure how much of an improvement you'll see from the 9800GT over onboard GPU from 780/785g chipset as most of the software doesn't even use the GPU and it's a thing that you can add later at anytime without any hassle and can order it for next day so I'd leave it for now and see if you're happy with the build as it is before ordering a GPU. Especially that you're on such a small budget, it might not be worth it or you might better spend the money on extra 4gb of ram or something else or just keep it if you find out that you're happy with the performance as it is.

Wrong, a lot of design based software uses CUDA to help accelerate it, so an nvidia base gpu would make a lot of difference over onboard.

most adobe software, including photoship, autocad, vray and 3dsmax all use it, dont know about the others one, some of them might as well

olivier renault · 26 Jul 2010 at 15:38

Not scrapping the bottom of the barrel, but close. That's including all the little bits that add on, that you could get second hand or recycle (mouse, keyboard, DVD RW).

Mouse is PS2. oops.

PhoenixUK · 26 Jul 2010 at 17:07

Cycrow said:
Wrong, a lot of design based software uses CUDA to help accelerate it, so an nvidia base gpu would make a lot of difference over onboard.

most adobe software, including photoship, autocad, vray and 3dsmax all use it, dont know about the others one, some of them might as well

The question is, how much difference is it?
You're looking here at athlon II x4 + 9800gt VS thuban x6 with onboard,
what will be faster? The lower end budget quad or the top end six core?

Also it's a lot easier to get a GPU if you don't have one than CPU.
Might even be a good idea to try to source a 2nd hand GPU Lik 8700/8800 for around 30quid.

Also as much as in some cases GPU helps quite a bit, I'm still fairly sure that the x6 on its own will still be fast. Looking at comparison between the athlon II 630 and 1055T, the 1055T is anywhere between 10 and 30% faster for single threaded apps and 70-100% faster in multi threaded.

Especially with the current GPU prices I'd really consider leaving it for now or getting a 2nd hand GPU for 1/2 - 1/3 price instead.

If you could stretch to olivers spec, I'd say this is good too ( maybe consider 2nd hand GPU as well on that ? could save you ¬30-40quid ), apart from the fact that I'd kill myself if I had to work more than 20minutes with that mice, especially that you want to be PRECISE & FAST when working with image/video editing. Those cheapos are pain in the ass even when you're just browsing internet not to mention anything like image editing. Get yourself MX518 and you won't regret it, or source 2nd hand G5/G9.

scrlk · 26 Jul 2010 at 17:38

What's wrong with normal Athlons out of interest?

xBLiNG · 26 Jul 2010 at 18:18

That's my best shot.

PhoenixUK · 26 Jul 2010 at 18:47

Vinni3 @H|H said:
What's wrong with normal Athlons out of interest?

Nothing at all, but if he's gonna do this kind of work for few hrs everyday as his job then obviously, 70quid extra will save him many many hours, we're talking here about doing the job in 4-5hrs vs 8hrs, EVERYDAY.

Cycrow · 26 Jul 2010 at 21:47

PhoenixUK said:
The question is, how much difference is it?
You're looking here at athlon II x4 + 9800gt VS thuban x6 with onboard,
what will be faster? The lower end budget quad or the top end six core?

Also it's a lot easier to get a GPU if you don't have one than CPU.
Might even be a good idea to try to source a 2nd hand GPU Lik 8700/8800 for around 30quid.

Also as much as in some cases GPU helps quite a bit, I'm still fairly sure that the x6 on its own will still be fast. Looking at comparison between the athlon II 630 and 1055T, the 1055T is anywhere between 10 and 30% faster for single threaded apps and 70-100% faster in multi threaded.

Especially with the current GPU prices I'd really consider leaving it for now or getting a 2nd hand GPU for 1/2 - 1/3 price instead.

If you could stretch to olivers spec, I'd say this is good too ( maybe consider 2nd hand GPU as well on that ? could save you ¬30-40quid ), apart from the fact that I'd kill myself if I had to work more than 20minutes with that mice, especially that you want to be PRECISE & FAST when working with image/video editing. Those cheapos are pain in the ass even when you're just browsing internet not to mention anything like image editing. Get yourself MX518 and you won't regret it, or source 2nd hand G5/G9.

well, according to this (dont know how true it is)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zVAR_l2w8k

but it shows using vray with CUDA, that its 20 times faster than an i7 for rendering.

so its unlikly that going from a quad to six core is going to make such a difference.

GPU's are more suited to graphics work than a CPU is due to its design, so the benefits can be pretty large

akbarirfan · 26 Jul 2010 at 21:53

Hi All,

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I will ditch the monitor and get them to spend a few more bucks on 22".

As for the graphics card, will the XFX be sufficient?

Does anybody else think that the onboard gpu will suffice?

Thanks

olivier renault · 26 Jul 2010 at 22:04

I'd get a NVIDIA CUDA GPU, as stated. YOu can shop around for second hand. It would be £50 quids well spent. Same for a 1080p screen (22''). I'd scrounge on the CPU, an Athlon 3-4 cores, and use the savings on both if it comes to it. £500 is very tight, nevermind £400!

Mason- · 26 Jul 2010 at 22:08

akbarirfan

if you didn't already know
CUDA (correct me if I'm wrong) - Aids in rendering by taking some of the load that would go on the CPU and processing it alongside the CPU making them quicker.

CUDA Is exclusive to nVidia cards, therefore I would strongly recommend a nVidia card with CUDA. It will be much better than onboard graphics.

mtnorris · 26 Jul 2010 at 22:14

You definatly shouldn't use onboard graphics for rendering.

Hagar · 26 Jul 2010 at 22:20

akbarirfan said:
Hi All,

Thanks for all the replies.

I think I will ditch the monitor and get them to spend a few more bucks on 22".

As for the graphics card, will the XFX be sufficient?

Does anybody else think that the onboard gpu will suffice?

Thanks

It supports ATI stream which is massively parallel GPU similar and competitive with CUDA, therefore nowadays if the application will use parallel computing, the choice is either ATI or Nvidia.

ATI Stream acceleration technology

* OpenCL support
* DirectCompute 11
* Accelerated video encoding, transcoding, and upscaling

I would get either, however go for a well specified GPU at the expense of the CPU at this time for your requirements.

andy

mothermachine · 26 Jul 2010 at 22:20

and this is why architects use architectural illustrators such as myself

akbarirfan · 26 Jul 2010 at 22:24

Ok can you guys recommend a CUDA gfx please?

Is this ok:

Gigabyte 9500GT OC 512MB GDDR3 VGA DVI HDMI Out PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card

The specification I gave has been approved, just want to double check the GPU now. If CUDA is the way to go then I think the above graphics card fits the bill, just need some pointers.

Thanks

Just checked, I will stick with the GeForce 9800 GT as it has 112 CUDA cores, the 9500 GT only has 32.